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NUNC  COGNOSCO  EX  PARTE 


TRENT  UNIVERSITY 
LIBRARY 


. 


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in  2019  with  funding  from 
Kahle/Austin  Foundation 


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The  Works  of  Francis  Bacon 


FAKSIMILE  -  NEUDRUCK  DER  AU  S  GAB  E 
VON  9PEDDING,  ELLIS  UND  HEATH,  LONDON  1857-1874 
IN  VIERZEHN  BANDEN 


DRITTER  BAND 


FRIEDRICH  FROMMANN  VERLAG  GUNTHER  HOLZBOOG 


STUTTGART-BAD  CANNSTATT  1963 


Der  vorliegende  Neudruck  gibt  den  Text  von  1859  unverandert 
wieder. 


TIIE 

WORKS 


FRANCIS  BACON. 


VOL.  III. 


jFamtmle 

or 

THE  TITLEPAGE  OF  THE  MANUSCRIPT 


OF  THB 

VALERIUS  TERMINUS. 


See  pp.  205.  and  213. 


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THE 


WORKS 


FRANCIS  BACON, 

BARON  OF  VERULAM,  VISCOUNT  ST.  ALBAN, 

AND 

LORD  HIGH  CHANCELLOR  OF  ENGLAND. 


COLLECTED  AND  EDITED  BY 


JAMES  SPEDDING,  M. A. 

OP  TRINITY  COLLEGE,  CAMBRIDGE  ; 

ROBERT  LESLIE  ELLIS,  M.  A. 

LATE  FELLOW  OF  TRINITY  COLLEGE,  CAMBRIDGE; 

AND 

DOUGLAS  DENON  HEATH, 

BARRISTER-AT-LAW  :  LATE  FELLOW  OF  TRINITY  COLLEGE,  CAMBRIDGE. 


vol.  m. 


LONDON: 

LONGMAN  AND  CO.  ;  SIMPKIN  AND  CO.  ;  HAMILTON  AND  CO.  ;  WHITTAKER 
AND  CO.  ;  J.  BAIN  ;  E.  HODGSON ;  W  ASHBOURNE  AND  CO.  ;  RICHARDSON 
BROTHERS  ;  HOULSTON  AND  CO  ;  BICKERS  AND  BUSn  ;  WILLIS  AND 
SOTHERAN;  CORNISH;  L.  BOuTH ;  J.  SNOW;  AND  AYLOTT  AND  CO. 


1859 


. 


. 


ONULP 


CONTENTS 


OF 

THE  THIRD  VOLUME. 


PHILOSOPHICAL  WORKS. 


PART  II. 

WORKS  ON  SUBJECTS  CONNECTED  WITH  THE  INSTAURATIO, 
BET  NOT  MEANT  TO  BE  INCLUDED  IN  IT. 

Pag* 

Preface  to  Part  H.  .....  3 

COGITATIONES  DE  NaTURA  ReRUM  -  -  -  -  11 

Preface  to  De  Fluxu  et  Refluxu  Maris,  by  Robert 

Leslie  Ellis  -  -  -  -  -  39 

De  Fluxu  et  Refluxu  Maris  -  -  -  -  47 

Preface  to  De  Principus  atque  Origin i bus  secundum 

Fabulas  Cupidinis  et  C<eli,  by  Robert  Leslie  Ellis  65 
De  Pkinciphs  atque  Originibus,  etc.  -  -  79 

New  Atlantis  -  -  -  -  -  -119 

Magnalia  Naturac  -  -  -  -  -  -167 


PART  III. 

WORKS  ORIGINALLY  DESIGNED  FOR  PARTS  OF  THE  IN8TAU- 
RATIO  MAGNA,  BUT  SUPERSEDED  OR  ABANDONED. 

Preface  to  Part  III.  -  -  -  -  -  171 

COGITATIONES  DE  SciENTIA  HUMANA  ...  177 


19303 


vm 


CONTENTS  OF  THE  THIRD  VOLUME. 


Pago 

Preface  to  Valerius  Terminus,  by  Robert  Leslie  Ellis  -  199 

Valerius  Terminus  -  -  -  -  -  -215 

Advancement  of  Learning,  Book  I.  -  -  -  253 

„  „  Book  II.  321 

Filum  Labyrinthi  ------  493 

De  Interpret atione  Natuile  Procemium  ...  505 

Temporis  Partus  Masculus  -  -  -  -  521 

Partis  Instaurationis  Secunda?  Delineatio  et  Argumentum  541 
Redajrgutio  Philosophiarum  ...  -  557 

Cogitata  et  Visa  de  Interpretations  Natuige  -  -  587 

Inquisltio  Legitima  de  Motu  -  -  -  -  621 

Calor  et  Frigus  -  -  -  -  -  641 

Historia  Soni  et  Auditus  -----  653 

Phenomena  Universi  -  -  -  -  -  681 


Preface  to  Descriptio  Globi  Intellectualis,  by  Robert 


Leslie  Ellis  ------  715 

Descriptio  Globi  Intellectualis  -  -  -  -  727 

Thema  Cceli  769 

De  Interpretatione  Naturae  Sententle  XIL  -  -  780 

Aphorismi  et  Consilia  -  -  -  -  -  789 

Physiological  and  Medical  Remains  -  795 


TO  THE  BINDER. 

The  Facsimile  to  face  the  back  of  the  Fly-title. 


PHILOSOPHICAL  WORKS 


PART  II. 

WORKS  ON  SUBJECTS  CONNECTED  WITH  THE  INSTAURATIO  MAGNA, 
BUT  NOT  MEANT  TO  BE  INCLUDED  IN  IT  ; 

ARRANGED 

ACCORDING  TO  THE  ORDER  IN  WHICH  THEY  WERE  WRITTEN. 


Ista  enim  nos  tanquam  in  limine  Historiae  Naturalis  stantes  prosplcimus,  quae 
quanto  magis  quis  se  immerserit  in  Historiam  Naturalem  tanto  fonasse  probabit 
magis.  Attamen  testamur  iterum  nos  hie  teneri  nolle.  In  his  enim,  ut  in  aliis, 
certi  viae  nostrae  sumus,  certi  sedis  nostrae  non  sumus —  Thema  Cosliy  1612. 


, 


3 


PREFACE. 


All  the  works  except  one  which  belong  to  this  part,  and 
several  of  the  most  interesting  among  those  which  follow  in  the 
next,  were  published  by  Isaac  Gru ter  in  1653;  and  since  in 
explaining  the  arrangement  which  I  have  adopted  I  shall  often 
have  to  refer  to  the  volume  in  which  they  first  appeared,  it  will 
be  well  to  give  a  particular  account  of  it  at  once. 

Bacon,  in  his  last  will,  —  after  bequeathing  his  collection  of 
speeches  and  letters  to  Bishop  Williams  and  Sir  Humphrey 
May,  as  being  privy  councillors,  —  commended  the  rest  of  his 
papers  to  the  care  of  Sir  John  Constable  and  Mr.  Bosvile. 
“  Also  I  desire  my  executors,  especially  my  brother  Constable, 
and  also  Mr.  Bosvile,  presently  after  my  decease,  to  take  into 
their  hands  all  my  papers  whatsoever,  which  are  either  in 
cabinets,  boxes,  or  presses,  and  them  to  seal  up  till  they  may  at 
their  leisure  peruse  them.” 

What  care,  or  whether  any,  was  presently  taken  of  these 
papers,  I  cannot  learn.  But  it  is  probable  that  for  fourteen 
months  after  Bacon’s  death,  they  remained  locked  up  ; — for  so 
long  it  was  before  any  one  had  authority  to  act ;  the  executors 
named  in  the  will  refusing  or  delaying  to  assume  their  office, 
and  letters  of  administration  being  granted  on  the  13th  of  July, 
1627,  to  Sir  Robert  Rich  and  Mr.  Thomas  Meautys,  two  of  the 
creditors; — and  that  then,  or  not  long  after,  they  were  placed  in 
the  hands  of  Mr,  Bosvile.  This  Mr.  Bosvile,  better  known  as 
Sir  William  Boswell,  was  sent,  soon  after  Bacon’s  death,  to  the 
Hague ;  where  he  resided  for  several  years  as  agent  with  the 
States  of  the  United  Provinces.  He  was  knighted  on  the  18th 
of  May,  1 633,  and  died  I  believe  in  1647.  Whether  all  Bacon's 
remaining  manuscripts  were  sent  to  him,  or  only  a  portion  of 
them,  is  not  known.  What  we  know  is  that,  among  those 


2  Bacon  HI 


4 


PREFACE. 


which  were  sent,  there  were  many  philosophical  pieces  writ¬ 
ten  in  Latin ;  that  he  consulted  Isaac  Gruter  about  them ; 
and  that  the  result  was  a  12mo  volume  printed  by  Elzevir 
at  Amsterdam  in  the  year  1653,  entitled  Francisci  Baconi  de 
Verulamio  Scripta  in  Naturali  et  Universali  Philosophia ,  and 
containing  these  pieces  following  : — 

1.  A  Prayer,  headed  Temporis  Partus  Masculus,  sive  Instauratio 

magna  imperii  humani  in  universum.  The  same  in  sub¬ 
stance,  and  almost  the  same  in  expression,  as  the  prayer 
which  is  introduced  towards  the  end  of  the  Preface  to  the 
Instauratio  (Vol.  I.  p.  131.):  placed  here  by  itself  on  the 
blank  side  of  the  title-leaf,  as  if  it  were  a  motto  to  the 
volume  —  an  office  for  which  the  heading  makes  it  alto¬ 
gether  inappropriate. 

2.  Cogitata  et  Visa ;  to  which  is  added  a  Latin  translation  of 

Sir  Thomas  Bodley’s  letter  to  Bacon  concerning  that 
work.  (p.  62.) 

3.  Descriptio  Globi  Intellectuals,  (p.  75.) 

4.  Thema  Cceli.  (p.  154.) 

5.  De  Fluxu  et  Rejluxu  Maris,  (p.  178.) 

6.  De  Principiis  atque  Orjginibus  secundum  Fabulas  Cupidinis 

et  Cceli,  Sfc.  (p.  208.) 

These  are  all  printed  as  separate  pieces ;  each  carrying  its 
own  title  along  the  top  of  its  own  pages. 

Then  follow,  under  a  general  running  title  of  Impetus  Philo- 
sophici : — 

7.  Indicia  Vera  de  Interpretatione  Naturae,  (p.  285.)  Merely 

the  Prsefatio  to  the  Novum  Organum,  already  printed  in 
the  first  volume  of  this  edition,  p.  151. 

8.  Partis  Instaurationis  Secundce  Delineatio  et  Argumentum. 
(p.  293.)  Printed  as  if  it  were  a  sequel  to  the  last,  the 
two  forming  one  piece  ;  which  originally  perhaps  they  did. 

9.  Phenomena  Universi,  sive  Historia  Naturalis  ad  condendam 

Philosophiam.  (p.  323.)  A  fragment,  consisting  of  a  pre¬ 
face  intended  for  the  third  part  of  the  Instauratio,  and  a 
rudiment  of  the  Historia  Densi  et  Bari,  with  which  it  seems 
that  Bacon  then  intended  to  begin  his  collection  of  his¬ 
tories. 


PREFACE. 


5 


10.  Scala  IiitelJectus,  sive  Filum  Labyrinth*,  (p.  379.)  A  preface 
intended  for  the  fourth  part  of  the  Instauratio.  Already 
printed:  Vol.  II.  p.  687. 

11.  Prodromi  sive  Anticipations s  Philosophies  Secundee.  (p.  385.) 
The  preface  intended  for  the  fifth  part  of  the  Instauratio. 
Already  printed:  Vol.  II.  p.  690. 

12.  Cogitationes  de  Natura  Rerum.  (p.  389.)  The  piece  with 
which  in  the  present  edition  Part  II.  begins:  infra  p.  15. 

13.  A  Preface*  entitled  Franciscus  Bacon  Lectori,  (p.  431.)  A 
first  draught  probably  of  the  preface  to  the  fourth  part  of 
the  Instauratio. 

14.  Filum  Lahyrinthi,  sive  Inquisitio  legitima  de  Motu.  (p.  435.) 
A  skeleton  of  an  enquiry  conducted  upon  the  true  method ; 
that  is  to  say,  a  complete  list  of  the  titles  of  the  several 
processes  of  an  investigation  into  the  Form  of  Motion  ; 
followed  by  some  general  remarks,  which  may  have  been 
designed  for  the  conclusion  of  the  work  which  Bacon  had 
in  contemplation  when  he  wrote  the  Cogitata  et  Visa,  and 
intended  to  set  forth  the  new  method  in  an  example. 

15.  Franc.  Baconi  Aphorismi  et  Consilia,  de  auxiliis  mentis  et 
accensione  luminis  naturalis.  (p.  448.) 

16.  De  Interpretatione  Natures  Sententice  XII.  (p.  451.)  This 
and  the  preceding  are  rudiments  of  the  Novum  Organum. 

17.  Tradendi  Modus  legitimus.  (p.  458.)  This  consists  of  two 
chapters  ;  of  which  the  first  is  the  same  as  the  first  chapter 
of  the  Temporis  Partus  Masculus ;  the  second  another 
form  of  the  Redargutio  Philosophiarum.  They  are  printed 
here  (probably  by  mistake)  as  if  they  were  a  sequel  to  the 
Sententice  XII.,  with  which  they  do  not  appear  to  be  con¬ 
nected. 

18.  De  Interpretatione  Natures  Proexmium.  (p.  479.)  This  has 
been  intended  for  a  preface  to  the  Instauratio,  in  some 
of  its  forms ;  probably  to  the  Temporis  Partus  Masculus. 

19.  Francisci  Baconi  Topica  Inquisitionis  de  Luce  et  Lumine. 
(p.  485.)  Another  copy,  with  a  few  slight  variations,  of 
the  paper  which  has  been  already  printed  (Vol.  II.  p* 
317.)  from  Dr.  Hawley’s  copy. 


6 


PREFACE. 


Of  these  nineteen  pieces,  the  last  thirteen  are  (as  I  have 
said)  distinguished  from  the  others  by  a  general  running  title 
of  Impetus  Pliilosophici ;  the  2nd,  3rd,  4th,  5th,  and  6th 
carrying  each  its  own  title  on  the  top  of  its  own  pages  ;  and  to 
the  whole  volume  is  prefixed  an  address  from  Gruter  to  the 
reader,  which  contains  all  the  information  that  is  to  be  had 
about  it ;  and  which  T  mu3t  transcribe  at  length,  the  meaning 
being  in  some  places  so  obscure  that  I  can  only  guess  at  it. 

Lectori  S.  Isaacus  Gkuterus. 

Qua;  tibi  danris  Amice  Lector,  ad  Universalem  et  Naturalem  Phi- 
losophiam  spectantia,  ex  Manuscriptis  Codicibus,  quos  accurate 
recensuerat  et  varie  emendarat  author,  me  amanuense  apograph  a 
sunt.  Sola  Bodlei  epistola,  quae  ad  examen  vocat  Cogitata  et  Visa, 
per  me  ex  Anglico  facta  Latina  est,  atque  ex  opere  epistolarum 
Baconi,  qu®  tali  idiomate  circumferuntur,  hue  translata  ob  ma- 
teriae  cognationem.  Titulus  quem  frons  libri  prmfert  et  totum 
complectitur  opusculi  in  varias  dissertationes  secti  argumentum,  ab 
ipso  Verulamio  est ;  quem  singul®  exhibent  paginae  ex  rerum 
tractatarum  serie  distinctum,  a  me,  ut  minus  confunderet  quasren- 
tem  Lectorem  indiculi  defectus.  Quicquid  sequitur,  ab  eo  loco  Cujus 
inscriptio  est  in  ipso  contextu  Indicia  vera  de  interpretations  na¬ 
tures  usque  ad  finem,  donavi  eo  nomine  Impetus  Philosophici,  quod 
ex  familiaribus  Yiri  magni  colloquiis  notassem,  cum  de  istis  chartis 
mecum  ageret.  Non  aliter  enim  appellarfe  solebat  quicquid  priori- 
bus  per  titulos  suos  separatis  connecteretur ;  ne  quis  imperfectum 
statim  suspicetur  quod  defervescente  Impetu  non  videt  trahere  syrma 
prolix®  tractationis.  Omnia  autem  h*c  inedita  (nisi  quod  in  editis 
paucissimis  rara  exstent  quarundam  ex  his  meditationum  vestigia) 
debes,  Amice  Lector,  Nobilissimo  Guil.  Boswello,  ad  quem  ex  ipsius 
Baconi  legato  pervenerant,  cum  aliis  in  politico  et  morali  genere 
elaboratis,  qu®  nunc  ex  dono  to v  gaKaptrov  penes  me  servantur  non 
diu  premenda.  Boswello  inquam,  viro  nobilitate,  prudentia  insigni, 
varia  eruditione,  humanitate  summa,  et  Oratori  olim  apud  Batavos 
Anglo  ;  cujus  sancta  mihi  memoria  est.  Vale  et  conatibus  nostris 
fave,  qui  mox  plura  daturi  sumus  Baconiana  latine  versa,  maximam 
partem  inedita ;  et  <rv\\dy»}v  adornamus  epistolarum  quas  vir  eminen- 
tissimus  Hugo  Grotius  scripsit  ad  Belgas,  Germanos,  Italos,  Suecos, 
Danos,  Gallis  exceptis,  quas  Clarissimus  Sarravius  Senator  Parisi- 
ensis  edidit.  Rogantur  itaque  in  quorum  manus  h®c  inciderint,  ut, 
si  quid  ejus  not®  habent,  aut  sciunt  unde  haberi  queat,  ad  typo- 
graphum  transmittant,  et  significent,  emteris  jam  collectis  aggre- 
gandum. 


PREFACE. 


7 


From  this  statement  we  learn,  first,  that  all  the  pieces  in 
the  volume  are  genuine,  having  been  copied  by  Gruter  from 
original  manuscripts,  bearing  marks  of  revision  and  correction 
by  Bacon  himself ;  which  manuscripts  Gruter  received  directly 
from  Sir  William  Boswell,  to  whom  they  had  come  directly 
from  the  executors ;  secondly,  that  Gruter  had  then  in  his 
possession,  “  non  diu  premenda,’’  certain  other  writings  of 
Bacon’s  (in  Latin  apparently)  relating  to  morals  and  politics, 
which  had  come  to  Boswell  along  with  these ;  and  thirdly, 
that  he  had  in  his  hands  (but  whether  derived  from  the  same 
source  or  not  we  cannot  say)  some  pieces  written  by  Bacon  in 
English,  and  most  of  them  unpublished ;  and  that  of  these  he 
intended  shortly  to  bring  out  a  Latin  translation. 

With  regard  to  the  works  contained  in  this  volume,  he 
seems  to  have  had  no  further  information  to  give.  He  has 
confined  himself  to  the  simple  office  of  transcriber.  The  order 
in  which  they  are  arranged  tells  nothing  either  as  to  nature 
or  date;  and  the  running  titles,  which  are  his  own  device, 
seem  to  imply  a  distinction  which,  being  untrue,  can  only 
introduce  confusion.  By  assigning  separate  running  titles  to 
some  of  the  pieces  and  printing  all  the  rest  under  one  general 
running  title  of  Impetus  Philosophici,  any  one  would  suppose 
that  he  meant  to  distinguish  the  first  as  in  some  way  different 
in  character  from  the  last,  —  to  separate  the  complete  from 
the  incomplete,  for  instance,  the  solid  from  the  slight,  or 
the  deliberate  and  final  judgment  from  the  experimental  and 
rudimentary  essay ; — whereas  there  is  in  fact  no  such  difference 
to  be  found  between  the  two :  there  being  pieces  among  the 
last  as  complete  in  themselves  as  any  among  the  first,  and 
pieces  among  the  first  as  incomplete  as  any  among  the  last. 
And  if  I  rightly  understand  Gruter’s  own  explanation  of  his 
motive  in  making  the  distinction,  —  namely,  lest  the  reader 
should  impute  the  imperfection  of  the  pieces  to  the  fault  of 
the  editor  instead  of  the  defervescens  impetus  of  the  author, 
—  it  would  even  seem  that  he  supposed  the  Descriptio  Gldbi 
Intellectuals  and  the  De  Principiis  et  Originibus  to  be  com¬ 
plete  ;  which  he  could  not  possibly  have  done  if  he  had  read 
them  with  his  mind  as  well  as  with  his  eyes. 

The  fact  probably  is  that  the  five  pieces  which  stand  first 
under  separate  titles  —  the  prior  a  per  titulos  suos  separata — 
wpre  found  copied  out  in  a  book;  and  that  the  rest, —  “quic- 


8 


PREFACE. 


quid  prioribus,  &c.  connecter etur,” — were  in  separate  papers, 
tied  up  with  it.  "VVe  happen  to  know  from  the  Commentarius 
Solutus  that  in  the  year  1608  this  was  the  way  in  which 
Bacon’s  manuscripts  were  actually  arranged, — that  among  his 
Libri  Compositionum  was  one  entitled  Scripta  in  Naturali  et 
Universali  Philosophid,  and  that  all  his  books  “had  pertaining 
to  them  fragments  and  loose  papers  of  like  nature  with  the 
hooks;  and  those  likewise  were  bundled  or  laid  up  with  the 
books.”  These  last  I  presume  it  was,  or  such  as  these,  that 
were  called  Impetus  Philosophid  by  the  “  Vir  Magnus  ”  (that 
is,  by  Boswell,  —  for  Bacon  cannot  be  meant)  with  whom 
Gruter  conferred  about  the  papers:  a  description  convenient 
enough  for  the  purpose  of  distinguishing  in  a  box  of  manu¬ 
scripts  the  loose  from  the  bound-up  pieces,  but  worse  than 
useless  when  introduced,  especially  with  such  imperfect  ex¬ 
planation,  into  a  printed  book.  In  the  present  edition,  the  plan 
of  which  makes  it  necessary  to  separate  and  disperse  the 
several  pieces  collected  by  Gruter  under  this  title,  the  title 
itself  is  of  course  dispensed  with.  But  if  the  reader  wishes 
to  know  which  of  Bacon’s  posthumous  writings  he  had  taken 
pains  to  preserve  by  having  them  transcribed  into  a  book,  and 
which  he  had  merely  kept  by  him  in  loose  bundles,  —  a  point 
which  it  may  sometimes  be  of  use  to  ascertain,  —  he  will  find 
in  the  table  of  contents  which  I  have  just  given  all  the  infor¬ 
mation  on  the  subject  that  can  be  extracted  from  Gruter’s 
volume. 

The  duty  of  transcriber  Gruter  appears  to  have  performed 
tolerably  well ;  there  are  but  a  few  places  in  which  the  text  is 
manifestly  corrupt ;  but  since  he  has  attempted  nothing  more, 
it  is  to  be  regretted  that  he  has  left  us  without  any  informa¬ 
tion  as  to  the  fate  of  the  original  manuscripts ;  not  one  of 
which,  I  believe,  is  known  to  be  in  existence.  There  is  not 
one  of  them  which  would  not  be  well  worth  examining,  if  it 
could  be  found ;  not  only  for  the  correction  of  the  text,  but 
because  some  interesting  questions  as  to  date  might  possibly  be 
cleared  up  by  help  of  the  interlineations  and  alterations. 

Another  question  well  worth  asking  is,  what  became  of  those 
moral  and  political  pieces  which  Gruter  had  received  from 
Boswell,  and  had  by  him  in  1653,  and  intended  to  publish  ? 
I  cannot  hear  that  he  ever  did  publish  anything  answering  the 
description ;  and  unless  he  transferred  them  to  Dr.  Hawley  to 


PREFACE. 


9 


be  included  in  the  Opuscula  (1658),  which  does  contain  a  few 
things  of  the  kind,  they  remain  to  be  accounted  for. 

The  unpublished  English  pieces,  of  which  he  announces  his 
intention  to  bring  out  a  Latin  translation  (an  intention  which 
I  cannot  learn  that  he  ever  fulfilled),  may  have  been  only  copies 
of  those  which  were  published  by  Dr.  Rawley  in  1657.  These 
were  afterwards  translated  into  Latin  by  S.  J.  Arnold,  'and 
included  (see  Acta  Eruditorum,  vol.  xiii.  anno  1694,  p.  400.)  in 
an  edition  of  Bacon’s  Opera  Omnia  which  was  published  at 
Leipsic  in  that  year. 

In  1695  they  were  reprinted  at  Amsterdam  by  H.  Wet- 
stenius  in  a  separate  volume ;  with  the  title  Francisci  Baconi, 
$fc.,  Opuscula  historico-politica,  Anglice  olim  conscripta,  et  nuper 
Latinitate  donata  a  Simone  Joanne  Arnoldo,  Ecclesice  Sonnenbru- 
gensis  Inspectore. 


COGITATIONES 

DE 


NATURA  RERUM. 


13 


PREFACE 

TO  THE 

COGITATIONES  DE  NATURA  RERUM. 


This  piece  was  printed  by  Gruter  among  the  Impetus  Philo- 
sophici ;  from  which  we  may  probably  conclude  that  it  bad  not 
been  transcribed  into  the  volume  of  Scripta  in  Naturali  et 
Universali  Philosophia  1 :  but  that  is  all.  There  is  nothing  to 
determine  the  date  of  composition,  unless  it  he  the  absence  of 
any  allusion  to  the  new  star  in  Ophiuchus  in  the  place  where 
the  new  star  in  Cassiopeia  is  mentioned.  See  note,  §  x.  The 
value  of  the  argument  will  be  more  easily  understood  by 
comparing  the  passage  in  question  with  a  passage  of  the  same 
import  in  a  work,  obviously  later,  where  both  these  stars  are 
mentioned  together.  In  both  cases  the  question  under  discus¬ 
sion  is  the  immutability  of  the  heavens.  In  the  Cogitationes  de 
Natura  Rerum,  of  which  the  date  is  unknown,  we  find,  “. . . 
mutationes  in  regionibus  coelestibus  fieri,  ex  cometis  quibus- 
dam  satis  liquet ;  iis  dico  qui  certam  et  constantem  configura- 
tionem  cum  stellis  fixis  servarunt ;  qualis  fuit  ille  qui  in 
Cassiopea  nostra  aetate  apparuit.”  This  star  in  Cassiopeia 
appeared  in  1572.  But  another  of  the  same  kind,  and  no  less 
remarkable,  appeared  in  September  1604.  It  is  said  to  have 
been  brighter,  when  first  seen,  than  Jupiter1 2;  and  though  its 
brightness  diminished  afterwards,  it  was  distinctly  visible  for 
more  than  a  year.  It  attracted  so  much  attention  as  to  be 
made  the  subject  of  three  lectures  of  a  popular  character,  given 
by  Galileo  to  crowded  audiences ;  and  it  is  difficult  to  believe 
either  that  Bacon  did  not  know  of  it  (he  being  then  44  years 

1  See  above,  p.  8. 

2  MaestUn,  quoted  In  the  Life  of  Galileo,  Library  of  Useful  Knowledge,  p.  16. 


14 


PREFACE  TO  COGITATIONES  DE  NAT.  RERUM. 


old,  and  busy  at  the  time  with  the  Advancement  of  Learning, 
and  quite  understanding  the  significance  of  the  phenomenon ;) 
or  that,  if  he  did,  he  could  have  forgotten  to  mention  it  when 
speaking  of  the  other.  Accordingly,  in  the  Descriptio  Globi 
Intellectuals,  which  we  know  to  have  been  written  about  the 
year  1612,  the  passage  which  I  have  just  quoted  appears  in  a 
new  form.  “  Id  enim  [sc.  admirandas  in  ccelo  accidere  muta- 
tiones  atque  insolentias]  perspicitur  in  cometis  sublimioribus, 
iis  nimirum  qui  et  figuram  stellae  induerunt  absque  coma,  neque 
solum  ex  doctrina  parallaxium  supra  lunam  collocati  esse  pro- 
bantur,  sed  configurationem  etiam  certam  et  constantem  cum 
stellis  fixis  habuerunt,  et  stationes  suas  servarunt,  neque 
errones  fuerunt ;  quales  aetas  nostra  non  semel  vidit ;  primo  in 
Cassiopea,  iterum  non  ita  pridem  in  Ophiucho.’, 

That  -when  Bacon  wrote  the  tenth  Cogitatio  he  had  not 
heard  of  the  appearance  of  this  second  new  star,  may  be  as¬ 
sumed  with  considerable  confidence.  The  only  question  is 
whether  such  a  phenomenon  could  have  been  long  known  to 
the  astronomers  of  his  time,  without  his  hearing  of  it;  of 
which  I  can  only  say  that  it  seems  unlikely,  and  that,  in  the 
absence  of  all  evidence  to  the  contrary,  the  presumption  must 
be  that  these  Cogitationes  were  composed  before  1605.  That 
they  were  composed  before  the  appearance  of  the  new  star  in 
Cygnus,  cannot  be  so  safely  inferred.  That  star  was  much  less 
conspicuous ;  and  it  is  a  fact  that  Galileo  himself,  treating  this 
very  same  argument,  mentions  both  the  others  without  making 
any  allusion  to  it.  See  Dial,  dei  Massimi  Sistemi,  p.  59.  ed. 
Flor.  1842. 

The  notes  to  this  piece  are  Mr.  Ellis’s. 

J.  S. 


15 


00  (II  TATI  ONES  DE  NATURA  RERUM* 


COGITATIO  I. 

De  sectione  corporum,  continuo,  et  vacuo. 

Doctrina  Democriti  de  atomis  aut  vera  est,  aut  ad  demon- 
strationem  utiliter  adhibetur.  Non1  facile  enim  est  natural 
subtilitatem  genuinam,  et  qualis  in  rebus  ipsis  invenitur,  aut 
cogitatione  complecti  aut  verbis  exprimere,  nisi  supponatur 
atomus.  Accipitur  autem  duobus  sensibus  atomus,  nonmultum 
inter  se  diversis.  Aut  enim  accipitur  pro  corporum  sectionis 
sive  fractionis  termino  ultimo  sive  portione  minima;  aut  pro 
corpore  quod  vacuo  caret.  Quod  ad  primum  attinet,  bsec  duo 
posita  tuto  et  certo  statui  possunt.  Alterum,  inveniri  in  rebus 
dispertitionem  et  comminutionem,  longe  ea  qua;  sub  adspectum 
cadit  subtiliorem.  Alterum,  earn  tamen  infinitam  non  esse, 
nec  perpetuo  divisibilem.  Si  quis  enim  diligenter  attendat, 
reperiet  rerum  minutias  in  corporibus  continuatis,  eas  qua;  in 
corporibus  fractis  et  discontinuatis  inveniuntur  subtilitate  louge 
vincere.  Videmus  enim  parum  croci  in  aqua  infusum  et  a»i- 
tatum,  puta  dolium  aquae  ita  inficere,  ut  ab  alia  aqua  pura 
etiam  visu  distingui  possit.  Qu®  certe  dispertitio  croci  per 
aquam,  subtilitatem  exquisitissimi  pulveris  superat.  Quod 
manifestum  fiet,  si  tantundem  pulveris  ligni  Brasilii,  vel  ba- 
laustiorum,  vel  alicujus  rei  op  time  coloratae  (quae  tamen  croci 
lentorem  ad  se  in  liquoribus  aperiendum  et  incorporandum  non 
habeat)  immisceas.  Itaque  ridiculum  erat,  atomos  pro  parvis 
illis  corpusculis  quae  sub  radiis  solis  conspiciuntur  accipere. 
Ea  enim  pulveris  instar  sunt ;  atomum  autem,  ut  ipse  Demo¬ 
critus  aiebat,  nemo  unquam  vidit,  aut  videre  possit.  Sed  ista 
rerum  dispertitio  in  odoribus  multo  magis  mirabilem  se  ostendit. 
Etenim  si  parum  croci  dolium  aquae  colore,  at  parum  zibetbi 
ccenaculum  amplum  odore,  imbuere  et  inficere  potest,  et  subinde 


1  Nam  in  Gruter’s  copy _ J.  S. 


16 


C0GITAT10NES  DE  NATURA  RERUM. 


aliud,  et  rursus  aliud.  Neque  quisquam  sibi  fingat,  odores, 
luminis  more  aut  etiam  caloris  et  frigoris,  absque  communi- 
catione  substantiae  diffundi ;  cum  notare  possit,  odores  etiam 
rebus  solidis,  lignis,  metallis,  adbaerescere,  idque  ad  tempusnon 
exiguum ;  posse  etiam  frictione,  lavatione,  ab  iisdem  discuti  et 
purgari.  Yerum  in  hisce  et  similibus,  quod  processus  infinitus 
non  sit,  nemo  sanus  contradixerit ;  cum  intra  spatia  et  limites, 
et  corporum  quantitates,  hujusmodi  dispertitio  sive  diffusio  co- 
hibeatur  :  ut  in  exemplis  antedictis  evidentissimum  est.  Quod 
ad  secundum  sensum  atom!  attinet,  quod  vacuum  prsesupponit, 
atomumque  ex  privatione  vacui  definit ;  bona  et  seria  diligentia 
Heronis  fuit,  quae 1  vacuum  coacervatum  negavit,  vacuum  com- 
mistum  asseruit.2  Cum  enim  perpetuum  corporum  nexum 
cerneret,  neque  inveniri  prorsus  aut  assignari  spatium  aliquod 
quod  corpore  vacet;  et  multo  magis,  cum  corpora  gravia  et 
ponderosa  sursum  ferri,  et  naturas  suas  quoquo  modo  deponere 
et  violare  potius  quam  divulsionem  absolutam  a  corpore  con- 
tiguo  patiantur,  videret ;  naturam  a  vacuo  majoris  notae,  sive 
coacervato,  abborrere  prorsus  statuit.  Contra,  cum  eandem 
corporis  materiam  contrahi,  et  coarctari,  et  rursus  aperiri  et  di- 
latari  perspiceret,  et  spatia  inasqualia,  interdum  majora  interdum 
minora,  occupare  et  complere;  non  vidit  quomodo  hujusmodi 
ingressns  et  egressus  corporum  in  locis  suis  fieri  possit,  nisi 
propter  vacuum  admistum,  minus  videlicet  corpore  compresso, 
plus  relaxato.  Necesse  enim  esse,  contractionem  istam  per 
unum  ex  his  tribus  modis  fieri ;  aut  eo  quern  diximus,  nempe 
quod  vacuum  pro  ratione  contractionis  excludatur ;  aut  quod 
aliud  aliquod  corpus  prius  intermixtum  exprimatur  ;  aut  quod 
sit  quasdam  naturalis  (qualis  qualis  ea  sit)  corporum  condensatio 
et  rarefactio.  Atque  quod  ad  corporis  tenuioris  expressionem 
attinet,  ista  ratio  nullum  exitum  habere  videtur.  Nam  verum 
est,  spongias,  et  hujusmodi  porosa,  expresso  aere  contrahi. 
De  acre  ipso  autem  manifestum  est  per  plurima  experimenta, 
eum3  spatio  notabili  contrahi  posse.  Num  ergo  et  ipsius  aeris 
subtiliorem  partem  exprimi  putandum  est?  et  deinceps hujus¬ 
modi  partis  aliam,  et  sic  in  infinitum?  Nam  adversissimum 
tali  opinioni  est,  quod  quo  tenuiora  corpora  sint,  eo  majorem 
contractionem  sustineant;  cum  contra  fieri  oporteret,  si  con- 
tractio  per  expressionem  partis  tenuioris  fieret.  Atque  de  illo 

1  So  in  Gruter’s  copy. — J,  S.  *  cum  in  Gruter’s  copy.  —  J.  S. 

2  See  note  on  Nov.  Orff.  n.  48.  [Vol.  I.  p.  347.] 


C0GITAT10NES  DE  NATURA  RERUM. 


17 


altero  modo,  corpora  scilicet  eadem,  nec  alias  mutata,  tamen 
magis  et  minus  in  raritate  aut  densitate  recipere,  non  multum 
laborandum  est.  Positivum  enim  quiddam  videtur  esse,  et 
ratione  surda  et  inexplicata  niti,  qualia  sunt  fere  Aristotelis 
pronuntiata.  Restat  itaque  tertius  ille  modus,  qui  vacuum 
supponit.  Quod  si  illud  quis  objiciat :  durum  videri,  et  fere 
incredibile,  ut  vacuum  admistum  sit,  cum  corpus  ubique  re- 
periatur ;  is  si  exempla  quae  modo  adduxiinus,  aquce  croco,  vel 
aeris  odoribus  infecti,  animo  sedatiore  consideret,  facile  per- 
spiciet  nullam  partem  posse  assignari  aquae  ubi  crocus  non  sit, 
et  tamen  manifestum  esse  ex  comparatione  croci  et  aquae  ante- 
quam  miscerentur,  corpus  aquae  corpus  croci  multis  numeris 
excedere.  Quod  si  id  in  diversis  corporibus  invenitur,  multo 
magis  in  corpore  et  vacuo  hoc  fieri  putandum  est.  Verum  in 
ea  parte,  Heronis,  utpote  bominis  mechanici,  contemplatio, 
ilia  Democriti,  pliilosophi  clarissimi,  inferior  fuit :  quod  Hero, 
quia  hie  apud  nos  in  nostro  isto  orbe  vacuum  coacervatum 
non  reperit,  ideo  illud  simpliciter  negavit.  Nil  enim  impedit, 
quominus  in  regionibus  aetheris,  ubi  proculdubio  majores  sunt 
corporum  expansiones,  etiam  vacuum  coacervatum  sit.  In  iis 
autem  inquisitionibus  et  similibus  semel  monitum  sit,  ne  quis 
propter  tantam  naturae  subtilitatem  confundatur  et  diffidat. 
Cogitet  enim  et  unitates  et  summas  rerum  ex  aequo  supputa- 
tioni  submitti.  Tam  facile  enim  quis  mille  annos  dixerit  aut 
cogitarit1,  quam  mille  momenta;  cum  tamen  anni  a  multis 
momentis  constituantur.  Neque  rursus  existimet  aliquis,  haec 
potius  speculationis  curiosae  esse,  quam  ad  opera  et  usum  re- 
ferri.  Videre  enim  est  omnes  fere  philosophos  et  alios  qui  in 
experientia  et  rebus  particularibus  sedulo  versati  sunt  et  na- 
turam  ad  vivum  dissecuerunt,  in  hujusmodi  inquisitiones  in- 
cidere,  licet  eas  feliciter  non  peragant.  Neque  alia  subest 
causa  potentior  et  verior,  ob  quam  philosophia  quam  habemus 
effectuum  sit  sterilis,  nisi  quod  verborum  et  notionum  vul- 
garium  subtilitates  captavit ;  naturae  subtilitatem  non  persecuta 
est,  nec  inquirere  constituit. 

ii. 

De  aqualitate  ac  inaequalitate  Atomorum  sive  Seminum. 
PythagoRjE  inventa  et  placita  talia  ex  majore  parte  fuere, 
quae  ad  ordinem  potius  quendam  religiosorum  fundandum, 

1  cogitaret  in  Gruter's  edition.  —  J.  S. 


18 


COGITATIONES  DE  NATURA  RERUM. 


quam  ad  scholam  in  philosophia  aperiendam,  accommodata 
essent ;  quod  et  eventus  comprobavit.  Ea  enim  disciplina  plus 
in  haeresi  Manichaeorum  et  superstitione  Mahumeti  quam  apud 
philosophos  valuit  et  floruit.  Opinio  tamen  ejus,  mundum  ex 
numeris  constare,  eo  sensu  accipi  potest,  ut  ad  naturae  principia 
penetret.  Duplex  enim  est,  atque  adeo  esse  potest,  opinio  de 
atomis  sive  rerum  seminibus :  una  Democriti,  quae  atomis  in- 
aequalitatem  et  figuram,  et  per  figuram  situm,  attribuit ;  altera 
fortasse  Pythagorae,  quae  eas  omnino  pares  et  similes  esse  as- 
seruit.1  Qui  enim  aequalitatem  atomis  assignat,  is  omnia  in 
numeris  necessario  ponit ;  qui  autem  reliqua  attributa  admittit, 
is  naturas  primitivas  atomorum  singularium  praeter  numeros 
sive  rationes  coitionum  adhibet.  Activa  autem  quaestio  quae 
huic  speculativae  respondet  eamque  determinare  potest,  ea  est 
quam  etiam  Democritus  adducit;  utrum  omnia  ex  omnibus  fieri 
possint.2  Quod  cum  ille  a  ratione  alienum  putasset,  atomorum 
diversitatem  tenuit.  Nobis  vero  ea  quaestio  non  bene  instituta 
nec  quaestionem  priorem  premere  videtur,  si  de  transmutatione 
immediata  corporum  intelligatur.  Yerum  utrum  etiam  per 
debitos  circuitus  et  mutationes  medias  universa  non  transeant, 
ea  demum  quaestio  legitima  est.  Dubium  enim  non  est,  se- 
mina  rerum,  licet  sint  paria,  postquam  se  in  certas  turmas  et 
nodos  conjecerint,  corporum  dissimilium  naturam  omnino  in- 
duere,  donee  eaedem  turmae  aut  nodi  dissolvantur ;  adeo  ut 
compositorum  natura  et  affectus  transmutationi  immediate  non 
minori  impedimento  ac  obici,  quam  simplicium,  esse  possit.  Ye¬ 
rum  Democritus  in  corporum  principiis  investigandis  acutus ;  in 
motuum  autem  principiis  examinandis  sibi  impar  et  imperitus 
deprehenditur ;  quod  etiam  commune  vitium  omnium  philosopho- 
rum  fuit.  Atque  hujus  de  qua  loquimur  inquisitionis  de  prima 
conditione  seminum  sive  atomorum  utilitas,  nescimus  an  non  sit 
omnino  maxima ;  ut  quas  sit  actus  et  potentiae  suprema  regula,  et 
spei  et  operum  vera  moderatrix.  Etiam  alia  inquisitio  inde  Suit, 
cujus  utilitas  complexu  minor,  sed  rebus  et  operibus  propior  est. 
Ea  est  de  separatione  et  alteratione ;  hoc  est,  quid  per  separa- 

1  It  is  possible  that  Bacon  may  have  been  led  to  suggest  this  view  of  the  Pythago¬ 
rean  philosophy  by  a  passage  in  Stobseus,  Eclog.  i.  16.  It  is  there  said  that  Ecphan- 
tus,  a  Pythagorean  of  Syracuse,  took  as  first  principles  atoms  and  vacuum.  Tar  yb.p 
Tlv^ayopiKd-s  povdSas  ovtos  Tpu tos  aretfrrjvaTo  auparinds.  But  as  metaphysical  con¬ 
ceptions  have,  so  to  speak,  a  natural  tendency  to  assume  a  merely  physical  character, 
the  idea  of  a  parallel  between  Democritus  and  Pythagoras  may,  it  is  not  improbable, 
have  occurred  to  him  independently  of  this  or  any  similar  passage. 

1  See  Lucretius,  i.  784. 


OOGIT ATIONES  DE  NATURA  RERUM. 


19 


tlonem  fiat,  et  quid  alia  ratione.  Familiaris  enim  est  animo 
humano  error,  qui  etiam  a  chymistarum  philosophia  magnum 
robur  et  incrementum  accepit;  ut  ea  separation!  deputentur, 
quas  alio  spectent.  Exempli  gratia ;  cum  aqua  in  vaporem 
transit,  facile  quis  opinetur  partem  aqua;  subtiliorem  emitti, 
crassiorem  subsistere ;  ut  in  ligno  videre  est,  ubi  pars  in  flamma 
et  fumo  evolat,  pars  in  cinere  manet.  Simile  quiddam  et  in  aqua 
fieri  quis  putet,  licet  non  tam  manifesto.  Quamvis  enim  tota 
aqua  quandoque  ebullire  et  consumi  videatur,  tamen  faces  quas- 
dam  ejus,  tanquam  cinerem,  vasi  adharescere  posse.  Yerum  et 
ista  ratio  cogitationem  fallit.  Certissimum  enim  est,  totum 
corpus  aqua  in  aerem  posse  mutari,  et  si  quid  vasi  adharescat, 
id  non  ex  delectu  et  separatione  partis  crassioris,  sed  forte 
ut  aliqua  pars  (licet  pari  omnino  cum  ea  qua  evolat  sub¬ 
stantia)  situ  vas  tetigerit,  evenire ;  idque  exemplo  argenti  vivi 
elucescit,  quod  totum  fit  volatile,  et  rursus  totum  absque 
diminutione  vel  tantilla  consistit.  Etiam  in  oleo  lampadum  et 
sevo  candelarum,  totum  a  pingui  fit  volatile,  nec  aliqua  fit  inci- 
neratio ;  nam  fuligo  post  flammam,  non  ante  flammam,  gignitur; 
et  flamma  cadaver,  non  olei  aut  sevi  sedimentum  est.  Atque 
hoc  aditum  quendam  ad  Democriti  opinionem  de  diversitate 
seminum  sive  atomorum  labefactandam  prabet.  Aditum.  in- 
quam,  in  natura ;  nam  in  opinione  aditus  ille  est  multo  mollior 
et  blandior,  quod  philosophia  vulgaris  materiams  suam  commen- 
titiam  ad  omnes  formas  aquam  et  communem  fingit. 

III. 

De  negligentia  veterum  in  inquisitione  de  Motu  et  Moventibus 
rerum  Principiis. 

Inquisitionem  de  Natura  in  Motu  contemplando  et  exami- 
nando  maxime  collocare,  ejus  est  qui  opera  spectet.  Quieta 
autem  rerum  principia  contemplari  aut  comminisci,  eorum  est 
qui  sermones  serere  et  disputationes  alere  velint.  Quieta 
autem  voco  principia,  qua  docent  ex  quibus  res  conflentur  et 
consistant,  non  autem  qua  vi  et  via  coalescant.  Neque  enim 
ad  agendum  et  potestatem  sive  operationem  humanam  ampli- 
ficandam  sufficit,  aut  magnopere  attinet,  nosse  ex  quibus  res 
constent,  si  modos  et  vias  mutationum  et  transformationum 
ignores.  Nam  sumpto  exemplo  a  mechanicis1  (a  quarum2 

1  This  word  is  obviously  a  wrong  reading  for  medicis.  2  Read  quorum. 


3  Bacon  III 


20 


COGITATIONES  DE  NATURA  RERUM. 


phantasia  celebres  ill*  de  principiis  rerum  inquisitiones  flu- 
xisse  videntur),  an  forte  qui  simplicia  theriacam  ingredientia 
novit,  is  pro  certo  theriacam  componere  potest  ?  Aut  qui 
sacchari,  vitri,  panni,  materialia  recte  descripta  apud  se  habet, 
num  propterea  artem  qua;  ad  eorum  prseparationem  et  effecti- 
onem  pertinet  tenere  videtur  ?  Atque  in  hujusmodi  tamen 
principiis  mortuis  investigandis  et  examinandis  hominum  specu¬ 
lations  pr*cipue  occupatae  sunt ;  ac  si  quis  cadaveris  naturae 
anatomiam  inspicere,  non  naturae  vivae  facultates  et  virtutes 
inquirere,  sibi  proponat  et  destinet.  De  moventibus  autem 
rerum  principiis  sermo  fere  in  transitu  habetur ;  ut  omnem 
admirationem  superet,  si  intueamur  quam  negligenter  et  dis¬ 
solute  res  omnium  maxima  et  utilissima  inquiratur  et  tracte- 
tur.  Etenim  si  cogitationem  de  iis  quae  dicuntur  paulisper 
suscipiamus;  num  stimulus  materiae  per  privationem?  num 
efformatio  materiae  ad  ideam?  num  aggregatio  particularum 
similium  ?  num  agitatio  fortuita  atomorum  in  vacuo  ?  num  lis 
et  amicitia  ?  num  cceli  et  terrae  impressiones  reciprocae  ?  num 
elementorum  commercium  per  qualitates  symbolizantes  ?  1  num 
influxus  ccelestium  ?  num  sympathise  et  antipathiae  rerum  ? 
num  occultae  et  specific*  virtutes  et  proprietates  ?  num  fatum, 
fortuna,  necessitas?  num,  inquam,  hujusmodi  generalia,  qu* 
nil  aliud  sunt  quam  spectra  et  simulachra  in  superficie  rerum, 
veluti  in  aquis,  natantia  et  ludentia,  hujnanum  genus  beabunt 
aut  opes  humanas  efficient  auctiores  ?  Ista  enim  phantasiam 
implent,  vel  inflant  potius ;  sed  nil  prorsus  ad  operum  effectio- 
nem,  corporum  mutationem,  aut  motuum  regimen  faciunt. 
Atque  rursus,  de  motu  naturali  et  violento,  de  motu  ex  seipso 
et  aliunde,  de  terminis  motuum,  argutari  et  subtilitates  captare ; 
et  h*c  quoque  nil  admodum  de  corpore  natur*  stringunt ;  sed 
potius  in  cortice  describuntur.  Itaque  his  missis,  vel  ad  popu- 
lares  sermones  damnatis  et  relegatis,  illi  demum  rerum  appeti- 
tus  et  inclinationes  investigand*  sunt,  a  quibus  ista,  quam 
videmus,  tanta  effectuum  et  mutationum  varietas  in  operibus 
et  natur*  et  artis  conflatur  et  emergit.  Atque  tentandum  ut 
natur*,  veluti  Proteo,  vincula  injiciamus.  Sunt  enim  genera 
motuum  recte  inventa  et  discreta,  vera  Protei  vincula.  Nam 


1  Those  elements  are  said  to  symbolize,  or  to  be  allied,  which  have  a  primary 
quality  in  common.  Thus  air  symbolizes  with  fire,  inasmuch  as  both  are  hot ;  and 
with  water,  inasmuch  as  like  water  it  is  moist.  In  the  preceding  clauses  Bacon  alludes 
successively  to  Aristotle,  Plato,  Anaxagoras,  Democritus,  Empedocles,  and  Parmenides. 


COGITATIONES  DE  NATURA  RERUM. 


21 


prout  motuum,  id  est,  incitationum  et  cohibitionum,  stimuli  et 
nodi  adhibentur,  ad  illud  sequitur  materiae  ipsius  conversio  et 
transformatio. 


xv. 

De  divisione  vulgari  Motus,  quod  sit  inutilis,  et  minus  acuta. 

Divisio  Motus  recepta  in  pbilosopbia  popularis  videtur  et 
absque  fundamento,  ut  quae  rem  per  effectus  tantum  dividit; 
atque  ad  hoc,  ut  per  causas  sciamus,  nihil  conducit.  Nam 
generatio,  corruptio,  augmentatio,  diminutio,  alteratio,  latio 
ad  locum,  nil  aliud  quam  opera  et  effectus  motuum  sunt 1 ; 
qui  cum  ad  manifestam  rerum  mutationem  pervenerunt  quae 
populari  notae  subjacet,  turn  demum  bisce  nominibus  (pingui 
satis  contemplatione)  insigniuntur.  Neque  enim  dubitamus 
quin  boc  sibi  velint :  cum  corpora  per  motum  (cujuscunque 
sit  generis)  eo  usque  processerint  ut  formam  novam  teneant 
vel  veterem  ponant  (quod  veluti  periodus  quaedam  est,  et  justi 
spatii  confectio),  id  motum  generationis  et  corruptionis  nomi- 
nari ;  sin  autem,  manente  forma,  quantitatem  tantummodo  et 
dimensionem  novam  adipiscantur,  id  motum  augmentationis  et 
diminutionis  dici ;  sin 2,  manente  etiam  mole  et  claustris  sive 
circumscriptione,  tamen  qualitate,  actionibus,  et  passionibus  mu- 
tontur,  id  motum  alterationis  appellari ;  sin,  manente  utique  et 
forma  et  mole  et  quantitate,  locum  et  nil  aliud  mutent,  id  per 
motum  lationis  significari.  Verum  bice  omnia,  acutius  et  dili- 
gentius  inspicienti,  mensura  motus  sunt,  et  periodi  sive  curri¬ 
cula  quaedam  motuum,  et  veluti  pensa;  non  verse  differentiae; 
cum  quid  factum  sit  designent,  at  rationem  facti  vix  innuant. 
Itaque  bujusmodi  vocabula  docendi  gratia  sunt  necessaria,  et 
dialecticis  fationibus  accommodata,  naturalis  autem  scientiae 
egentissima.  Omnes  enim  isti  motus  compositi  sunt,  et  de- 
compositi,  et  multipliciter  compositi ;  cum  perite  contemplan- 
tibus  ad  simpliciora  penetrandum  sit.  Nam  principia,  fontes, 
causae,  et  formae  motuum,  id  est  omnigenae  materiae  appeti- 
tus  et  passiones,  philosophise  debentur ;  ac  deinceps  motuum 


1  From  this  enumeration  it  seems  that  Bacon  was  not  aware  that  generation  and 
corruption  were  not  regarded  by  Aristotle  as  kinds  of  motion.  But  see  Arist.  Physic. 
v.  1.  There  are,  according  to  Aristotle,  three  kinds  of  idm jeris  or  motion,  corre¬ 
sponding  to  the  three  categories  which  admit  of  contrariety ;  namely,  icivov,  woiov,  and 
iroij.  To  the  first  corresponds  increment  or  decrement ;  to  the  second,  alteration  ; 
and  to  the  third,  local  motion. 

2  [sic  in  Gruter’s  edition  ;  which,]  as  M.  Bouillet  has  observed,  ought  to  be  sin. 


22 


COGITATIONES  DE  NATUBA  BEEUM. 


impressiones  sive  impulsiones  ;  frsena  et  reluctationes  ;  vi®  et 
obstructiones  ;  alternationes  et  mixturaa ;  circuitus  et  catenas ; 
denique  universus  motuum  processus.  Neque  enim  disputa- 
tiones  animos®,  aut  sermones  probabiles,  aut  contemplatione3 
vag®,  aut  denique  placita  speciosa,  multum  juvant.  Sed  id 
agendum,  ut  modis  debitis,  et  ministerio  naturae  convenient^ 
motum  quemcunque  in  materia  susceptibili  excitare,  cohibere, 
intendere,  remittere,  multiplicare,  ac  sopire  et  sistere  possimus ; 
atque  inde  corporum  conservationes,  mutationes,  et  transfor- 
mationes  praestare.  Maxime  autem  ii  motus  sunt  inquirendi, 
qui  simplices,  primitivi,  et  fundamen tales  sunt,  ex  quibus  re- 
liqui  conflantur.  Certissimum  enim  est,  quanto  simpliciores 
motus  invenientur,  tanto  magis  bumanam  potestatem  amplifi- 
cari,  et  a  specialibus  et  praeparatis  materiis  liberari,  et  in  nova 
opera  invalescere.  Et  certe  quemadmodum  verba  sive  vo- 
cabula  omnium  linguarum,  immensa  varietate,  e  paucis  literis 
simplicibus  componuntur ;  pari  ratione  univers®  rerum  actiones 
et  virtutes  a  paucis  motuum  simplicium  naturis  et  originibus 
constituuntur.  Turpe  autem  fnerit  hominibus,  propri®  vocis 
tintinnabula  tarn  accurate  explorasse,  ad  naturae  autem  vocem 
tarn  illiterates  esse ;  et  more  prisci  seculi  (antequam  literae  in- 
ventae  essent)  sonos  tantum  compositos  et  voces  dignoscere, 
elementa  et  literas  non  distinguere. 


v.1 

De  Quanto  Materia  certo,  et  quod 2  mutatio  fiat  absque 

interitu. 

Omnia  mutari,  et  nil  vere  interire,  ac  summam  materiae  prorsus 
eandem  manere,  satis  constat.  Atque  ut  omnipotentia  Dei 
opus  erat,  ut  aliquid  crearetur  e  nihilo ;  ita  et  similis  omni¬ 
potentia  requiritur,  ut  aliquid  redigatur  in  nihilum.  Id  sive 
per  destitutionem  virtu tis  conservatricis  sive  per  actum  dis- 
solutionis  fiat,  nihil  ad  rem  :  tantum  necesse  est,  ut  decretum 
intercedat  Creatoris.  Hoc  posito,  ne  cogitatio  abstrahatur  aut 
materia  aliqua  fictitia  intelligatur,  etiam  illud  significamus; 
earn  a  nobis  introduci  materiam,  atque  ea  natura  investitam,  ut 

1  A  manuscript  in  ttie  British  Museum  (Add.  4258.),  —  for  a  full  account  of  which 
see  my  Preface  to  the  Cogitation.es  de  Scientia  Humana,  the  first  piece  in  the  third  Part, 
—  contains  the  fifth,  sixth,  seventh,  and  tenth  of  these  Cogitationes.  It  has  a  few 
different  readings,  which  I  will  point  out  here,  though  they  are  almost  all  mistakes. 
— J.  S. 

2  qua  in  MS. 


COGIT ATIONES  DE  NATURA  RERUM. 


23 


vere  dici  possit,  huic  corpori  plus  materise  adesse,  illi  autem 
(licet  eandem  mensuram  expleant)  minus.  Exempli  gratia, 
plumbo  plus,  aquas  minus,  aeri  multo  minus  :  neque  hoc  solum 
indefinite  et  ratione  incerta  et  surda,  sed  praecise  ;  adeo  ut 
calculos  haec  res  pati  possit,  veluti  plus  duplo,  triplo,  et  similiter. 
Itaque  si  quis  dicat  aerem  ex  aqua  fieri  posse  aut  rursus 
aquam  ex  aere,  audiam;  si  vero  dicat  similem  mensuram  aquas 
in  similem  mensuram  aeris  verti  posse,  non  audiam ;  idem 
enim  est  ac  si  dixisset  aliquid  posse  redigi  in  nihilum.  Si¬ 
militer  e  converso,  si  dicat  datam  mensuram  aeris  (exempli 
giatia  vesicam  contenti  certi  aeris  plenam)  in  similem  men¬ 
suram  aquas  verti  posse,  idem  est  ac  si  dicat  aliquid  fieri  posse 
ex  nihilo.  Ex  his  itaque  positis,  tria  prascepta  sive  consilia  ad 
usum  derivare  jam  visum  est;  ut  homines  peritius,  et  propter 
peritiam  felicius,  cum  natura  negotientur.  Primum  hujusmodi 
est,  ut  homines  frequenter  naturam  de  rationibus  suis  reddendis 
interpellent ;  hoc  est,  cum  corpus  aliquod  quod  prius  sensui 
manifestum  erat  aufugisse  et  disparuisse  videant,  ut  non  prius 
rationes  admittant 1  aut  liquident,  quam  demonstratum  eis  fu- 
erit  quo  tandem  corpus  illud  migraverit,  et  ad  quas  receptum 
sit.  Hoc,  ut  nunc  sunt  res,  negligentissime  fit,  et  contemplatio 
plerumque  cum  aspectu  desinit ;  adeo  ut  flammas,  rei  vulga- 
tissimse,  receptum  homines  non  norint ;  quandoquidem  earn  in 
corpus  aeris  mutari  falsissimum  sit.  Secundum  hujusmodi,  ut 
cum  homines2  considerent  necessitatem  natura;  prorsus  ada- 
mantinam  quae  materise  inest,  ut  se  sustentet  nec  in  nihilum 
cedat  aut  solvatur,  illi  rursus  nullum  genus  vexationis  et 
agitationis  materise  prsetermittant,  si  ultimas  ejus  operationes 
et  obstinationes  detegere  atque  educere  velint.  Atque  hoc 
consilium  non  admodum  artificiosum  certe  videri  possit;  quis 
negat?  sed  utile  tamen  quiddam  videtur,  neque  nihil  in  eo  est. 
Veruntamen,  si  placet,  etiam  nunc  parum  observationis  huic 
rei  adspergamus.  Itaque  sic  habeto.3  Maximum  certe  homini, 
sive  operanti  sive  experienti,  impedimentum  occurrit,  quod 
materise  massam  certam  absque  diminutione  aut  accessions 
servare,  et  premere  et  subigere  vix  licet ;  sed  separatione  facta 
ultima  vis  eluditur.  Separatio  autem  duplex  inter venit,  aut 
quod  pars  materise  e volet,  ut  in  decoctione :  aut  saltern  quod 
secessio  fit,  ut  in  flore  lactis.  Intentio  itaque  mutationis 


1  non  admittant  in  MS. 


2  homines  cum  in  MS. 


8  habete  in  MS. 


24 


COGITATIONES  DE  NATURA  RERUM. 


corporum  profundas  et  intimae  non  alia  est,  quam  si  materia 
omnino  debitis  modis  vexetur ;  sed  tamen  istae  dute  separa- 
tiones  nihilominus  interim  prohibeantur.  Turn  enim  materia 
vere  constringitur,  ubi  fugae  omnis  via  intercipitur.  Tertium 
denique  hujusmodi,  ut  homines  cum  corporum  alterationes  in 
eadem  materiae  massa,  neque  aucta  neque  diminuta,  fieri  vi- 
deant,  primum  eo  errore  phantasiam  liberent,  qui  alte  haeret ; 
alterationem  nempe  tantummodo  per  separationem  fieri;  de- 
inde  ut  sedulo  et  perite  distinguere  incipiant  de  alterationibus, 
quando  ad  separationem  referri  debeant;  quando  ad  disordi- 
nationem  tantum,  et  variam  positionem  partium  absque  alia 
separatione;  quando  ad  utramque.  Neque  enim  (credo)  cum 
pyrum  immaturum  et  acerbum  manibus '  fortius  attrectamus, 
contundimus,  et  subigimus,  unde  illud  dulcedinem  acquirit ; 
aut  cum  succinum  vel  gemma  in  pulverem  subtilissimum 
redacta  colorem  deponunt;  materiae  pars  notabilis  deperditur; 
sed  tantum  partes  corporis  in  nova  positione  constituuntur. 
E-estat  ut  errorem  quendam  ex  opinionibus  hominum  evel- 
lamus,  cujus  ea  vis  est,  ut  si  tides  ei  adhibeatur2,  aliqua 
ex  bis  quae  diximus  pro  desperatis  haberi  possint.  Vulgaris 
enim  opinio  est,  rerum  spiritus,  cum  ad  intensiorem  quendam 
gradum  tenuitatis  per  calorem  evecti3  sunt,  etiam  in  vasis  soli- 
dissimis  (puta  argenti,  vitri),  per  occultos  eorundem  poros  et 
meatus  evolare4;  quod  minus  verum  est.  Neque  enim  aer  aut 
spiritus,  licet  accedente  calore  rarefactus,  non  flamma  ipsa, 
tarn  libenter  se  comminuit,  ut  per  hujusmodi  poros  exitum  sibi 
quaerere  aut  facere  sustineat.  Verum  ut  nec  aqua  per  rimam 
valde  parvam,  ita  nec  aer  per  hujusmodi  poros  effluit.  Nam 
ut  aer  aqua  longe  tenuior,  ita  et  tales  pori  rimis  conspicuis 
longe  subtiliores  sunt ;  neque  opus  haberet 6  sub  vase  operto 
suffocari,  si  hujusmodi  perspirationes  illi  ullo  modo  prassto 
essent  aut  competerent.  Exemplum  autem  quod  adducunt 
miserum  est,  vel  potius  miserandum ;  ut  sunt  pleraeque  contem- 
plationes  vulgaris  philosophiae,  cum  ad  particularia  ventum  est.6 
Aiunt  enim,  si  charta  inflammata  in  poculum  mittatur,  et 
subito.os  poculi  super  vas  aquae  convertatur,  aquam  sursum 
trahi ;  propterea  quod  postquam  flamma,  et  aer  per  flnmmnm 
rarefactus,  quae  spatii  aliquantum  impleverant,  per  poros  vasis 
exhalaverint,  restare  ut  corpus  aliquod  succedat.  Idem  in 

1  per  manus  in  MS.  2  exkibeatur  in  MS.  >  evectc  in  MS. 

*  evolari  in  Gruter’s  edition.—/.  S.  •  haberet  flamma  in  MS.  •  tit  in  MS. 


COGITATIONES  DE  NATURA  RERUM. 


25 


ventosis  fieri,  quae  carnes  trahunt.  Atque  de  successione 
aquae  vel  carnis  bene  sentiunt;  de  causa  quae  praecedit,  im- 
peritissime.  Neque  enim  est  aliqua  corporis  emissio,  quae 
spatium  praebet,  sed  sola  corporis  contractio.  Corpus  enim 
in  quod  flamma  recidit,  longe  minus  spatium  complet,  quam 
flamma  antequam  exstingueretur.  Hinc  fit  illud  inane,  quod 
successionem  desiderat.  Atque  in  ventosis  hoc  evidentissimum 
est.  Nam  cum  eas  fortius  trahere  volunt,  spongia  aquae 
frigidae  infusa  illas  tangunt,  ut  per  frigus  aer  interior  con- 
densetur,  et  se  in  minus  spatium  colligat.  Itaque  demimus 
certe  hominibus  earn  solicitudinem,  ne  de  spirituum  tam  facili 
evolatione  laborent :  cum  et  illi  spiritus,  quos  saepe  desiderant, 
odorum,  saporum,  similium,  non  semper 1  extra  septa  evolent a, 
sed  intra  confundantur  3;  hoc  certissimum  est. 


VI. 

De  Quiete  Apparente,  et  Consistentia,  et  Fluore. 

Quod  quaedam  quiescere  videantur  et  motu  privari,  id  secun¬ 
dum  totum  aut  integrum  recte  videtur,  secundum  partes  autem 
hominum  opinionem  fallit.  Quies  enim  simplex  et  absoluta, 
et  in  partibus  et  in  toto 4,  nulla  est ;  sed  quae  esse  putatur, 
per  motuum  impedimenta,  cohibitiones,  et  aequilibria  efficitur. 
Exempli  gratia,  cum  in  vasis 8  in  fundo  perforatis,  quibus  hor- 
tos  irrigamus,  aqua  (si  os  vasis  obturetur)  ex  foraminibus  illis 
non  effluit,  id  per  motum  retrahentem  non  per  naturam  quie- 
scentem  fieri  perspicuum  est.  Aqua  enim  tam  contendit  de- 
scendere,  quam  si  actu  suo  potiatur;  sed  cum  in  summitate 
vasis  non  sit  quod  succedat,  aqua  in  imo  ab  aqua  in  summo 
retrahitur  et  vim  patitur.  Si  quis  enim  alterum  infirmi- 
orem  in  lucta  teneat,  ut  se  movere  non  possit,  atque  ille 
nitatur  tamen  6  sedulo,  non  propterea  minor  est  motus  reni- 
tentiae,  quia  non  praevalet,  et  a  motu  fortiori  ligatur.  Hoc 
autem  quod  dicimus  de  falsa  quiete,  et  in  rebus  innumeris 
utile  cognitu  est,  et  non  minimum  lucis  praebet  in  inqui- 
sitione  naturae  solidi  et 7  liquidi,  sive  consistentiae  et  fluoris. 
Solida  enim  videntur  in  positione  sua  manere  et  quiescere, 
liquida  autem  moveri  et  confundi.  Neque  enim  columna  ex 

1  semper  om.  MS.  *  evolant  in  MS.  *  confunduntur  in  MS. 

4  et  in  partibus  et  in  toto  om.  MS.  6  vusibus  in  MS. 

6  So  the  MS.  In  Grutcr’s  edit,  tamen  comes  after  propterea.  1  vel  in  MS. 


26 


COGITATIONES  DE  NATURA  RERUM. 


aqua,  aut  alia  effigies  exstrui  potest,  ut  de'  ligno  vel  lapide. 
Itaque  in  promptu  est  opinari,  partes  aquae  superiores  conten¬ 
dere  (motu,  quem  appellant,  naturali)  ut  defluant :  partes 
autem  ligni  non  item.  Atqui  hoc  verum  non  est;  cum  idem 
insit  motus  partibus  ligni  quae  in  summo  collocantur,  ut  deor- 
sum  ferantur,  qui  aquae;  idque  in  actum  perduceretur,  nisi 
ligaretur  et  retraheretur  iste  motus  a  motu  potiore.  Is  autem 
est  certe  appetitus  continuitatis,  sive  separationis  fuga ;  quae 
et  ipsa  tam  aquae  quam  ligno  competit,  sed  in  ligno  est  motu 
gravitatis  fortior,  in  aqua  debilior.  Nam  quod  ex  hujusmodi 
motu  etiam  quae  liquida  sunt  participent,  id  manifestum  est. 
Videmus  enim  in  bullis  aquae,  ad  separationem  evitandam, 
aquam  se  in  pelliculas  conjicere,  in  hemisphaerii  formam  con- 
fictas.  Videmus  etiam  in  stillicidiis,  aquam  ut  aquae  continu- 
etur,  in  filum  exile  se  producere  et  attenuare,  quoad  sequens 
aqua  suppetat ;  sin  autem  deficiat  aqua  ad  continuationem, 
turn  se  in  guttas  rotundas  recipere,  quarum  diameter  filo  illo 
priore  sit  multo  major.2  Simili  modo  videmus,  aquam  com- 
minutionem  magis  exquisitam  segre  pati,  cum  ex  foraminibus 
et  rimis  (si  subtiliores  sint)  naturali  suo  pondere  absque  con- 
cussione  non  effluat.  Quare  constat  appetitum  continuitatis 
etiam  liquidis  inesse,  sed  debilem.  At  contra  in  rebus  solidis 
viget,  et  motui  naturali  sive  gravitati  praedominatur.  Si  quis 
enim  existimet,  in  columna  ligni  vel  lapidis  superiores  partes 
non  diffluere  cupere,  sed  se  in  eodem  plane  statu  sustinere ; 
is  facile  se  corriget,  si  consideret  columnam,  sive  similia,  si 
altitudo  ejus  ad  latitudinem  basis  non  sit  proportionata,  sed 
modum  excedat,  stare  non  posse,  sed  devexo  pondere  ferri; 
adeo  ut  structuris  prsealtis  necesse  sit  ut  ad  pyramidis  formam 
inclinent,  et  sint  versus  summitatem  angustiores.  Qualis 
autem  sit  ea  natura  quse  appetitum  istum  continuitatis  in- 
tendat  aut  remittat,  non  facile  inquirenti  occurret.  Illud 
fortasse  suggeretur,  partes  solidorum  esse  magis  densas  et 
compactas ;  liquidorum3  magis  raras  et  solutas ;  aut  liquidis 
subesse  spiritum,  quod  fluoris  sit  principium,  qui  in  solidis 
desit ;  et  hujusmodi.  Sed  neutrum  horum  veritati  conso- 
num  est.  Manifestum  enim  est,  nivem  et  ceram,  quse  secari 
et  fingi  et  impressiones  recipere  possunt,  argento  vivo  aut 
plumbo  liquefacto  longe  esse  rariora,  ut  in  ratione  ponderum 


'  et  in  MS. 


a  diametrum  and  majus  in  MS. 


*  liquorum  in  MS. 


COGITATIONES  DE  NATURA  RERUM. 


27 


evincitur.  Quod  si  quis  adhuc  insistat,  fieri  posse  ut  nix  aut 
cera,  licet  sit  (in  toto)  argento  vivo  rarior,  tamen  habere  pos- 
sit  partes  magis  clausas  et  compactas ;  verum  quia  sit  corpus 
spongiosum  et  cava  multa  et  aerem  recipiat,  ideo  in  summa 
effici  leviorem  ;  ut  in  pumice  fit,  qui  cum  pro  ratione  molis  sit 
fortasse  ligno  levior,  tamen  si  utrumque  in  pulverem  redigatur, 
pulverem  pumicis  pulvere  ligni  futurum  graviorem,  quia  cavi¬ 
tates  illaj  non  amplius  adsint ;  hasc  bene  notata  et  objecta  sunt. 
Sed  quid  ad  nivem  et  ceram  colliquatam  dicent,  ubi  jam  cavi¬ 
tates  expletae  sunt ;  vel  quid  ad  gummi  corpora,  mastichen,  et 
similia,  quae  cavitates  istas  manifestas  non  habent,  et  tamen 
sunt  pluribus  liquoribus  leviora  ?  Quod  autem  de  spiritu 
afierunt,  per  cujus  vim  et  impetum  res  fluant ;  id  certe  primo 
intuitu  probabile  est,  et  notionibus  communibus  familiare ; 
reipsa  autem  durius  est  et  magis  erroneum ;  cum  verae  rationi 
non  solum  non  innitatur,  sed  fere  opponatur.  Spiritus  enim 
ille,  quern  dicunt,  revera  (quod  mirum  fortasse  dictu)  consi- 
stentiam  inducit,  non  fluorem.  Quod  et  optime  in  instantia  nivis 
cernitur,  quae  cum  ex  aqua  et  aere  compositum  corpus  sit, 
cumque  et  aqua  et  aer  seorsim  fluant,  in  mixtura  tamen  con- 
sistentiam  adipiscitur.  Quod  si  quis  objiciat,  id  evenire  posse 
ex  condensatione  aqueae  partis  per  frigus,  et  non  ab  interpo- 
sitione  aeris;  is  se  corriget,  si  animadvertat  etiam  spumam 
corpus  simile  nivi  esse,  quod  tamen  a  frigore  nullo  modo  con- 
densetur.  Sin  adhuc  urgeat,  et  in  spuma  prajcedere1  conden- 
sationem,  non  a  frigore,  sed  tamen  ab  agitatione  et  percussione ; 
is  pueros  consulat,  qui  ex  levi  aura  per  fistulam  sive  calamum 
inspirata,  et  aqua  (ob  parum  saponis  admixtum)  paulo  tena- 
ciore,  miram  et  turritam  bullarum  structuram  conficiunt.  lies 
autem  sic  se  habet ;  corpora  ad  tactum  corporis  amici  sive 
similis  se  solvere  et  laxare ;  ad  tactum  autem  corporis  dis- 
sentientis  se  stringcre  et  sustinere.  Itaque  appositionem 
corporis  alieni  esse  consistentiaj  causam.  Sic  videmus  oleum 
aqute  admistum,  ut  fit  in  unguentis,  liquiditatem,  qu®  et  in 
aqua  et  in  oleo  antea  vigebat,  quadantenus  exuere.  Contra 
videmus,  papyrum  aqua  madefactam  se  solvere,  et  consisten- 
tiam  (qua3  ob  aerem  antea  in  poris  admistum  valida  erat) 
deponere ;  oleo  vero  madefactam,  minus ;  quia  oleum  papyro 
minus  consentiat.  Idem  quoque  in  saccharo  videmus,  et  simi- 


1  M.  Bouillet  reads  procedere ,  which  is  doubtless  right. 


28 


COGITATIONES  DE  NATURA  RERUM. 


libus,  quae  ad  aquam  vel  vinum  intromittenda  se  laxant,  neque 
solum  cum  liquores  illis  incumbunt,  sed  eosdem  quoque  sugunt 
et  sursum  trahunt.1 


VII. 

De  consensu  corporum,  quce  sensu  prcedita  sunt,  et  quce 
sensu  carent. 

Passiones  corporum,  quae  sensu  dotantur,  et  quae  sensu  carent, 
magnum  consensum  habent ;  nisi  quod  in  corpore  sensibili  ac- 
cedat  spiritus.  Nam  pupilla  oculi  speculo  sive  aquis  aequi- 
paratur;  et  simili  natura  imagines  lucis  et  rerum  visibilium 
excipit  et  reddit.  Organum  autem  auditus  obici  intra  locum 
cavernosum2  conforme  est,  a  quo  vox  et  sonus  optime  resultat. 
Attractiones  autem  rerum  inanimatarum,  et  rursus  horrores 
sive  fugae  (eas  dico,  quae  ex  proprietate  fiunt)  in  animalibus, 
olfactui  atque  odoribus  gratis  et  odiosis  conveniunt.  Tactus 
autem  ratio  et  gustus,  omnem  quae  in  corporibus  inanimatis 
accidere  possit  aut  violentiam  aut  contra  insinuationem  almam 
et  amicam,  ac  universas  earundem  passionum  figuras,  veluti 
vates  aut  interpres  exprimit.  Nam  compressiones,  extensiones, 
erosiones,  separationes,  et  similia,  in  corporibus  mortuis  in  pro- 
cessu  latent,  nec  nisi  post  effectum  manifestum  percipiuntur. 
In  animalibus  autem  cum  sensu  doloris  secundum  diversa 
genera  aut  cbaracteres  violentiae  peraguntur,  permeante  per 
omnia  spiritu.  Atque  ab  hoc  principio  deducitur  cognitio, 
num  forte  alicui  animantium  adsit  alius  quispiam  sensus,  praeter 
eos  qui  notantur ;  et  quot  et  quales  sensus  in  universo  ani¬ 
mantium  genere  esse  possint.  Ex  passionibus  enim  materia; 
rite  distinctis  sequetur  numerus  sensuum,  si  modo  organa 
competant  et  accedat  spiritus. 

VIII. 

De  Motu  Violento,  quod  sit  fug  a  et  discursatio  partium  ret 
propter  pressuram,  licet  minime  visibilis. 

Motus  violentus  (quem  vocant)  per  quern  missilia,  ut  lapides, 
sagittae,  globi  ferrei,  et  similia  per  aerem  volant,  fere  omnium 
motuum  est  vulgatissimus.  Atque  in  hujus  tamen  observatione 


1  The  following  sentence  is  added  in  the  MS. :  “  Eadem  est  et  spongiarum  ratio. 
Quin  et  metalla  dum  per  calorem  liqueflant,  raajorem  partium  sequalitatem  depo6ita 
naturali  congelatione  obt.inent.” — J.  S, 

2  loco  cavernoso  in  MS. 


COGITATIONES  DE  NATURA  RERDM. 


29 


et  inquisitione  miram  et  supinam  negligentiam  hominum  no- 
tare  licet.  Neque  parvo  detrimento  in  motus  istius  natura 
et  potestate  investiganda  offenditur ;  cum  ad  infinita  sit  utilis, 
et  tormentis,  machinis,  et  univers®  rei  mechanic®,  sit  instar 
animae  et  vitae.  Plurimi  autem  se  perfunctos  inquisitione 
putant,  si  motum  ilium  violentum  esse  pronuntient,  et  a  na- 
turali  distinguant.  Atque  is  sane  est  Aristotelis  et  scholae 
ejus  mos  proprius  et  disciplina,  curare  ut  habeant  homines 
quod  pronuntient,  non  quod  sentiant ;  et  docere  quomodo 
aliquis  affirmando  aut  negando  se  expedire,  non  cogitando  se 
explicare  et  sibi  satisfacere  possit.  Alii  paulo  attentius,  ar- 
repto  illo  posito  duo  corpora  in  uno  loco  esse  non  posse,  restare 
aiunt  ut  quod  fortius  sit  impellat,  debilius  cedat;  earn  ces- 
sionem  sive  fugam,  si  minor  adhibeatur  vis,  non  ultra  durar.e 
quam  prima  impulsio  continuetur ;  ut  in  protrusione  ;  si  autem 
major,  etiam  remoto  corpore  impellente  ad  tempus  vigere, 
donee  sensim  remittatur ;  ut  in  jactu.  Atque  hi  rursus,  alio 
ejusdem  scholae  more,  inveterato,  primordia  rei  captant,  de 
processu  et  exitu  non  solliciti;  tanquam  prima  quaeque  caetera 
trahant ;  quo  fit  ut  immatura  quadam  impatientia  contempla- 
tionem  abrumpant.  Nam  ad  id  quod  corpora  sub  ipsum  ictum 
cedant,  aliquid  aflferunt;  sed  postquam  corpus  impellens  jam 
remotum  sit,  adeo  ut  necessitas  ilia  confusionis  corporum  jam 
plane  cessaverit,  cur  postea  motus  continuetur,  nihil  dicunt, 
nec  seipsi  satis  capiunt.  Alii  autem  magis  diligentes1  et  in 
inquisitione  perseverantes,  cum  vim  aeris  in  ventis  et  similibus 
quae  vel  arbores  et  turres  dejicere  possit  animadvertissent, 
opinati  sunt  earn  vim  quae  hujusmodi  missilia  post  primam 
impulsionem  deduc&t  et  comitetur  aeri  debere  attribui,  pone 
corpus  quod  movetur  collecto  et  ingruenti ;  cujus  impetu  cor¬ 
pus  tanquam  navis  in  gurgite  aquarum  vehatur.  Atque  hi 
certe  rem  non  deserunt,  atque  contemplationem  ad  exitum 
perducunt ;  sed  tamen  a  veritate  aberrant.  Res  autem  vere 
in  hunc  modum  se  habet.  Praecipuus  motus  partibus  ipsius 

1  See  Fracastorius,  De  Sympath.  et  Antipath.  c.  4.,  to  whom  Bacon  refers  in  the 
Nov.  Org.  [ii.  36.,  Vol.  I.  p.  301.]  That  the  medium  through  which  -a  body  is  pro¬ 
jected  is  the  cause  of  its  continuing  to  move  after  it  has  parted  from  that  which 
projects  it,  had  however  been  taught  by  Aristotle.  See  the  Physics ,  viii.  10.  ;  a 
passage  which,  though  the  theory  of  projectiles  contained  in  it  is  altogether  false,  yet 
shows  that  Aristotle  had  formed  a  distinct  though  incomplete  conception  of  the  pro¬ 
pagation  of  motion  through  any  medium.  Aristotle’s  view  seems  not  to  have  been 
rightly  understood  by  bis  commentators.  See  Brandis’s  Scholia,  p.  451.,  at  bottom; 
and  compare  Cardan,  De  Subtil,  ii.,  and  Vanini,  Dialogi,  xi. 


30 


COGITATIONES  DE  NATURA  RERUM. 


corporis,  quod  volat,  inesse  videtur :  qui,  cum  visu  ob  nimiam 
subtilitatem  non  percipiatur,  homines  non  satis  attendentes, 
sed  levi  observatione  rem  transmittentes,  latet.  Accuratius 
autem  scrutanti  manifeste  constat,  corpora  qua;  duriora  sunt 
pressionis  esse  impatientissima,  et  ejusdem  veluti  sensum  acu- 
tissimum  habere;  adeo  ut  quam  minimum  a  naturali  positi- 
one  depulsa,  magna  pernicitate  nitantur  ut  liberentur  et  in 
pristinum  statum  restituantur.  Quod  ut  fiat,  partes  singula;, 
facto  principio  a  parte  pulsata,  se  invicem  non  secus  ac  vis 
externa  protrudunt  ac  urgent et  fit  continua  et  intensissima 
(licet  minime  visibilis)  partium  trepidatio  et  commotio.  Atque 
hoc  videmus  fieri  in  exemplo  vitri,  sacchari,  et  hujusmodi 
rerum  fragilium ;  qua;  si  mucrone  aut  ferro  acuto  secentur  aut 
dividantur,  protinus  in  aliis  partibus,  a  tractu  mucronis  re- 
motis,  quasi  in  instanti  disrumpuntur.  Quod  eyidenter  demon- 
strat  communicationem  motus  pressure  in  partes  succedentes. 
Qui  motus  cum  per  omnia  moliatur  et  ubique  tentet,  ea  parte 
confractionem  inducit  qua  ex  praecedente  corporis  dispositione 
minus  fortis  erat  compactio.  Neque  tamen  ipse  motus,  quando 
per  omnia  turbat  et  percurrit,  sub  aspectum  venit,  donee  aperta 
fiat  effractio  sive  continuitatis  solutio.  Itursus  videmus,  si 
forte  filum  ferreum,  aut  bacillum,  aut  durior  pars  calami  (vel 
hujusmodi  corpora,  quae  flexibilia  quidem  sunt,  non  absque 
aliqua  renitentia)  inter  pollicem  et  indicem  per  extrema  sua 
curventur  et  stringantur,  ea  statim  prosilire.  Cujus  motus 
causa  manifeste  deprehenditur  non  esse  in  extremis  corporis 
partibus,  quse  digitis  stringuntur,  sed  in  medio,  quod  vim 
patitur ;  ad  enjus  relevationem  motus  ille  se  expedit.  In  hoc 
autem  exemplo  plane  liquet,  causam  illam  motus  quam  addu- 
cunt  de  impulsione  aeris  excludi.  Neque  enim  ulla  fit  percussio, 
quae  aerem  immittat.  Atque  hoc  etiam  levi  illo  experimento 
evincitur,  cum  pruni  nucleum  recentem  et  lubricum  premiums, 
digitosque  paulatim  adducimus,  atque  hac  ratione  emittimus. 
Nam  et  in  hoc  quoque  exemplo  compressio  ilia  vice  percussi- 
onis  est.  Evidentissimus  autem  hujusce  motus  effectus  cer- 
nitur,  in  perpetuis  conversionibus  sive  rotationibus  corporum 
missilium  dum  volant.  Siquidem  ea  procedunt  utique,  sed 
progressum  suum  faciunt  in  lineis  spiralibus,  hoc  est  proce¬ 
dendo  et  rotando.  Atque  certe  is  motus  spiralis,  cum  tam  sit 
rapidus,  et  nihilominus  tam  expeditus,  et  rebus  quodammodo 


1  vigent  In  Gruter’s  edition. —  J.  S. 


COGIT ATIONES  DE  NATURA  RERUM. 


31 


familiaris,  nobis  dubitationem  movit,  num  forte  ex  altiore 
principio  non  penderet.  Sed  existimamus  non  aliam  causam 
huic  rei  subesse,  quam  eandem  quam  nunc  tractamus.  Namque 
pressura  corporis  aflatim  motum  in  partibus  sive  rainutiis  ejus 
excitat,  ut  se  quacunque  via  expediant  et  liberent.  Itaque 
corpus  non  solum  in  linea  recta  agitur  et  provolat,  sed  un- 
dequaque  experitur,  atque  ideo  se  rotat;  utroque  enim  modo 
ad  se  laxandum  nonnihil  proficit.  Atque  in  rebus  solidis 
subtile  quiddam  et  abditum ;  in  mollibus  evidens  et  quasi  pal- 
pabile  est.  Nam  ut  cera  vel  plumbum,  et  hujusmodi  mollia, 
malleo  percussa  cedunt,  non  tantum  in  directum,  sed  et  in 
latera  undequaque :  eodem  modo  et  corpora  dura  sive  reni- 
tentia  fugiunt  et  in  recta  linea  et  in  circuitu.  Cessio  enim 
corporalis  in  mollibus,  et  localis  in  duris,  ratione  conveniunt ; 
atque  in  corporis  mollis  efformatione,  corporis  duri  passio,  cum 
fugit  et  volat,  optime  conspicitur.  Interim  nemo  existimet 
nos  praster  motum  istum  (qui  caput  rei  est)  non  etiam  aliquas 
partes  aeri  devebenti  tribuere,  qui  motum  principalem  adjuvare, 
impedire,  flectere,  regere  possit.  Nam  et  ejus  rei  potestas  est 
non  parva.  Atque  haec  motus  violent!  sive  mechanici  (qui 
adhuc  latuit)  explicatio,  veluti  fons  quidam  practice  est. 


IX. 

De  causa  motus  in  tormentis  igneis,  quod  ex  parte  tantum,  nec  ea 
potiore,  inquisita  sit. 

Tormentorum  igneorum  causa,  et  motus  tam  potentis  et  no- 
bilis  explicatio,  manca  est,  et  ex  parte  potiore  deficit.  Aiunt 
enim  pulverem  tormentarium,  postquam  in  flammam  conversus 
sit  et  extenuatus,  se  dilatare  et  majus  spatium  occupare :  unde 
sequi, — ne  duo  corpora  in  uno  loco  sint,  aut  dimensionum  pe- 
netratio  fiat,  aut  forma  elementi  destruatur,  aut  situs  partium 
prater  naturam  totius  sit  (hsec  enim  dicuntur), —  corporis  quod 
obstat  expulsionem  vel  effractionem.  Neque  nihil  est,  quod 
dicunt.  Nam  et  iste  appetitus,  et  materias  passio,  et1  hujus¬ 
modi  motus  pars  aliqua.  Sed  nihilominus  in  hoc  peccant 
quod  ad  necessitatem  istam  corporis  dilatandi  rem  prapropera 
cogitatione  deducunt,  neque  quod  natura  prius  est  distincte 
considerant.  Nam  ut  corpus  pulveris,  postquam  in  flammam 
mutatus  est,  majorem  locum  occupet,  necessitatem  sane  habet ; 
ut  autem  corpus  pulveris  inflammetur,  idque  tam  rapide,  id 


M.  Bouillet  reads  est. 


32 


COGITATIONES  DE  NATURA  RERUM. 


simili  necessitate  non  constringitur;  sed  ex  praecedente  motuum 
confiictu  et  comparatione  pendet.  Nam  dubium  non  est,  quin 
corpus  illud  solidum  et  grave,  quod  per  hujusmodi  motum  ex- 
truditur  vel  removetur,  antequam  cedat,  sedulo  obnitatur ;  et  si 
forte  robustius  sit,  victoria  potiatur ;  id  est,  ut  non  flamma 
globum  expellat,  sed  globus  flammam  suffocet.  Itaque  si  loco 
pulveris  tormentarii,  sulpburem  vel  caphuram  vel  similia  acci- 
pias,  quae  flammam  et  ipsa  cito  corripiunt,  et  (quia  corporum 
compactio  inflammationi  impedimento  est)  ea  in  grana  pulveris, 
admista  cineris  juniperi  vel  alicujus  ligni  maxime  combustilis 
aliqua  portione,  efformes ;  tamen  (si  nitrum  absit)  motus  iste 
rapidus  et  potens  non  sequitur  :  sed  motus  ad  inflammationem 
a  mole  corporis  renitentis  impeditur  et  constringitur,  nec  se 
explicat  aut  ad  effectum  pertingit.  Rei  autem  veritas  sic  se 
habet.  Motum  istum,  de  quo  quaeritur,  geminatum  et  com- 
positum  reperias.  Nam  praeter  motum  inflammationis,  qui  in 
eulpburea  pulveris  parte  maxime  viget,  subest  alius  magis 
fortis  et  violentus.  Is  fit  a  spiritu  crudo  et  aqueo,  qui  ex 
nitro  maxime,  et  nonnihil  a  carbone  salicis  concipitur,  qui  et 
ipse  expanditur  certe  (ut  vapores  subdito  calore  solent),  sed 
una  etiam  (quod  caput  rei  est)  impetu  rapidissimo  a  calore  et 
inflammatione  fugit  et  erumpit,  atque  per  hoc  etiam  inflam¬ 
mationi  vias  relaxat  et  aperit.  Hujusce  motus  rudimenta  et 
in  crepitationibus  aridorum  foliorum  lauri  vel  hederae  cernimus, 
cum  in  ignem  mittuntur  ;  et  magis  etiam  in  sale,  qui  ad  rei  in- 
quisitae  naturam  propius  accedit.  Simile  etiam  quiddam  et  in 
sevo  candelarum  madido  et  in  flatulentis  ligni  viridis  flammis 
saepe  videmus.  Maxime  autem  eminet  iste  motus  in  argento 
vivo,  quod  corpus  maxime  crudum,  et  instar  aquae  mineralis 
est ;  cujus  vires  (si  ab  igne  vexetur,  et  ab  exitu  prohibeatur) 
non  multo  pulveris  tormentarii  viribus  inferiores  sunt.  Itaque 
hoc  exemplo  monendi  homines  sunt  et  rogandi,  ne  in  causa- 
rum  inquisitione  unum  aliquod  arripiant,  et  facile  pronuntient; 
sed  circumspiciant,  et  contemplationes  suas  fortius  et  altius 
figant. 

x. 

De  dissimilitudine  ccelestium  et  sublunarium  quoad  ceternitatem 
et  mutabilitatem  ;  quod  non  sit  verificata. 

Qfod  receptum  est,  universitatem  naturae  veluti  per  globos 
recte  dividi  et  distingui ;  ut  alia  sit  ratio  ccelestium,  alia  sub- 


COGIT ATIONES  DE  NATCRA  RERUM. 


33 


lunarium ;  id  non  absque  causa  introductum  yidetur,  si  in  hao 
opinione  modus  adhibeatur.  Dubium  enim  non  est,  quin  re- 
giones  sub  orbe  lunari  posit*  et  supra,  una  cum  corporibus 
quae  sub  eisdem  spatiis  continentur,  multis  et  magnis  rebus 
differant.  Neque  tamen  hoc  certius  est  quam  illud,  corpori¬ 
bus  utriusque  globi  inesse  communes  inclinationes,  passiones,  et 
motus.  Itaque  unitatem  naturae  sequi  debemus,  et  ista  distin- 
guere  potius  quam  discerpere,  nec  contemplationem  frangere. 
Sed  quod  ulterius  receptum  est, — ccelestiamutationesnon  subire; 
sublunaria  vero  aut  elementaria,  quae  vocant,  iisdem  obnoxia 
esse  ;  et  materiam  horum  instar  meretricis  esse,  novas  formas 
perpetuo  appetentem ;  illorum  autem  instar  matron*,  stabili  et 
intemerato  connubio  gaudentem  ; — popularis  opinio  videtur  esse, 
et  infirma,  et  ex  apparentia  et  superstitione  orta.  Yidetur 
autem  nobis  h*c  sententia  ex  utraque  parte  labilis  et  sine  fun- 
damento.  Nam  neque  coelo  ea  competit  *ternitas  quam  fin- 
gunt,  nec  rursus  terr*  ea  mutabilitas.  Nam,  quod  ad  coelum 
attinet,  non  ea  nitendum  est  ratione,  mutationes  ibidem  non 
fieri,  quia  sub  aspectum  non  veniunt.  Aspectum  enim  frustrat 
et  corporis  subtilitas  et  loci  distantia.  Nam  vari*  inveniuntur 
aeris  mutationes,  ut  in  *stu,  frigore,  odoribus,  sonis,  manifestum 
est,  qu*  sub  visum  non  cadunt.  Neque  rursus  (credo),  si  ocu- 
lus  in  circulo  lun*  positus  esset,  a  tanto  intervallo  qu*  hie 
apud  nos  fiunt,  et  qui  in  superficie  terr*  obveniunt  motus  et 
mutationes  machinarum,  animalium,  plantarum,  et  hujusmodi, 
(qu*  pusill*  alicujus  festuc*  dimensionem,  ob  distantiam,  non 
*quant,)  cernere  posset.  In  corporibus  autem  qu*  tant* 
molis  et  magnitudinis  sunt,  ut  ob  dimensionum  suarum  ampli- 
tudinem  spatia  distantiarum  vincere  atque  ad  aspectum  per- 
venire  possunt mutationes  in  regionibus  coelestibus  fieri,  ex 
cometis  quibusdam  satis  liquet;  iis  dico,  qui 2  certam  et  con- 
stantem  configurationem  cum  stellis  fixis  servarunt ;  qualis  fuit 
ilia,  qu* 3  in  Cassiopea  nostra  *tate  apparuit.4  Quod  autem  ad 
terram  attinet ;  postquam  ad  interiora  ejus,  relicta  ea  qu*  in 

1  M.  Bouillet  reads  possinl.  2  qua:  in  MS. 

3  So  in  the  original  It  should  apparently  be  Me,  qui. — J.  S. 

4  The  star  which  appeared  in  Ophiuchus  in  1604  is  generally  mentioned  by  Galileo 
in  conjunction  with  the  one  in  Cassiopeia  (which  appeared  in  1572),  as  evidence 
against  the  doctrine  of  the  immutability  of  the  heavens.  It  seems,  therefore,  that  the 
Cogitationes  were  written  before  or  not  long  after  1604,  especially  as  in  the  Descriptio 
Globi  Intellectualis  the  two  stars  are  mentioned  together.  But  a  similar  argument 
would  show  that  they  were  written  before  or  soon  after  1600,  as  the  new  star  in 
Cygnus  is  not  mentioned.  [On  this  last  point  see  the  preface  p.  14. — J.  S.] 


34 


COGITATIONES  DE  NATURA  RERUM. 


superficie  et  partibus  proximis  invenitur  incrustatione  et  mix- 
tura,  penetratum  est,  videtur  et  ibi  quoque  similis  ei  quae  in 
ccelo  supponitur  perpetuitaa  existere.  Proculdubio  enim  est, 
si  in  profundo  terra  pateretur  mutationes,  consequentiam  earum 
mutationum,  etiam  in  nostra  regione,  quam  calcamus,  majores 
casus  fuisse  parituram  quam  fieri  videmus.  Sane  terras  motus 
plerique,  et  eruptiones  aquarum,  vel  eructationes  ignium,  non  ex 
profundo  admodum,  sed  prope,  insurgunt ;  cum  parvurn  aliquod 
spatium  in  superficie  occupent.  Quanto  enim  latiorem  regionem 
et  tractum  hujusmodi  accidentia  in  facie  terras  occupant,  tanto 
magis  radices  sive  origines  eorum  ad  viscera  terras  penetrare 
putandum  est.  Itaque  majores  terras  motus  (majores,  inquam, 
ambitu,  non  violentia)  qui  rarius  eveniunt,  recte  cometis  ejus 
generis  de  quo  diximus  aequiparari  possunt ;  qui  et  ipsi  infre- 
quentes  sunt ;  ut  illud  maneat  quod  initio  diximus,  inter  coslum 
et  terram,  quatenus  ad  constantiam  et  mutationem,  non  multum 
interesse.  Si  quem  autem  aequabilitas  et  certitudo  motus  in 
corporibus  ccelestibus  apparens  movet,  veluti  aeternitatis  comes 
individuus;  praesto  est  oceanus,  qui  in  asstu  suo  haud  multo 
minorem  constantiam  ostendat.1  Postremo,  si  quis  adhuc  in- 
stet,  negari  tainen  non  posse  quin  in  ipsa  superficie  orbis 
terrarum  et  partibus  proximis  infinitae  fiant  mutationes,  in  coelo 
non  item  ;  huic  ita  responsum  volumus :  nec  nos  haec  per  omnia 
aequare  ;  et  tamen  si  regiones  (quas  vocant)  superiorem  et  me¬ 
dia  m  aeris  pro  superficie  aut  interiore  tunica  coeli  accipiamus, 
quemadmodum  spatium  istud  apud  nos,  quo  animalia,  plantas, 
et  mineralia  continentur,  pro  superficie  vel  exteriore  tunica  terras 
accipimus,  et  ibi  quoque  varias  et  multiformes  generationes  et 
mutationes  inveniri.2  Itaque  tumultus  fere  omnis,  et  conflictus, 
et  perturbatio,  in  confiniis  tantum  cceli  et  terras  locum  habere 
videtur.  Ut  in  rebus  civilibus  fit;  in  quibus  illud  frequenter 
usu  venit,  ut  duorum  regnorum  fines  continuis  incursionibus 
et  violentiis  infestentur,  dum  interiores  utriusque  regni  provin- 
cite  secura  pace  atque  alta  quiete  fruuntur.  Nemo  autem,  si 
recte  attenderit,  religionem  hie  opponat.  Nam  ethnica  jactan- 
tia  solummodo  prasrogativa  ista  ccelum  materiatum  donavit, 
ut  sit  incorruptibile.  Scriptures  autem  Sacrae  aetemitatem  et 
corruptionem  ccelo  et  terrae  ex  aequo,  licet  gloriam  et  vene- 
rationem  disparem,  attribuunt.  Nam  si  legatur,  solem  et  lunam 


1  ostentat  in  MS. 


*  invenire  in  MS. 


COGITATIONE8  DE  NATURA  RERUM. 


35 


Jideles  et  ceternos  in  ccelo  testes  esse ;  legitur  etiam,  generationes 
migrare,  terram  autem  in  (sternum  manere.  Quod  autem  utrum- 
que  transitorium  sit,  uno  oraculo  continetur,  nempe  ccelum 
et  terram  pertransire,  verbum  autem  Domini  non  pertransire. 
Neque  hsec  nos  novi  placiti  studio  diximus,  sed  quod  ista  rerum 
et  regionum  conficta  divortia  et  discrimina,  ultra  quam  veritas 
patitur,  magno  impedimento  ad  veram  philosophiam  et  naturse 
contemplationem  fore,  haud  ignari  sed  exemplo  edocti,  pro- 
videmus. 


■ 

' 

■ 


DE 

FLUXU  ET  REFLUXU  MARIS. 


PREFACE 


tTO  THE 

I)E  FLUXU  ET  REFLUXU  MARIS 

BY  BOBERT  LESLIE  ELLIS. 


It  was  a  natural  result  of  the  progress  of  maritime  discovery 
in  the  sixteenth  century,  that  much  was  thought  and  written 
on  the  subject  of  the  tides.  The  reports  continually  brought 
home  touching  the  ebb  and  flow  of  the  sea  on  far  distant 
shores,  not  only  excited  curiosity,  but  also  showed  how  little 
the  philosophers  of  antiquity  had  known  of  the  phenomena 
which  they  attempted  to  explain.  Men  who  dwelt  on  the 
shores  of  an  inland  sea,  and  whose  range  of  observation 
scarcely  extended  beyond  the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  were  in 
truth  not  likely  to  recognise  any  of  the  general  laws  .by 
which  these  phenomena  are  governed.  Their  authority  ac¬ 
cordingly  in  this  matter  was  of  necessity  set  aside ;  and  a 
number  of  hypotheses  were  proposed  in  order  to  explain  the 
newly  discovered  facts.  Of  these  speculations  an  interesting 
account  is  given  in  the  twenty-eighth  book  of  the  Pancosmia 
of  Patricius.  It  is  not,  however,  complete ;  no  mention 
being  made  of  the  hypothesis  of  Cassalpinus,  which  is  in  itself  a 
curious  one,  and  which  clearly  suggested  to  Galileo  his  own 
explanation  of  the  cause  of  the  tides.  Otto  Casmann,  the  pre¬ 
face  to  whose  Problemata  Marina  is  dated  in  1596,  gives  a 
good  deal  of  information  on  the  same  subject,  some  of  which 
however  seem3  to  be  simply  copied  from  Patricius ;  but  he 
mentions  Cassalpinus,  -whom,  as  I  have  said,  Patricius  omits. 
Patricius,  it  may  be  remarked,  is  a  scrupulously  orthodox  phi¬ 
losopher,  and  dedicates  his  work  to  Gregory  XIY.  with  many 
expressions  of  reverence  and  submission. 


40 


PREFACE  TO  THE 


It  is  perhaps  on  this  account  that  he  has  said  nothing  of 
Caesalpinus,  whose  works  were  “  improbatae  lectionis”  and  who 
seeks  to  explain  the  tides,  and  also  certain  astronomical  pheno¬ 
mena,  by  denying  the  orthodox  doctrine  of  the  earth’s  immo¬ 
bility. 

The  earliest  modem  writer  whom  Patricius  mentions  is 
Frederick  Chrysogonus,  whose  work  on  the  tides  must  have 
been  published  in  1527.  To  his  account  of  the  phenomena 
little,  according  to  Patricius,  was  added  by  subsequent  writers; 
nor  are  his  statements  contradicted  by  the  reports  of  seafaring 
men,  who  however  mention  certain  matters  of  detail  which  he 
had  omitted.  Of  seamen  Patricius  particularly  mentions  Peter 
of  Medina  and  Nicolaus  Sagrus,  the  latter  with  especial  com¬ 
mendation.  From  Sagrus  (but  probably  through  Patricius) 
Bacon  derived  some  of  the  statements  of  the  following  tract ; 
those,  namely,  which  relate  to  the  progress  of  the  tide-wave 
from  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar  to  Gravelines.  On  the  day  of 
new  moon,  according  to  Sagrus,  there  is  high  water  along  the 
coast  from  Tarifa  to  Rota  at  an  hour  and  a  half  after  midnight. 
After  mentioning  several  intermediate  places,  he  says  that 
along  the  coast  of  Normandy  as  far  as  Calais  and  Nieuport 
there  is  high  water  at  nine,  and  after  a  not  very  distinct  state¬ 
ment  as  to  the  time  of  high  water  in  the  middle  of  the  channel, 
goes  on  to  state  that  from  Calais  to  Graveliues  the  water  is 
high  off  shore  (in  derota)  at  an  hour  and  a  half  after  midnight, 
that  is  at  the  same  time  as  at  Rota,  and  at  Zealand  at  the 
same  time  as  on  the  coast  of  Portugal.  These  statements  are 
scarcely  sufficiently  accurate  to  make  it  worth  while  to  com¬ 
pare  them  with  modern  observations ;  but  it  is  necessary  to 
remark  that  Sagrus,  though  he  mentions  it  as  a  remarkable 
circumstance  that  the  time  of  high  water  should  be  the  same 
at  Gravelines  and  at  Rota,  does  not  mean  to  assert  that  there 
is  any  discontinuity  in  the  progress  of  the  tide  along  the 
shores  of  France  and  the  Netherlands.  The  tide  gets  pro¬ 
gressively  later  and  later  until  we  come  to  a  place  where  there 
is  high  water  about  one  in  the  afternoon,  and  therefore  also 
high  water  about  half-past  one  after  the  succeeding  midnight. 
In  order  to  compare  Gravelines  and  Rota,  he  takes  (but 
without  mentioning  that  he  does  so)  two  different  tide-waves, 
—  the  statement  with  reference  to  Gravelines  appearing  +o 
relate  to  a  later  wave  than  the  other.  Bacon  however  does 


DE  FLU  XU  ET  REFLUXU  MARIS. 


41 


not  appear  to  have  understood  this ;  and  consequently,  after 
saying  that  the  hour  of  high  water  becomes  later  and  later 
from  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar  to  the  coast  of  Normandy,  pro¬ 
ceeds  thus: — “  Hucusque  ordinatim  ;  ad  Gravelingam  vero, 
verso  prorsus  ordine,  idque  magno  saltu,  quasi  ad  eandem 
horam  cum  ostio  freti  Herculei.”  This  notion  of  a  reversal  of 
the  order  of  the  tides  as  we  proceed  along  the  French  and 
Dutch  coast  is  not  justified  either  by  Sagrus’s  statements  or 
by  the  phenomena  to  which  they  relate.1 

Sagrus  is  probably  the  first  writer  who  remarks  that  the 
time  of  high  water  is  not  always  the  same  as  that  of  slack 
water.  “  Et  illud  adnotat  Sagrus,”  says  Patricius,  “  non  minus 
mirum  ”  (he  has  been  speaking  of  the  coincidence  as  to  the 
time  of  high  water  between  the  Dutch  and  Portuguese  coasts) 
“  si  a  Selanditt  quis  ad  caput  Anglias  Dobla  [Dover  ?]  na- 
viget,  mare  plenum  erit  a  medinoctio  tertia  quidem  hora, 
sed  eodem  itinere,  fluxus  aquas  obvius  fiet  per  horas  duas  cum 
dimidia  donee  flaccescat,  quod  nautas  dicunt  aquam  fieri  stan- 
cam.”  Patricius  rightly  compares  this  with  the  phenomenon 
observed  at  Venice,  namely  that  when  the  water  has  already 
sunk  half  a  foot  at  the  entrance  of  the  harbour  it  is  still  rising 
in  the  harbour  itself. 

With  respect  to  theories  of  the  cause  of  the  tides,  it  may  be 
observed  that  a  connexion  of  some  kind  or  other  between  the 
tides  and  the  moon  has  at  all  times  been  popularly  recognised. 
But  the  conception  which  was  formed  as  to  the  nature  of  this 
connexion  long  continued  vague  and  indefinite;  and  in  Bacon’s 
time  those  who  speculated  on  the  subject  were  disposed  to  reject 
it  altogether.  One  theory,  that  of  Telesius  and  Patricius,  com¬ 
pares  the  sea  to  the  water  in  a  caldron  ;  that  is  to  say  it  rises 
and  tends  to  boil  over  when  its  natural  heat  is  called  forth 
under  the  influence  of  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  and  then  after 
a  while  subsides.  But  why  should  this  alternate  rise  and  fall 
have  a  definite  period  of  six  hours  ?  Patricius  calmly  answers, 
“  nimirum  quia  omnis  motus  fit  in  tempore,”  and  that  there  is 
no  better  reason  for  asking  the  question  than  for  asking  why 
certain  other  motions  have  periods  of  seven  or  fourteen  days, 
of  six  months  or  twelve. 

Another  theory,  which  was  propounded  by  Sfondratus,  in  a 

1  I  have  given  Sagrus’s  statements  'in  extenso  In  a  note  on  the  passage  In  the  text. 
He  seems  to  have  forgotten  that  Nieuport  Is  farther  from  Calais  than  Gravelines. 


42 


PREFACE  TO  THE 


tract  published  in  1590,  and  entitled  Causa  JEstus  Maris,  ex¬ 
plains  the  reciprocating  motion  of  ebb  and  flow  [as  owing]  to 
the  effect  produced  by  the  continent  of  America.  The  water 
under  the  influence  of  the  sun  moves  in  accordance  with  the 
motion  of  the  heavens  from  east  to  west.  But  it  is  reflected 
and  made  to  regurgitate  eastward  by  impinging  on  the  coast  of 
America,  which  was  supposed  to  extend  indefinitely  southward 
(Cape  Horn  was  not  discovered  until  [1615])  and  which  permits 
only  a  portion  of  it  to  pass  through  the  Straits  of  Magellan. 
Between  this  theory,  of  which  Patricius  speaks  contemptuously 
and  without  mentioning  the  name  of  its  author,  and  that  which 
.T.  C.  Scaliger  had  put  forth  in  the  Exercitationes  adversum 
Cardanum,  52.,  there  is  no  essential  difference,  though  Sca¬ 
liger  ascribes  the  general  westward  motion  of  the  ocean  to  its 
sympathy  with  the  moon.  But  in  both  theories  the  change 
of  direction  of  the  motion  is  ascribed  to  the  action  of  the  coast 
of  America;  and  both  were  doubtless  suggested  by  the  cur¬ 
rent  which  flows  from  east  to  west  through  the  Straits  of 
Magellan. 

Bacon  himself,  as  we  perceive  from  the  following  tract,  was 
inclined  to  adopt  the  same  view.  He  compares  the  Straits  of 
Dover  with  those  of  Magellan,  and  conceives  that  the  German 
Ocean  exhibits  on  a  small  scale  the  same  phenomena  of  a 
stream  tending  in  one  direction,  and  compelled  to  regurgitate 
in  the  opposite  one  by  the  obstacles  wliic’h  it  meets  with,  as  the 
great  Atlantic.  This  at  least  appears  to  be  the  import  of  the 
expressions  of  which  he  makes  use.  That  the  period  of  the 
revolution  of  the  waters  round  the  earth  is  greater  than  twenty- 
four  hours,  appeared  to  Bacon  to  be  in  entire  accordance  with 
the  retardation  of  the  diurnal  motion  of  the  planets.  All  the 
inferior  orbs  lag  behind  the  starry  heaven,  and  that  of  the  moon 
most  of  all ;  wherefore  the  moon’s  diurnal  period  is  more  nearly 
the  same  as  that  of  the  waters  than  any  other. 

In  these  views  there  is  an  absolute  confusion  between  the 
bodily  motion  of  water  as  in  a  current,  and  the  propagation 
of  an  undulation ;  a  confusion  not  unnatural,  seeing  that  to 
conceive  the  motion  of  an  undulation  apart  from  that  of  the 
matter  of  which  it  is  composed  is  by  no  means  easy.  Scaliger 
however  might  have  learned  from  Cardan,  notwithstanding 
the  arrogance  with  which  he  treats  him,  to  distinguish  between 
them.  For  Cardan,  after  saying  that  high  water  follows  the 


DE  FLUXU  ET  REFLUXU  MARIS. 


43 


moon,  inquires  why  the  motion  of  the  flood  current  is  so  much 
slower  than  the  moon’s.  He  answers :  “  Causa  est,  quod  non 
tota  aqua,  nec  una  pars  lunam  sequitur,  sed  proximse  in 
proximas  transferuntur,  velut  si  quis  camem  comprimens  tu- 
morem  elevet,  caro  quidem  parum  loco  movebitur,  celerrim& 
tamen  tumor  per  totum  crus  transferetur.” 1 

It  became  necessary,  when  the  flood  current  was  confounded 
with  the  motion  of  the  tide  wave,  to  assign  a  cause  for  the  reci¬ 
procating  motion  of  ebb  and  flow ;  and  this  cause  was  sought 
for  in  the  configuration  of  land  and  sea. 

It  seems  as  if  Aristotle,  if  he  had  developed  any  theory  of 
the  tides,  would  have  had  recourse  to  some  similar  explana¬ 
tion.  Thus  Strabo  says,  (I  quote  from  Xylander’s  translation,) 
“  Jam  Aristotelem  Posidonius  ait  sestuum  marinorum  qui  fiunt 
in  Hispania  causas  non  recte  ascribere  litori  et  Mauritania  ”  (by 
litori  is  probably  meant  the  coast  of  Spain  itself),  “  dicentem 
mare  ideo  reciprocare,  quia  extrema  terrarum  sublimia  sint  et 
aspera,  quse  et  fluctum  duriter  excipiant  et  in  Hispaniam  re- 
percutiant,  cum  pleraque  litora  sint  humilia  et  arenas  tumulis 
constent.”J  With  this  passage  is  to  be  compared  what  Aristotle 
says  in  the  commencement  of  the  second  book  of  the  Meteoro¬ 
logies,  from  which  it  appears  to  have  been  his  opinion  that 
the  seas  within  the  Pillars  of  Hercules  flow  continually  out¬ 
wards  in  consequence  of  differences  of  level,  and  that  where  the 
sea  is  girt  in  by  straits  its  motion  becomes  visible  in  the  form 
of  a  reciprocating  libration :  Sia  to  raXavreveadcu  Sevpo  icaiceiae. 
This  obscure  expression  is  taken  to  relate  to  the  tides,  and 
probably  does  so.  It  suggested  to  Caesalpinus  his  theory  of 
their  cause.  At  least  he  quotes  it,  and  dilates  on  its  meaning  ; 
and  when  the.  ebb  and  flow  of  the  sea  is  conceived  of  as  a 
libration,  it  is  easily  inferred  that  this  libration  ought  to  be 
ascribed  not  directly  to  the  fluid  itself  but  to  that  on  which 
it  rests.  And  this  notion  of  the  libration  of  the  earth  con¬ 
nected  itself  with  his  views  of  astronomy.  For  in  order  to 
get  rid  of  the  necessity  of  supposing  the  existence  of  a  ninth 
and  tenth  heaven, — the  former  to  explain  the  precession  of 
the  equinoxes,  and  the  latter  the  imaginary  phenomenon  of 

1  De  Subtilit.  ii.  p.  408. 

3  Strabo,  tii.  p.  153.  It  Is  worth  remarking  that  this  passage  Is  quoted  by  Ideler 
in  his  edition  of  the  Meteorologies,  i.  p.  901.,  in  a  way  which  makes  It  quite  unintelli¬ 
gible,  some  words  having  been  accidentally  omitted. 


44 


PREFACE  TO  THE 


their  trepidation, — he  ascribed  the  motion  by  which  these  phe¬ 
nomena  are  produced  to  the  earth  itself.  The  cause  of  this 
motion  he  sought  in  the  action  of  the  ambient  air  on  the  earth’s 
surface.  To  explain  trepidation,  the  earth’s  motion  was  sup¬ 
posed  to  be  in  some  measure  libratory  and  irregular ;  and  by 
being  so  it  produced  the  tides.1 

From  the  theory  of  Csesalpinus  we  pass  naturally  to  that 
of  Galileo,  seeing  that  in  both  the  tides  are  explained  by  the 
unequal  motion  of  the  earth.  Galileo’s  theory  was  first  pro¬ 
pounded  in  a  letter  to  Cardinal  Orsino,  dated  1616.  He 
remarks  that  the  libratory  motion  “  che  alcuno  ha  attribuito 
alia  Terra,”  (alluding  of  course  to  Csesalpinus,)  is  in  several 
respects  not  such  as  to  save  the  phenomena,  and  maintains 
that  the  true  cause  is  to  be  sought  in  the  combination  of  the 
earth’s  motion  in  its  orbit  with  its  rotation  on  its  own  axis. 
In  consequence  of  this  combination,  the  velocity  of  any  point 
of  the  earth’s  surface  varies,  going  through  its  different  values 
in  the  space  of  twenty-four  hours.  The  waters  of  the  sea,  not 
accommodating  themselves  to  this  varying  velocity,  ebb  and 
flow  at  any  place  as  their  velocity  is  less  or  greater  than  that 
of  their  bed.  The  boldness  of  the  assertions  by  which  Galileo 
supports  this  theory  is  remarkable:  thus  he  affirms  that  the 
ebb  and  flow  is  always  from  west  to  east,  and  vice  versii ;  and 
that  the  notion  that,  speaking  generally,  the  interval  between 
high  water  and  low  is  six  hours  “  e  stata  un’  ingannevole 
opinione  la  quale  ha  poi  fatto  favoleggiare  gli  scrittori  con 
molte  vane  fantasie.”  No  refutation  of  a  theory  which  alto¬ 
gether  misrepresents  the  facts  which  it  proposes  to  explain 
could  ever  have  been  needed ;  but  the  advance  of  mechanical 
science  has  long  since  made  it  easy  to  show  that  no  recipro¬ 
cating  motion  of  the  waters  of  the  sea  could  be  produced  in  the 
manner  described  by  Galileo. 

Bacon  does  not  mention  Galileo's  theory  in  the  present 
tract,  which  was  therefore  probably  written  before  or  not 
long  after  1616.  But  in  the  Novum  Organum  [n.  46.]  it  is 
mentioned  and  condemned ;  one  ground  of  censure  being  that 
it  proceeds  on  the  untenable  hypothesis  of  the  earth’s  motion, 
and  the  other  that  the  phenomena  are  misrepresented. 

Bacon,  both  in  this  tract  and  in  the  Novum  Organum, 


Quasstiones  Peripat.  ili.  4.  and  5. 


DE  FI.UXU  ET  REFJ.UXU  MARIS. 


45 


ascribes  the  tides  in  the  Atlantic  to  a  derivative  motion  of  the 
waters,  caused  by  the  obstacles  which  the  form  of  the  con¬ 
tinents  of  the  old  and  new  worlds  oppose  to  its  general 
westerly  movement.  It  is  thus  that  he  meets  the  objection 
which  would  arise  from  the  circumstance  that  there  is  high 
water  at  the  same  time  on  corresponding  points  of  the  shores 
of  Europe  and  America.  This  notion  of  a  derivative  tide  is 
absolutely  necessary  in  the  detailed  explanation  of  the  phe¬ 
nomena,  and  I  am  not  aware  that  any  one  had  previously 
suggested  it,  at  least  in  the  distinct  form  in  which  Bacon  puts 
it.  He  admits  that,  if  the  tides  of  the  Pacific  synchronise  with 
those  of  the  Atlantic,  his  theory  that  the  tides  depend  on  a 
progressive  motion  of  the  ocean  must  be  given  [up].  If  it  be 
high  water  on  the  shores  of  Peru  and  China  at  the  same  hours 
as  on  those  of  Florida  and  Europe,,  there  are  no  shores  left  on 
which  there  can  then  be  low  water.  For  the  important  obser¬ 
vation  that  the  hours  of  high  water  correspond,  speaking 
roughly,  on  the  European  and  American  coasts,  Bacon  quotes 
in  the  He  Fluxu  et  Refluxu  Maris  no  authority ;  but  in  the 
Novum  Organum  he  ascribes  it  to  Acosta  and  others.  But  it 
is  very  remarkable  that  Acosta  does  not  say  what  Bacon  makes 
him  say,  namely  that  the  times  of  high  water  are  the  same 
on  the  coast  of  Florida  and  that  of  Europe,  and  that  he  does 
say  what  Bacon  admits  would  be  fatal  to  his  theory,  namely 
that  there  is  high  water  at  the  same  time  in  the  Atlantic  and 
Pacific  oceans.  In  his  Natural  History  of  the  Indies,  iii.  14., 
he  speaks  of  the  tides,  and  of  the  two  theories  by  which  they 
had  been  explained.  There  are  some,  he  says,  who  affirm 
that  the  ebb  and  flow  of  the  sea  resembles  a  caldron  of  water 
moved  to  and  fro,  the  water  rising  on  one  side  when  it  falls 
on  the  other,  and  reciprocally ;  while  others  liken  it  to  the 
boiling  over  of  a  pot,  which  rises  and  falls  on  all  sides  at 
once.  The  second  view  is  in  his  judgment  the  true  one.  He 
says  that  he  had  inquired  from  a  certain  pilot,  Hernandez 
Lamero ',  who  had  sailed  through  the  Straits  of  Magellan 
about  the  year  1579,  how  he  had  found  the  tides  there,  and 
particularly  if  the  tide  of  the  South  Sea  or  Pacific  flowed  when 
that  of  the  North  Sea  or  Atlantic  ebbed,  and  vice  versa. 
Lamero  made  answer  that  it  was  not  so,  that  both  tides  ebb 


1  See  Acosta,  lii.  11. 


46 


PREFACE  TO  DE  FLUXU  ET  REFLUXU  MARIS. 


and  flow  together,  and  that  they  meet  about  seventy  leagues 
from  the  Atlantic  and  thirty  from  the  South  Sea.  With  this 
statement  Acosta  is  altogether  satisfied ;  and  so  far  from  trying 
to  compare  the  time  of  high  water  on  the  opposite  shores  of 
the  Atlantic,  he  remarks  that  but  for  the  Straits  of  Magellan 
it  would  be  impossible  to  determine  experimentally  which  of 
the  two  theories  he  has  mentioned  is  the  true  one ;  as  only 
angels  could  make  observations  on  both  sides  of  the  ocean 
at  once,  the  eyes  of  men  not  reaching  far  enough  to  do  so, 
and  the  distance  being  too  great  to  be  crossed  by  man  in  the 
time  of  a  single  tide. 


47 


DE  FLU  XU  ET  REFLUXU  MARIS. 


Contemplatio  de  causis  fluxus  et  refluxus  maris,  ab  antiquis 
tentata  et  deinde  omissa,  junioribus  repetita,  et  tamen  varietate 
opinionum  magis  labefactata  quam  discussa,  vulgo  lev!  conje- 
ctura  refertur  ad  lunam,  ob  consensum  nonnullum  motus  ejus- 
dem  cum  motu  lunse.  Attamen  diligentius  perscrutanti  vestigia 
qusedam  veritatis  se  ostendunt,  quae  ad  certiora  deducere  possint. 
Itaque  ne  confusius  agatur,  primo  distinguendi  sunt  motus 
mans,  qui  licet  satis  inconsiderate  multiplicentur  a  nonnullis, 
inveniuntur  revera  tantum  quinque ;  quorum  unus  tanquam 
anomalus  est,  reliqui  constantes.  Primus  ponatur  motus  ille 
vagus  et  varius  (quos  appellant)  currentium.  Secundus  motus 
magnus  oceani  sexhorarius,  per  quem  aquae  ad  littora  accedunt 
et  recedunt  alternatim  bis  in  die,  non  exacte,  sed  cum  differentia 
tali  quae  periodum  constituat  menstruam.  Tertius  motus  ipse 
menstruus,  qui  nil  aliud  est  quam  restitutio  motus  (ejus  quem 
diximus)  diurni  ad  eadem  tempora.  Quartus  motus  semimen- 
struus,  per  quem  fluxus  habent  incrementa  in  noviluniis  et 
pleniluniis,  magis  quam  in  dimidiis.  Quintus  motus  semestris, 
per  quem  fluxus  habent  incrementa  auctiora  et  insignia  in 
aequinoctiis.  Atque  de  secundo  illo  motu  magno  oceani  sex- 
horario  sive  diurno,  nobis  in  praesentia  sermo  est  praecipue  et 
ex  intentione  ;  de  reliquis  solummodo  in  transitu,  et  quatenus 
faciant  ad  hujusce  motus  explicationem.  Primo  igitur,  quod  ad 
motum  currentium  attinet,  dubium  non  est  quin  pro  eo  ac  aquae 
vel  ab  angustiis  premuntur,  vel  a  liberis  spatiis  laxantur,  vel  in 
magis  declivia  festinant  ac  veluti  effunduntur,  vel  in  eminen- 
tiora  incurrunt  ac  inscendunt,  vel  fundo  labuntur  aequabili,  vel 
fundi  suleis  et  inaequahtatibus  perturbantur,  vel  in  alios  cur- 
rentes  incidunt  atque  cum  illis  se  miscent  et  compatiuntur,  vel 
etiam  a  ventis  agitantur,  praesertim  anniversariis  sive  statariis, 
qui  sub  anni  certas  tempestates  redeunt,  aquas  ex  his  et  simili- 


48 


DE  FLUXU  ET  HEFLUXU  MARIS. 


bus  causis  impetus  et  gurgites  suos  variare,  tam  consecutione 
ipsius  motus  atque  latione  quam  velocitate  sive  mensura  motus, 
atque  inde  constituere  eos  quos  vocant  currentes.  Itaque  in 
maribus,  turn  profunditas  fossse  sive  canalis  atque  interpositae 
voragines  et  rupes  submarinae,  turn  curvitates  littorum,  et  ter- 
rarum  prominentiae,  sinus,  fauces,  insulae  multis  modis  locat®, 
et  similia,  plurima  possunt,  atque  agunt  prorsus  aquas  earum- 
que  meatus  et  gurgites  in  omnes  partes,  et  versus  orientem  et 
versus  occidentem,  austrum  versus  similiter  et  septentriones, 
atque  quaquaversum,  prout  obices  illi  aut  spatia  libera  et  de- 
clivia  sita  sint  et  invicem  configurentur.  Segregetur  igitur 
motus  iste  aquarum  particularis  et  quasi  fortuitus,  ne  forte  ille 
in  inquisitione  quam  prosequimur  obturbet.  Neminem  enim 
par  est  constituere  et  fundare  abnegationem  eorum  qua  mox 
dicentur  de  motibus  oceani  naturalibus  et  catholicis,  opponendo 
motum  istum  currentium,  veluti  cum  thesibus  illis  minime  con- 
venientem.  Sunt  enim  currentes  merae  compressiones  aquarum, 
aut  liberationes  a  compressione :  suntque,  ut  diximus,  particu¬ 
lars  et  respectivi,  prout  locantur  aquae  et  terras,  aut  etiam 
incumbunt  venti.  Atque  hoc  quod  diximus  eo  magis  memoria 
tenendum  est  atque  diligenter  advertendum,  quia  motus  ille 
universalis  oceani,  de  quo  nunc  agitur,  adeo  mitis  est  et  mollis, 
ut  a  compulsionibus  currentium  omnino  dometur  et  in  ordinem 
redigatur,  cedatque,  et  ad  eorum  violentiam  agatur  et  regatur. 
Id  autem  ita  se  habere  ex  eo  perspicuum  est  vel  maxime,  quod 
motus  simplex  fluxus  et  refluxus  maris  in  pelagi  medio,  prae- 
sertim  per  maria  lata  et  exporrecta,  non  sentiatur,  sed  ad  littora 
tantum.  Itaque  nihil  mirum  si  sub  currentibus  (utpote  viribus 
inferior)  lateat  et  quasi  destruatur,  nisi  quod  ille  ipse  motus, 
ubi  currentes  secuudi  fuerint,  eorum  impetum  nonnihil  juvet 
atque  incitet ;  contra  ubi  adversi,  modicum  frenet.  Misso 
igitur  motu  currentium,  pergendum  est  ad  motus  illos  quatuor 
constantes,  sexliorarium,  menstruum,  semimenstruum,  et  seme- 
strem ;  quorum  solus  sexhorarius  videtur  fluxus  maris  agere  et 
ciere,  menstruus  vero  videtur  tantummodo  motum  ilium  deter- 
minare  et  restituere,  semimenstruus  autem  et  semestris  eundem 
augere  et  intendere.  Etenim  fluxus  et  refluxus  aquarum  qui 
littora  maris  ad  certa  spatia  inundat  et  destituit,  et  horis  variis 
variat  et  vi  ac  copia  aquarum,  unde  reliqui  illi  tres  motus  se 
dant  conspiciendos.  Itaque  de  illo  ipso  motu  fluxus  et  refluxus 
sigillatim  ac  proprie  (ut  instituimus)  videndum.  Atque  prnno 


DE  FLUXU  ET  REFLUXU  MARIS. 


49 


illud  dari  prorsus  necesse  est :  motum  hunc  de  quo  inquirimus 
unum  ex  duobus  istis  esse,  vel  motum  sublationis  et  demissionis 
aquarum,  vel  motum  progressus.  Motum  autem  sublationis  et 
demissionis  talem  esse  intelligimus,  qualis  invenitur  in  aqua  bul- 
lienti,  quae  in  caldario  attollitur  et  rursum  residet.  At  motum 
progressus  talem,  qualis  invenitur  in  aqua  vecta  in  pelvi,  quae 
unum  latus  deserit,  cum  ad  latus  oppositum  advolvitur.  Quod 
vero  motus  iste  neutiquam  sit  primi  generis,  occurrit  illud  in- 
primis,  quod  in  diversis  mundi  partibus  variant  aestus  secundum 
tempora;  ut  fiant  in  aliquibus  locis  fluxus  et  augmenta  aquarum, 
cum  alibi  sint  ad  eas  horas  refluxus  et  decrementa.  Debuerant 
autem  aquae,  si  illae  non  progrederentur  de  loco  in  locum  sed 
ex  profundo  ebullirent,  ubique1  simul  se  attollere,  atque  rursus 
simul  se  recipere.  Yidemus  enim  duos  illos  alios  motus,  seme- 
strem  et  semimenstruum,  per  universum  orbem  terrarum  simul 
perfungi  atque  operari.  Fluxus  enim  sub  aequinoctiis  ubique 
augentur ;  non  in  aliis  partibus  sub  aequinoctiis,  in  aliis  sub 
tropicis  ;  atque  similis  est  ratio  motus  semimenstrui.  Ubique 
enim  terrarum  invalescunt  aquae  in  noviluniis,  nullibi  in  dimi- 
diis.  Itaque  videntur  revera  aquae  in  duobus  illis  motibus 
plane  attolli  et  demitti,  et  veluti  pati  apogaeura  et  perigteum, 
quemadmodum  coelestia.  Atque  in  fluxu  et  refluxu  maris,  de 
quo  sermo  est,  contra  fit :  quod  motus  in  progressu  certissimum 
signum  est.  Praeterea  si  fluxus  aquarum  ponatur  esse  sublatio, 
attendendum  paulo  diligentius  quomodo  ista  sublatio  fieri  pos- 
sit.  Aut  enim  fiet  tumor  ab  aucto  quanto  aquarum,  aut  ab 
extensione  sive  rarefactione  aquarum  in  eodem  quanto,  aut  per 
sublationem  simplicem  in  eodem  quanto  atque  eodem  corpore. 
Atque  tertium  illud  prorsus  abjiciendum.  Si  enim  aqua, 
qualis  est,  attollatur,  ex  hoc  relinquatur  necessario  inane  inter 
terram  atque  ima  aquae,  cum  non  sit  corpus  quod  succedat. 
Quod  si  sit  nova  moles  aquae,  necesse  est  earn  emanare  atque 
ecaturire  e  terra.  Sin  vero  sit  extensio  tantum,  id  fiet  vel  per 
eolutionem  in  magis  rarum,  vel  appetitum  appropinquandi 
ad  aliud  corpus  quod  aquas  veluti  evocet  et  attrahat  et  in 
sublimius  tollat.  Atque  certe  ista  aquarum  sive  ebullitio, 
sive  rarefactio,  sive  conspiratio  cum  alio  quopiam  corpore  ex 
superioribus,  non  incredibilis  videri  possit  in  mediocri  quanti¬ 
tate,  atque  adhibito  etiam  bono  temporis  spatio,  in  quo  hujus- 
modi  tumores  sive  augmenta  se  colligere  et  cumulare  possint. 

1  ibique  in  the  original.  —  J.S. 


50 


DE  FI.UXU  ET  REFLUXU  MARIS. 


Itaque  excessua  ille  aquarum  qui  inter  aestum  ordinarium 
atque  aestum  ilium  largiorem  semimenstruum  aut  etiam  ilium 
alterum  profusissimum  semestrem  notari  possit,  cum  nec  mole 
excessus  inter  fluxum  et  refluxum  aequiparetur  atque  habeat 
etiam  bene  magnum  intervallum  temporis  ad  incrementa  ilia 
sensim  facienda,  nihil  habeat  alienum  a  ratione.  Ut  vero 
tanta  erumpat  moles  aquarum,  quae  excessum  ilium  qui  inve- 
nitur  inter  ipsum  fluxum  et  refluxum  salvet ;  atque  hoc  fiat 
tanta  celeritate,  videlicet  bis  in  die,  ac  si  terra,  secundum  vani- 
tatem  illam  Apollonii ',  respiraret,  atque  aquas  per  singulas  sex 
horas  efflaret,  ac  deinde  absorberet;  incommodum  maximum. 
Neque  moveatur  quispiam  levi  experimento,  quod  putei  non- 
nulli  in  aliquibus  locis  memorentur  consensum  habere  cum 
fluxu  et  refluxu  maris ;  unde  suspicari  quis  possit,  aquas  in 
cavis  terrae  conclusas  similiter  ebullire ;  in  quo  casu  tumor  ille 
ad  motum  progressivum  aquarum  referri  commode  non  possit. 
Facilis  enim  est  responsio,  posse  fluxum  maris  accessione  sua 
multa  loca  cava  ac  laxa  terrse  obturare  atque  opplere,  atque 
aquas  subterraneas  vertere,  etiam  aerem  conclusum  reverberare, 
qui  serie  continuata  hujusmodi  puteorum  aquas  trudendo  at- 
tollere  possit.  Itaque  hoc  in  omnibus  puteis  minime  fit,  nec 
in  multis  adeo ;  quod  fieri  debuit,  si  universa  massa  aquarum 
naturam  baberet  ebullientem  per  vices,  et  cum  aestu  maris  con- 
sensionem.  Sed  contra  raro  admodum  fit,  ut  instar  miraculi 
fere  habeatur ;  quia  scilicet  hujusmodi  laxamenta  et  spiracula 
quae  a  puteis  ad  mare  pertingunt  absque  obturatione  aut  impe- 
dimento  raro  admodum  inveniantur.  Neque  abs  re  est  memo- 
rare  quod  referunt  nonnulli,  in  fodinis  profundis,  non  procul  a 
mari  sitis,  aerem  incrassari  et  suffocationem  minari  ad  tempora 
fluxus  maris ;  ex  quo  manifestum  videri  possit  non  aquas  ebul¬ 
lire  (nullae  cum  cernuntur),  sed  aerem  retroverti.  At  certe 
aliud  urget  experimentum  non  contemnendum,  sed  magni  pon- 
deris,  cui  responsio  omnino  debetur ;  hoc  est,  quod  diligenter 
observatum  sit,  idque  non  fortuito  notatum  sed  de  industria 
inquisitum  atque  repertum,  aquas  ad  littora  adversa  Europae  et 
Floridae  iisdem  horis  ab  utroque  littore  refluere,  neque  deserere 
littus  Europae  cum  advolvantur  ad  littora  Floridae,  more  aquae 
(ut  supra  diximus)  agitatae  in  pelvi,  sed  plane  simul  ad  utrum- 
que  littus  attolli  et  demitti.2  Verum  hujus  objectionis  solutio 

1  Philos.  Vit.  Apoll.  Tyan.  [See  Sylva  Sylvarum,  Vol.  II.  p.  640.  —  J.S.] 

1  See  the  note  on  Nov.  Org.  n.  36.,  where  Acosta’s  name  is  mentioned  in  con¬ 
nexion  with  this  statement.  [See  also  the  preface  ;  supra  p,  45.] 


DE  FLUXU  ET  REFLUX  U  MARIS. 


51 


perspicue  apparebit  in  iis  quae  mox  dicentur  de  cursu  et  pro- 
gressu  oceani.  Summa  autem  rei  tabs  est,  quod  aquae  a  mari 
Indico  profect®,  et  ab  objectu  terrarum  veteris  et  novi  orbis 
impedit®,  truduntur  per  mare  Atlanticum  ab  Austro  in  Bo- 
ream  ;  ut  non  mirum  sit  eas  ad  utrumque  littus  simul  ex  aequo 
appellere,  ut  aquae  solent  quae  contruduntur  a  mari  in  ostia  et 
canales  fluminum,  in  quibus  evidentissimum  est  motum  maris 
esse  progressivum  quatenus  ad  flumina,  et  tamen  littora  adversa 
simul  inundare.  Verum  id  pro  more  nostro  ingenue  fatemur, 
idque  homines  attendere  et  meminisse  volumus :  si  per  experi- 
entiam  inveniatur  fluxus  maris  iisdem  temporibus  ad  littora 
Peruvi®  atque  Chinas  affluere  quibus  fluunt  ad  littora  prsefata 
Europae  et  Florid®,  opinionem  hanc  nostram,  quod  fluxus  et 
refluxus  maris  sit  motus  progressivus,  abjudicandam  esse.  Si 
enim  per  littora  adversa  tarn  maris  Australis  quam  maris 
Atlantici  fiat  fluxus  ad  eadem  tempora,  •  non  relinquuntur  in 
universo  alia  littora  per  quae  refluxus  ad  eadem  ilia  tempora 
satisfaciat.  Yerum  de  hoc  judicio  faciendo  per  experientiam 
(cui  causam  submisimus)  loquimur  tanquam  securi.  Existi- 
mamus  enim  plane,  si  summa  hujus  rei  per  universum  terrarum 
orbem  nobis  cognita  foret,  satis  ®quis  conditionibus  istud  foedus 
transigi,  nempe  ut  ad  horam  aliquam  certam  fiat  refluxus  in 
aliquibus  partibus  orbis,  quantum  fiat  fluxus  in  aliis.  Quam- 
obrem  ex  iis  quae  diximus,  statuatur  tandem  motus  iste  fluxus 
et  refluxus  esse  progressivus. 


Sequitur  jam  inquisitio  ex  qua  causa ,  et  per  quem  consensum 
verum,  oriatur  atque  exhibeatur  iste  motus  Jiuxus  et  rejluxus. 
Omnes  enim  majores  motus  (si  sunt  iidem  regulares  et  con- 
stantes)  solitarii  aut  (ut  astronomorum  vocabulo  utamur) 
ferini 1  non  sunt,  sed  habent  in  rerum  natura  cum  quibus  con- 
sentiant.  Itaque  motus  illi,  tarn  semimenstruus  incrementi 
quam  menstruus  restitutionis,  convenire  videntur  cum  motu 
lun®.  Semimenstruus  vero  ille  sive  aequinoctialis  cum  motu 
solis.  Etiam  sublationes  et  demissiones  aquarum  cum  apogasis 
et  perig®is  coelestium.  Neque  tamen  continuo  sequetur  (idque 
homines  advertere  volumus),  qu®  periodis  et  curriculo  temporis 
aut  etiam  modo  lationis  conveniunt,  ea  natura  esse  subordinata, 
atque  alterum  alteri  pro  causa  esse.  Nam  non  eo  usque  pro- 
gredimur,  ut  affirmemus  motus  lunae  aut  solis  pro  causis  poni 

*  See  Vol.  I.  p.  269.  note  3 ,  — 


5  Bacon  HI 


52 


DE  FLUXU  ET  REFLUXU  MARIS. 


rnotuum  inferiorum  qui  ad  illos  sunt  analogi,  aut  solem  et 
lunam  (ut  vulgo  loquuntur)  dominium  habere  super  illos  motus 
maris,  (licet  hujusmodi  cogitationes  facile  mentibus  hominum 
illabantur  ob  venerationem  ccelestium);  sed  et  in  illo  ipso 
motu  semimenstruo  (si  recte  advertatur)  mirum  et  novum 
prorsus  fuerit  obsequii  genus,  ut  festus  sub  noviluniis  et  pleni- 
luniis  eadem  patiantur,  cum  luna  patiatur  contraria ;  et  multa 
alia  adduci  possint  quce  hujusmodi  dominationum  phantasias 
destruant,  et  eo  potius  rem  deducant,  ut  ex  materise  passionibus 
catholicis  et  primis  rerum  coagmentationibus  consensus  illi 
oriantur,  non  quasi  alterum  ab  altero  regatur,  sed  quod  utrum- 
que  ab  iisdem  originibus  et  concausis  emanet.  Veruntamen 
(utcunque)  manet  illud  quod  diximus,  naturam  consensu  gau- 
dere,  nec  fere  aliquid  monodicum*  aut  solitarium  admittere. 
Itaque  videndum  de  motu  fluxus  et  refluxus  maris  sexhorario, 
cum  quibus  aliis  motibus  ille  convenire  aut  consentire  reperi- 
atur.  Atque  inquirendum  primo  de  luna,  quomodo  iste  motus 
cum  luna  rationes  aut  naturam  misceat.  Id  vero  fieri  omnino 
non  videmus,  praeterquam  in  restitutione  menstrua :  nullo 
modo  enim  congruit  curriculum  sexhorarium  (id  quod  nunc 
inquiritur)  cum  curriculo  menstruo  ;  neque  rursus  fluxus  ma¬ 
ris  passiones  Junae  quascumque  sequi  deprehenduntur.  Sive 
enim  luna  sit  aucta  lumin^  sive  diminuta,  sive  ilia  sit  sub 
terra  sive  super  terram,  sive  ilia  elevetur  super  horizontem 
altius  aut  depressius,  sive  ilia  ponatur  in  meridiano  aut  alibi, 
in  nulla  prorsus  harum  consentiunt  fluxus  atque  refluxus. 

Itaque,  missa  luna,  de  aliis  consensibus  inquiramus.  Atque 
ex  omnibus  motibus  ccelestibus  constat,  motum  diumum  maxi- 
me  curtum  esse,  et  minimo  temporis  intervallo  (spatio  videlicet 
viginti  quatuor  horarum)  confici.  Itaque  consentaneum  est, 
motum  istum  de  quo  inquirimus  (qui'  adhuc  tribus  partibus 
diurno  brevior  est)  proxime  ad  eum  motum  referri  qui  est  ex 
ccelestibus  brevissimus ;  sed  hoc  rem  minus  premit.  Illud  vero 
longe  magis  nos  movet,  quod  ita  sit  iste  motus  dispertitus  ut 
ad  diurni  motus  rationes  respondeat;  ut  licet  motus  aqua- 
rum  sit  motu  diurno  quasi  innumeris  partibus  tardior,  tamen 
sit  commensurabilis.  Etenim  spatium  sexhorarium  est  diurni 
motus  quadrans,  quod  spatium  (ut  diximus)  in  motu  isto  ma¬ 
ris  invenitur  cum  ea  differentia  quse  coincidat  in  mensuram 


1  monadicum.  See  Vol.  I.  p.  165.  note  3.  —  J.S. 


DE  FLUXU  ET  REFLUXU  MARIS. 


53 


motus  lunas.  Itaque  hoc  nobis  penitus  insedit  ac  fere  instar 
oraculi  est,  motum  istum  ex  eodem  genere  esse  cum  motu 
diurno.  Hoc  igitur  usi  fundamento  pergemus  inquirere  reli- 
qua ;  atque  rem  omnem  triplici  inquisitione  absolvi  posse 
statuimus.  Quarum  prima  est,  an  motus  ille  diurnus  terminis 
cceli  contineatur,  aut  delabatur  et  se  insinuet  ad  inferiora? 
Secunda  est,  an  maria  regulariter  ferantur  ab  oriente  in  occi- 
dentem,  quemadmodum  et  ccelum  ?  Tertia,  unde  et  quomodo 
fiat  reciprocatio  ilia  sexhoraria  aestuum,  qu;e  incidit  in  qua- 
drantem  motus  diurni,  cum  differentia  incidente  in  rationes 
motus  lunas  ?  Itaque  quod  ad  primam  inquisitionem  attinet, 
arbitramur  motum  rotationis  sive  conversionis-  ab  oriente  in 
occidentem  esse  motum  non  proprie  coelestem,  sed  plane  cosmi- 
cum,  atque  motum  in  fluoribus  magnis  primarium,  qui  usque 
a  summo  coelo  ad  imas  aquas  inveniatur,  inclinatione  eadem, 
incitatione  autem  (id  est,  velocitate  et  tarditate)  longe  diversa ; 
ita  tamen  ut  ordine  minime  perturbato  minuatur  celeritate 
quo  propius  corpora  accedunt  ad  globum  terras.  Videtur 
autem  primo  probabile  argumentum  sumi  posse,  quod  motus 
iste  non  terminetur  cum  coelo,  quia  per  tantam  coeli  profundi- 
tatem,  quanta  interjicitur  inter  coelum  stellatum  et  lunam 
(quod  spatium  multo  amplius  est  quam  a  luna  ad  terram), 
valeat  atque  vigeat  iste  motus,  cum  debitis  decrementis  suis ; 
ut  verisimile  non  sit  naturam  istiusmodi  consensum,  per  tanta 
spatia  continuatum  et  gradatim  se  remittentem,  subito  depo- 
nere.  Quod  autem  res  ita  se  babeat  in  coelestibus,  evincitur 
ex  duobus,  quae  aliter  sequentur,  incommodis.  Cum  enim 
manifestum  sit  ad  sensum  planetas  diurnum  motum  peragere, 
nisi  ponatur  motus  iste  tanquam  naturalis  ac  proprius  in  pla- 
netis  omnibus,  confugiendum  necessario  est  vel  ad  raptum 
primi  mobilis,  quod  naturae  prorsus  adversatur,  aut  ad  rotatio- 
nem  terras,  quod  etiam  satis  licenter  excogitatum  est,  quoad 
rationes  physicas.  Itaque  in  coelo  ita  se  res  habet.  Postquam 
autem  a  coelo  discessum  est,  cernitur  porro  iste  motus  eviden- 
tissime  in  cometis  humilioribus,  qui,  cum  inferiores  orbe  lunas 
sint,  tamen  ab  oriente  in  occidentem  evidenter  rotant.  Licet 
enim  habeant  motus  suos  solitarios  et  irregulares,  tamen  in 
illis  ipsis  conficiendis  interim  communicant 1  cum  motu  aetberis 
et  ad  eandem  conversionem  feruntur ;  tropicis  vero  non  con- 

1  [commun icandis  in  the  original.]  M.  Bouillet’s  reading  is  communicant,  which 
is  doubtless  right. 


54 


DE  FLUXU  ET  REFLUXU  MARIS. 


tinentur  fere,  nec  habent  regulares  spiras,  eed  excurrunt  quan- 
doque  versus  polos,  sed  nihilominus  in  consecutione  ab  oriente 
in  occidentem  rotant.  Atque  hujusmodi  motus  iste  licet  magna 
acceperit  decrementa  (cum  quo  propius  descendatur  versus 
terrain,  eo  et  minoribus  circulis  conversio  fiat,  et  nihilominus 
tardius),  validus  tamen  utique  manet,  ut  magna  spatia  brevi 
tempore  vincere  queat.  Circumvolvuntur  enim  hujusmodi 
cometae  circa  universum  ambitum  et  terrae  et  aeris  inferioris 
spatio  viginti  quatuor  horarum,  cum  horae  unius  aut  alterius 
excessu.  At  postquam  ad  eas  regiones  descensu  continuato 
perventum  sit,  in  quas  terra  agit  non  solum  communicatione 
naturae  et  virtutis  suae  (quae  motum  circularem  reprimit  et 
6edat),  sed  etiam  immissione  materiali  particularum  substantiae 
suae  per  vapores  et  halitus  crassos,  iste  motus  immensum  hebe- 
scit,  et  fere  corruit,  sed  non  propterea  prorsus  exinanitur  aut 
cessat,  sed  manet  languidus  et  tanquam  latens.  Etenim  jam 
in  confesso  esse  coepit,  navigantibus  intra  tropicos,  ubi  libero 
aequore  motus  aeris  percipitur  optime,  et  aer  ipse  (veluti  et 
ccelum)  majoribus  circulis  ideoque  velocius  rotat,  spirare  au- 
ram  perpetuam  et  jugem  ab  oriente  in  occidentem;  adeo  ut 
qui  Zephyro  uti  volunt,  eum  extra  tropicos  saepius  quaerant  et 
procurent.1  Itaque  non  extinguitur  iste  motus  etiam  in  aere 
infimo,  sed  piger  jam  devenit  et  obscurus,  ut  extra  tropicos  vix 
sentiatur.  Et  tamen  etiam  extra  tropicos  in  nostra  Europa  in 
mari,  ccelo  sereno  et  tranquillo,  observatur  aura  quaedam  solise- 
qua,  quae  ex  eodem  genere  est ;  etiam  suspicari  licet,  quod  hie  in 
Europa  experimur,  ubi  flatus  Euri  aeris  est  et  desiccans,  cum 
contra  Zephyri  sit  genialis 2  et  hinnectans,  non  solum  ex  hoc 
pendere,  quod  ille  a  continente,  iste  ab  oceano  apud  nos  spiret ; 
sed  etiam  ex  eo,  quod  Euri  flatus,  cum  sit  in  eadem  consequentia 
cum  motu  aeris  proprio,  eum  motum  incitet  et  irritet,  ac  pro¬ 
pterea  aerem  dissipet  et  rarefaciat :  Zephyri  vero  flatus,  qui  in 
contraria  consequentia  sit  cum  motu  aeris,  aerem  in  se  vertat, 
et  propterea  inspisset.  Neque  illud  contemnendum,  quod  vul- 
gari  observatione  recipitur,  nubes  quae  feruntur  in  sublimi 
plerumque  movere  ab  oriente  in  occidentem,  cum  venti  circa 
terram  ad  eadem  tempora  flant  in  contrarium.  Quod  si  hoc  non 
semper  faciunt,  id  in  causa  esse,  quod  sint  quandoque  venti 
contrarii,  alii  in  alto,  alii  in  imo ;  illi  autem  in  alto  spirantes 

1  See  Acosta,  Hist  des  Indes,  111,  4. 

*  [generalit  in  original.]  This  is  obviously  an  error,  the  true  reading  is  gmialis. 


DE  FLUXU  ET  REFLUXU  MARIS. 


55 


(si  adversi  fuerint)  motum  istum  verum  aeris  disturbent.  Quod 
ergo  coeli  terminis  non  contineatur  iste  motus,  satis  patet. 

Sequitur  ordine  secunda  inquisitio  ;  An  aqua  ferantur  regu- 
lariter  et  naturaliter  ab  oriente  in  occidentem  ?  Cum  vero  aquas 
dicimus,  intelligimus  aquas  coacervatas,  sive  massas  aquarum, 
quEe  scilicet  tantse  sunt  portiones  naturas,  ut  consensum  habere 
possint  cum  fabrica  et  structura  universi.  Atque  arbitramur 
plane,  eundem  motum  mass®  aquarum  competere  atque  inesse, 
sed  tardiorem  esse  quam  in  acre,  licet  ob  crassitudinem  corporis 
sit  magis  visibilis  et  apparens.  Itaque  ex  multis  quse  ad  hoc 
adduci  possent,  tribus  in  praesens  contenti  erimus  experimentis, 
sed  iisdem  amplis  et  insignibus,  quae  rem  ita  esse  demonstrant. 
Primum  est,  quod  manifestus  reperiatur  motus  et  fluxus  aqua¬ 
rum  ab  oceano  Indico  usque  in  oceanum  Atlanticum,  isque 
incitatior  et  robustior  versus  fretum  Magellanicum,  ubi  exitus 
datur  versus  occidentem ;  magnum  itidem  ex  adversa  parte 
orbis  terrarum  a  mari  Scythico  in  mare  Britannicum.  Atque 
h®  consequentiae  aquarum  manifesto  volvuntur  ab  oriente  in 
occidentem.  In  quo  advertendum  inprimis,  in  istis  tantum 
duobus  locis  maria  esse  pervia  et  integrum  circulum  conficere 
posse ;  cum  contra  per  medios  mundi  tractus,  objectu  duplici 
Veteris  et  Novi  Orbis  abscindantur  et  compellantur  (tanquam 
in  ostia  fluminum)  in  duos  illos  alveos  oceanorum  geminorum 
Atlantici  et  Australis,  qui  oceani  exporriguntur  inter  austrum 
et  septentriones ;  quod  adiaphorum  est  ad  motum  consecutionis 
ab  oriente  in  occidentem.  Ut  verissime  omnino  capiatur  motus 
verus  aquarum  ab  istis  quas  diximus  extremitatibus  orbis,  ubi 
non  impediuntur,  sed  permeant.  Atque  primum  experimentum 
hujusmodi  est.  Secundum  autem  tale. 

Supponatur  fluxum  maris  ad  ostium  freti  Herculei  fieri  ad 
horam  aliquam  certam,  constat  accedere  fluxum  ad  caput  Sancti 
Yincentii  tardius  quam  ad  ostium  illud ;  ad  caput  Finis-terr® 
tardius  quam  ad  caput  Sancti  Vincentii ;  ad  Insulam  Regis 
tardius  quam  ad  caput  Finis-terne ;  ad  insulam  Hechas  tar¬ 
dius  quam  ad  Insulam  Regis ;  ad  ingressum  canalis  Anglici 
tardius  quam  ad  Hechas;  ad  littus  Normannicum  tardius 
quam  ad  ingressum  canalis.  Hucusque  orJinatim  ;  ad  Grave- 
Iingam  vero,  verso  prorsus  ordine  (idque  magno  saltu),  quasi 
ad  eandem  horam  cum  ostio  freti  Herculei.1  Hoc  experi- 

1  These  statements  are  taken  from  Nicolaus  Sagrus,  quoted  by  Patricius  (Fan- 


56 


DE  FLUXU  ET  REFLITXU  MARIS. 


mentum  secundum  ad  experimentum  primum  trahimus.  Ex- 
istimamus  enim  (quemadmodum  jam  dictum  est),  in  mari 
Indico  et  in  mari  Scythico  veros  esse  cursus  aquarum,  ab 
oriente  scilicet  in  occidentem,  pervios  et  integros  ;  at  in  alveis 
marls  Atlantici  atque  Australis  compulsos  et  transversos  et 
refractos  ab  objectu  terrarum,  qu£e  utrinque  in  longum  ab 
Austro  ad  Boream  exporriguntur,  et  nusquam,  nisi  versus  ex- 
tremitates,  liberum  dant  exitum  aquis.  Verum  compulsio  ilia 
aquarum,  qute  causatur  a  mari  Indico  versus  Boream,  et  in 
opposito  a  mari  Scythico  versus  Austrum,  spatiis  immensum 
differunt  ob  differentem  vim  et  copias  aquarum.  Universus 
igitur  oceanus  Atlanticus  usque  ad  mare  Britannicum  eedit 
impulsioni  maris  Indici ;  at  superior  tantum  Atlantici  maris 
pars,  nimirum  ea  quas  jacet  versus  Daniam  et  Norvegiam,  cedit 
impulsioni  maris  Scythici.  Hoc  vero  ita  fieri  necesse  est. 
Etenim  duas  magnse  insulas  veteris  orbis  et  novi  orbis  earn 
sunt  sortitae  figuram,  atque  ita  exporriguntur,  ut  ad  Septen* 
triones  latae,  ad  Austrum  acutas  sint.  Maria  igitur  contra 
ad  Austrum  magna  occupant  spatia,  ad  Septentriones  vero 
(ad  dorsum  Europaa  et  Ashe  atque  Americas)  parva.  Itaque 
ingens  ilia  moles  aquarum  quas  venit  ab  oceano  Indico  et  re¬ 
flects  in  mare  Atlanticum,  potis  est  compellere  et  trudere 
cursum  aquarum  continua  successione  quasi  ad  mare  Britanni¬ 
cum,  quas  successio  est  versus  Boream.  At  ilia  longe  minor 
portio  aquarum  quae  venit  a  mari  Scythico,  quaeque  etiam 
liberum  fere  habet  exitum  in  cursu  suo  proprio  versus  occi- 


cosmia ,  xxviii.  p.  159.),  and  in  Casmann’s  Problemata  Marina ,  p.  165.  “  In  die  con- 

junctionis  lun*  cum  sole  post  mediam  noctem  hora  una  cum  dimidia,  in  freto  Herculeo 
fluxus  evir,  et  a  Tariflfa  quae  finis  freti  est  ad  dexteram  in  sinum  volvendo  usque  ad 
Ruttam  eadem  hora  veniet.  A  Rutta  ad  Caput  S.  Mari®  accede t  hora  secunda  cum 
quarto.  A  capite  hoc  ad  Caput  S.  Vincentii,  et  ad  dexteram  flectendo  toto  Lusitano 
littore  ad  caput  finis  terree,  et  inde  ad  orientem  per  totam  Cantabricam  oram,  et  etiam 
Gallicam  usque  ad  regis  insulam  tribus  post  medinoctium  horis  mare  erit  plenum. 
Ab  hac  usque  ad  insulam  Hechas  in  mari  medio  ad  decimum  fere  milliarium,  quod 
nautae  vocant  derotam  mare  erit  plenum  hora  tertia  cum  tribus  quartis.  Sed  in 
littoribus  hora  quarta  cum  dimidia.  Ad  Hebas  [corrige  Ab  Hechis]  usque  ad  in- 
gressum  canalis  Anglici  aqua  plena  hora  quinta  et  quarto  uno  in  derota.  In  littoribus 
hora  sexta  cum  tribus  quartis.  Toto  vero  littore  Normandico  usque  Caletum  et 
Neuportum  aqua  plena  hora  non  a.  In  derota  horae  unius  tribus  quartis.  In  Canali 

vero  media  hora  duodecima  in  eadem  lunae  conjunctione . A  Calete  vero  ad 

Gravelingen  extra  canalem  Anglicum  in  derota  plenum  sit  post  mediam  noctem  una 
hora  cum  dimidia,  qua  plenum  erat,  uti  vidimus  ad  Ruttam,  haec  in  gradu  longitudinis 
est  nono.  Gravelinge  vero  in  gradu  xxiv.  ut  distent  gradibus  xv.”  There  is  no  diffi¬ 
culty  in  identifying  the  places  here  mentioned  (Rutta  being,  of  course,  Rota,  and  the 
insula  Regis  the  He  de  Re),  except  in  the  case  of  Hechas.  It  is,  however,  the  same 
qs  Heys,  which  is  the  old  name  of  Noirmoutier.  (See  Ortellius  and  Mercator.)  The 
island  probably  obtained  the  name  Noirmoutier  from  having  a  monastery  of  black 
friars.  The  old  name  seems  to  be  revived  now  in  the  form  Aix. 


DE  FLUXU  ET  REFLUXU  MARIS. 


57 


dentem  ad  dorsum  Americse,  non  potis  est  cursum  aquarum 
compellere  versus  Austrum,  nisi  ad  earn  quam  diximus  metam, 
nempe  circa  fretum  Britannicum.  Necesse  est  autem  ut  in 
motibus  istis  oppositis  sit  tandem  aliqua  meta,  ubi  occurrant  et 
conflictentur,  atque  ubi  in  proximo  mutetur  subito  ordo  acces¬ 
sion^  ;  quemadmodum  circa  Gravelingam  fieri  diximus,  limite 
videlicet  accessionis  Indicse  et  Scythicae.  Atque  inveniri 
Euripum  quendam  ex  contrariis  fluxibus  circa  Hollandiam. 
non  solum  ex  ea  (quam  diximus)  inversione  ordinis  horarum 
in  fluxu,  sed  etiam  peculiari  et  visibili  experimento,  a  pluri- 
mis  observatum  est.  Quod  si  hsec  ita  fiant,  reditur  ad  id,  ut 
necesse  sit  fieri,  ut  quo  partes  Atlantic!  et  littora  magis  ex- 
tenduntur  ad  Austrum  et  appropinquant  mari  Indico,  eo  magis 
fluxus  antevertat  in  praecedentia,  utpote  qui  oriatur  a  motu 
illo  vero  in  mari  Indico ;  quo  vero  magis  ad  Boream  (usque 
ad  limitem  communem,  ubi  repelluntur  a  gurgite  antistropho 
maris  Scythici),  eo  tardius  atque  in  subsequentia.  Id  vero  ita 
fieri,  experimentum  istud  progressus  a  freto  Ilerculeo  ad  fre¬ 
tum  Britannicum  plane  demonstrat.  Itaque  arbitramur  etiam 
fluxum  circa  littora  Africae  antevertere  fluxum  circa  fretum 
Herculeum,  et,  verso  ordine,  fluxum  circa  Norvegiam  ante¬ 
vertere  fluxum  circa  Suediam;  sed  id  nobis  experimento  aut 
historia  compertum  non  est. 

Tertium  experimentum  est  tale :  Maria  clausa  ex  altera 
parte,  quae  Sinus  vocamus,  si  exporrigantur  inclinatione  aliqua 
ab  oriente  in  occidentem,  quae  in  consequentia  est  cum  motu 
vero  aquarum,  habent  fluxus  vigentes  et  fortes  :  si  vero  incli¬ 
natione  adversa,  languidos  et  obscuros.  Nam  et  mare  Ery- 
thraeum  habet  fluxum  bene  magnum,  et  Sinus  Persicus,  magis 
recta  petens  occidentem,  adhuc  majorem.  At  mare  Mediter- 
raneum,  quod  est  sinuum  maximus,  et  hujus  partes  Tyrrhenum, 
Pontus,  et  Propontis,  et  similiter  mare  Balticum,  quae  omnia 
reflectunt  ad  orientem,  destituuntur  fere,  et  fluxus  habent 
imbecillos.  At  ista  differentia  maxime  elucescit  in  partibus 
Mediterranei,  quae  quamdiu  vergunt  ad  orientem,  aut  flectunt 
ad  septentriones  (ut  in  Tyrrheno  et  in  iis  quae  diximus  mari- 
bus),  quiete  agunt  absque  aestu  multo.  At  postquam  se  con- 
verterint  ad  occidentem,  quod  fit  in  mari  Adriatico,  insignem 
recuperat 1  fluxum.  Cui  accedit  et  illud,  quod  in  Mediterraneo 
refluxus  ille  tenuis  (qualis  invenitur)  incipit  ab  oceano,  fluxus  a 

1  M.  Bouillet  corrects  the  passage  by  reading  recuperate. 


58 


DE  FLUXU  ET  REFLUXU  MARIS. 


contraria  parte,  ut  aqua  magis  eequatur  cursum  ab  oriente 
quam  refusionem  oceani.  Atque  his  tantum  tribus  experi- 
mentis  in  praesentia  utemur  ad  inquisitionem  illam  secundam. 

Possit  tamen  adjici  probatio  qusedam  consentanea  cum  his 
quae  dicta  sunt,  sed  abstrusioris  cujusdam  naturae ;  ea  est,  ut 
petatur  argumentum  hujusce  motus  ab  oriente  in  occidentem 
quern  aquis  adstruximus,  non  solum  a  consensu  coeli  (de  quo 
jam  dictum  est),  ubi  iste  motus  in  flore  est  ac  fortitudine 
praecipua,  sed  etiam  a  terra,  ubi  protinus  videtur  cessare ;  ita 
ut  ista  inclinatio  sive  motus  vere  sit  cosmicus,  atque  omnia  a 
fastigiis  coeli  usque  ad  interiora  terrae  transverberet.  Intel- 
ligimus  enim  conversionem  istam  ab  oriente  in  occidentem  fieri 
scilicet  (quemadmodum  revera  invenitur)  super  polos  austra- 
lem  et  borealem.  Verissime  autem  diligentia  Gilberti  nobis 
hoc  reperit;  omnem  terram  et  naturam  (quam  appellamus 
terrestrem)  non  delinitam  sed  rigidam,  et,  ut  ipse  loquitur, 
robustam,  habere  directionem  sive  verticitatem  latentem,  sed 
tamen  per  plurima  exquisita  experimenta  se  prodentem,  versus 
Austrum  et  Boream.1  Atque  hanc  tamen  observationem  plane 
minuimus,  atque  ita  corrigimus,  ut  hoc  asseratur  tantum  de 
exterioribus  concretionibus  circa  superficiem  terras,  et  minime 
producatur  ad  viscera  ipsius  terrae  (nam  quod  terra  sit  magnes 
interim  levi  omnino  phantasia  arreptum  est ;  fieri  enim  pror- 
sus  nequit,  ut  interiora  terrae  similia  sint  alicui  substantiae 
quam  oculus  humanus  videt,  siquidem  omnia  apud  nos  a 
sole  et  ccelestibus  laxata,  subacta,  aut  infracta  sint,  ut  cum 
iis  quae  talem  nacta  sunt  locum  quo  vis  ccelestium  non  pe- 
netret  neutiquam  consentire  possint) ;  sed  quod  nunc  agi- 
tur,  superiores  incrustationes  sive  concretiones  terras  videntur 
consentire  cum  conversionibus  coeli,  aeris,  atque  aquarum, 
quatenus  consistentia  et  determinata  cum  liquidis  et  fluidis 
consentire  queant,  hoc  est,  non  ut  volvantur  super  polos,  sed 
dirigantur  et  vertantur  versus  polos.  Cum  enim  in  omni  orbe 
volubili,  qui  vertitur  super  polos  certos  neque  habet  motum 
centri,  sit  participatio  quaedam  naturae  mobilis  et  fixae ;  post- 
quam  per  naturam  consistentem  sive  se  determinantem  ligatur 
virtus  volvendi,  tamen  manet  et  intenditur  et  unitur  virtus 
ilia  et  appetitus  dirigendi  se ;  ut  directio  et  verticitas  ad  polos 
in  rigidis,  sit  eadem  res  cum  volubilitate  super  polos  in  fluidis. 

1  Bacon  appears  to  refer  particularly  to  Gilbert,  De  Magn.  vi.  4. ;  a  passage  re¬ 
pealed  like  many  others,  in  the  Physiol.  Nova,  ii.  7. 


DE  FLUXU  ET  REFLUXU  MARIS. 


59 


Superest  inquisitio  tertia :  Unde  et  quomodo  fiat  reciprocatio 
ilia  sexhoraria  cestuum,  quae  incidit  in  quadrantem  motus  diurni, 
cum  differentia  quam  diximus  ?  Id  ut  intelligatur,  supponatur 
orbem  terrarum  universum  aqua  cooperiri,  ut  in  diluvio 
generali.  Existimamus  aquas,  quippe  ut  in  orbe  integro,  neque 
impedito,  semper  in  progressu  se  commoturas  ab  oriente  in 
occidentem  singulis  diebus  ad  certum  aliquod  spatium  (idque 
profecto  non  magnum,  ob  exsolutionem  et  enervationem  virium 
hujus  motus  in  confiniis  terrse),  cum  ex  nulla  parte  objectu 
terrae  impediantur  aquas  aut  cobibeantur.  Supponatur  rursus, 
terram  unicam  insulam  esse,  eamque  in  longitudine  exporrigi 
inter  Austrum  et  Septentriones,  quae  forma  ac  situs  motum  ab 
oriente  in  occidentem  maxime  frenat  et  obstruit ;  existimamus 
aquas  cursum  suum  directum  et  naturalem  ad  tempus  per- 
recturas,  sed  rursus  ab  insula  ilia  repercussas  paribus  inter¬ 
vals  relapsuras  ;  itaque  unicum  tantum  'fluxum  maris  in  die 
futurum  fuisse,  et  unicum  similiter  refluxum,  atque  horum 
singulis  circiter  12  horas  attributum  iri.  Atque  ponatur  jam 
(quod  verum  est  et  factum  ipsum)  terram  in  duas  insulas 
divioam  esse,  veteris  scilicet  et  novi  orbis  (nam  Terra  Australis 
situ  suo  rem  istam  non  magnopere  disturbat,  quemadmodum 
nec  Groenlandia  aut  Nova-zembla),  easque  ambas  insulas  per 
tres  fere  mundi  zonas  exporrigi,  inter  quas  duo  Oceani,  Atlan- 
ticus  et  Australis,  interfluunt,  et  ipsi  nunquam  nisi  versus 
polos  pervii;  existimamus  necessario  sequi,  ut  duo  isti  obices 
naturam  duplicis  reciprocationis  universe  moli  aquarum  insi- 
nuent  et  communicent,  et  fiat  quadrans  ille  motus  diurni ;  ut 
aquis  scilicet  utrimque  frenatis,  fluxus  et  refluxus  maris  bis  in 
die,  per  spatia  scilicet  sex  horarum,  se  explicet,  cum  duplex 
fiat  processio,  et  duplex  itidem  repercussio.  Illse  vero  duae 
insula;  si  instar  cylindrorum  aut  columnarum  per  aquas  1  ex- 
porrigerentur  aequis  dimensionibus  et  rectis  littoribus,  facile 
demonstraretur  et  cuivis  occurreret  iste  motus,  qui  jam  tanta 
varietate  positurae  terrse  et  maris  confundi  videtur  et  obscurari. 
Neque  etiam  est  difficile  conjecturam  capere  nonnullam,  qualem 
isti  motui  aquarum  incitationem  tribuere  consentaneum  sit,  et 
quanta  spatia  in  uno  die  conficere  possit.  Si  enim  sumantur 
(in  Eestimationem  hujus  rei)  littora  aliqua  ex  iis  quse  minus 
montosa  aut  depressa  sunt  et  oceano  libero  adjacent,  et  capiatur 
mensura  spatii  terrae  inter  metam  fluxus  et  metam  refluxus 

1  quas  in  the  original.  —  J.S. 


60 


DE  FLUXU  ET  REFLUXU  MARIS. 


interjacentis,  atque  illud  spatium  quadruplicetur  propter  sestus 
singulis  diebus  quaternos,  atque  is  numerus  rursus  duplicetur 
propter  asstus  ad  adversa  littora  ejusdem  oceani,  atque  huic 
numero  nonnihil  in  cumulum  adjiciatur,  propter  omnium  lit- 
torum  altitudinem,  quae  ab  ipsa  fossa  mari  semper  aliquantum 
insurgunt ;  ista  computatio  illud  spatium  productura  est,  quod 
globus  aquae  uno  die,  si  liber  ab  impedimento  esset  ac  in  orbe 
circa  terram  semper  in  progressu  moveret,  conficere  possit; 
quod  certe  nil  magnum  est.  De  differentia  autem  ilia  quae 
coincidit  in  rationes  motuslunae,  et  efficit  periodum  menstruam; 
id  fieri  existimamus,  quod  spatium  sexhorarium  non  sit  mensura 
exacta  reciprocationis,  quemadmodum  nec  motus  diurnus  ali- 
cujus  planetarum  non  1  restituitur  exacte  in  horis  24,  minime 
autem  omnium  luna.  Itaque  mensura  fluxus  et  refluxus  non 
est  quadrans  motus  stellarum  fixarum,  qui  est  24  horarum, 
sed  quadrans  diurni  motus  lunae. 

Maxidata . 

Inquiratur  utrum  bora  fluxus  circum  littora  Africae  ante- 
vertat  horam  fluxus  circa  fretum  Herculeum  ?  Inquiratur 
utrum  hora  fluxus  circa  Norvegiam  antevertat  boram  fluxus 
circa  Suediam,  et  ilia 2  similiter  boram  fluxus  circa  Grave- 
lingam  ? 

Inquiratur  utrum  hora  fluxus  ad  littora  Brasiliae  antevertat 
horam  fluxus  ad  littora  Hispaniae  Novae  et  Floridae  ? 

Inquiratur  utrum  hora  fluxus  ad  littora  Chinas  non  inveniatur 
ad  vel  prope  horam  fluxus  ad  littora  Peruviae,  et  ad  vel  prope 
horam  refluxus  ad  littora  Africae  et  Floridas  ? 

Inquiratur  quomodo  hora  fluxus  ad  littora  Peruviana  dis- 
crepet  ab  hora  fluxus  circa  littora  Hispaniae  Novae,  et  parti cu- 
lariter  quomodo  se  habeant  differentiae  horarum  fluxuum  ad 
utraque  littora  Isthmi  in  America ;  et  rursus  quomodo  hora 
fluxus  ad  littora  Peruviana  respondeat  horae  fluxus  circa  littora 
Chinae  ? 

Inquiratur  de  magnitudinibus  fluxuum  ad  diversa  littora, 
non  solum  de  temporibus  sive  horis.  Licet  enim  causentur 
fere  magnitudines  fluxuum  per  depressiones  littorum,  tamen 
nihilominus  communicant  etiam  cum  ratione  motus  veri  maris, 
prout  secundus  est  aut  adversus. 


'  So  in  the  original.  — J.S. 


-  ille  in  the  original.  —  J.S. 


DE  FLUXU  ET  REFLUXU  MARIS. 


61 


Inquiratur  de  mari  Caspio,  (qua?  sunt  bene  magnas  portiones 
aquarum  conclusae,  absque  ullo  exitu  in  oceanum,)  si  patiantur 
fluxum  et  refluxum,  yel  qualem  ;  siquidem  nostra  fert  conjectura, 
aquas  in  Caspio  posse  habere  fluxum  unicum  in  die,  non 
geminatum,  atque  talem  ut  littora  orientalia  ejusdem  maris 
deserantur,  cum  occidentalia  alluantur. 

Inquiratur  utrum  fluxus  augmenta  in  noviluniis  et  pleni- 
luniis,  atque  etiam  in  aequinoctiis1,  fiant  simul  in  diversis  mundi 
partibus?  Cum  autem  dicimus  simul,  intelligimus  non  eadem 
hora  (variantur  enim  horae  secundum  progressus  aquarum  ad 
littora,  ut  diximus),  sed  eodem  die. 

Morce. 

Non  producitur  inquisitio  ad  explicationem  pi enam  consensus 
motus  menstrui  in  mari  cum  motu  lunas;  sive  illud  fiat  per 
subordinationem,  sive  per  concausam. 

Syzygice* 

Inquisitio  praesens  conjungitur  cum  inquisitione,  utrum  terra 
moveatur  motu  diurno  ?  Si  enim  asstus  maris  sit  tamquam 
extrema  diminutio  motus  diurni ;  sequetur  globum  terras  esse 
immobilem,  aut  saltern  moveri  motu  longe  tardiore  quam  ipsas 
aquas. 


1  aquinoxiii  in  the  original.  —  X  S* 


3  7>yzygia  in  the  original.  —  J.  S. 


DE  PRINCIPIIS  ATQUE  ORIGINIBUS, 


8ECUNDUM  FABULA8 

CUPIDINIS  ET  CCELI : 


6IVE 

PARMENIDIS  ET  TELESII  ET  PRECIPUE  DEMOCRITI 
PHILOSOPHIA, 

TB  ACT ATA  IN 


FABULA  DE  CUPIDINE. 


65 


PREFACE 

TO 

DE  PRINCIPIIS  ATQTJE  ORIGINIBUS. 

BY  ROBERT  LESLIE  ELLIS. 


The  following  tract  is  one  of  those  which  were  published  by 
Gruter.  It  seems  to  be  of  later  date  than  many  of  the  others, 
as  it  contains  several  phrases  and  turns  of  expression  which 
occur  also  in  the  Novum  Organum. 

Bacon’s  design  was  to  give  a  philosophical  exposition  of  two 
myths ;  namely,  that  of  the  primeval  Eros  or  Cupid,  and  that 
of  Uranos  or  Coelum.  Only  the  first  however  is  discussed 
in  the  fragment  which  we  now  have,  and  even  that  is  left  in¬ 
complete. 

The  philosophy  of  Democritus  appeared  to  Bacon  to  be 
nearly  in  accordance  with  the  hidden  meaning  of  these  fables; 
but  we  are  not  well  able  to  judge  of  his  reasons  for  thinking  so. 
as  the  only  system  spoken  of  in  detail  is  that  of  Telesius. 

Touching  the  origin  of  Eros,  Bacon  remarks  that  no  mention 
is  made  anywhere  of  his  progenitors.  In  this  he  is  supported 
by  the  authority  of  Plato,  or  rather  by  that  of  one  of  the  in¬ 
terlocutors  in  the  Symposium,  who  affirms  that  no  one,  whether 
poet  or  not,  has  spoken  of  the  parents  of  Eros  ;  but  that  Hesiod 
in  the  order  of  his  theogony  places  Gaia  and  Eros  next  after 
primeval  Chaos.1  It  seems  in  truth  probable  that  the  fables 
which  make  Eros  the  son  of  Zeus  and  Aphrodite  are  of 
later  origin.  From  the  Symposium  Bacon  may  also  have  de¬ 
rived  the  recognition  of  an  elder  and  a  younger  Eros,  of  whom 
the  former  was  allied  to  the  heavenly  Aphrodite,  and  the  latter 

1  Sympos.  p.  178.  ;  and  see  Valcknaer’s  Diatribe,  to  whom  Stallbaum  refers.  On  the 
other  hand  Pausanias  mentions  as  an  early  myth  that  Eros  was  the  son  of  Hithyia. 
See  Pausan.  Bceot.  ix.  27. 


66 


PREFACE  TO  THE 


to  Aphrodite  Pandemus.’  But  it  is  more  probable  that  his 
account  of  the  distinction  between  them  comes  from  some  later 
writer. 

Hesiod,  to  whom  the  first  speaker  in  the  Symposium  refers, 
though  he  places  Eros  and  Gaia  next  to  Chaos,  says  nothing 
of  Eros  as  the  progenitor  of  the  universe."  His  existence 
is  recognised,  but  nothing  is  said  of  his  offspring.  In  this 
the  theogony  of  Hesiod  differs  essentially  from  that  which  is 
contained  in  the  Orphic  poems,  and  shows  I  think  signs  of 
greater  antiquity.  To  recognise  as  a  deity  an  abstract  feeling 
of  love  or  desire,  is  in  itself  to  recede  in  some  measure  from  the 
simplicity  of  the  old  world:  we  find  no  such  recognition  in 
Homer ;  and  the  transition  from  him  to  Hesiod  is  doubtless  a 
transition  from  an  earlier  way  of  thinking  to  a  later.  But 
even  in  Hesiod  Eros  is  not  the  producing  principle  of  the 
universe,  nor  is  his  share  in  its  production  explained.  On  the 
other  hand  in  the  Orphic  poems,  Phanes,  whom  we  are  en¬ 
titled  to  identify  with  Eros,  is  the  progenitor  of  gods  and  men, 
the  light  and  life  of  the  universe.  He  comes  forth  from 
Chaos,  uniting  in  his  own  essence  the  poles  of  the  mysterious 
antithesis  on  which  all  organic  production  depends.  From 
him  all  other  beings  derive  their  existence.  There  seems 
clearly  more  of  a  philosopheme  in  this  than  in  the  simpler 
statements  of  Hesiod. 

The  identification  of  Eros  with  Phanes  or  Ericapeus  rests 
on  a  passage  in  the  Argonautics,  in  which  it  is  said  that  he 
was  called  Phanes  by  the  men  of  later  time  because  he  was 
manifested  before  all  other  beings ;  n rpuros  yap  sipdvdg.'1 2  It 
is  confirmed  by  the  authority  of  Proclus. 

Phanes,  in  the  common  form  of  the  Orphic  theogony,  comes 
out  of  the  egg  into  which  Chaos  had  formed  itself.3  But  I  am 
not  aware  that  any  one  except  Aristophanes  makes  Night  lay 
the  egg  from  which  Eros  afterwards  emerges 4 ;  and  it  seems 
that  this  is  only  a  playful  modification  of  the  common  myth, 
not  unsuitable  to  the  chorus  of  birds  by  whom  it  is  introduced.5 
It  does  not  appear  necessary  to  suppose,  as  Cudworth  seem¬ 
ingly  does,  that  Aristophanes  had  in  some  unexplained  way 

1  Sympos.  p.  180.,  and  see  also  p.  195. 

2  Orph.  Argon.  14.  In  the  preceding  line,  Eros  is  made,  according  to  Gesner’s 

reading,  the  son  of  Night.  But  for  via  there  is  another  reading,  irarepa. 

*  See  Lobeck,  Aglaoph.  i.  474.  4  Aves,  650. 

*  This  seems  to  be  confirmed  by  ttie  half  ludicrous  epithet  vm\v(piov. 


DE  PRINCIPIIS  ATQUE  ORIGINIBUS.  67 

become  acquainted  with  a  peculiar  form  of  “  the  old  atheistic 
cabala.”  1 2 

The  most  remarkable  passage  in  which  Eros  (not  Phanes) 
is  spoken  of  as  the  producer  of  all  things,  is  in  the  Argo - 
nautics :  — 

wpiura  p'ev  apxaiov  x°i°£  peyaXfjiparov  vpevov, 
wg  iwapet'pe  tpiacig,  ii g  r  ovpavog  eg  wepag  r\\0ev , 
yijg  r  ivpvartpvov  y'eveaiv,  wv9pevag  re  SaXacarig, 
w peatvrarov  re  kcii  av roreXrj  woXupijriv  'E para, 
ooaa  r  eipvaev  tiwavra,  r a  S’  expiQev  aXXov  am’  aXX o.Q 

Nothing  is  said  here,  or  elsewhere  I  believe,  of  his  having 
mingled  with  Uranos  in  the  engendering  of  the  universe;  and 
I  am  inclined  to  think  that  when  Bacon  says,  “  Ipse  cum  Coelo 
mistus,  et  deos  et  res  universos  progenuit,”  we  ought  to  substi¬ 
tute  Chao  for  Coelo.3  For  the  passage  in  Aristophanes  goes  on 
to  say  that  in  wide  Tartarus  Eros  and  Chaos  mingled  in  love 
and  produced  first  the  race  of  birds  and  then  gods  and  men. 

Of  Phanes  nothing  of  this  kind  is  mentioned,  except  his 
intercourse  with  Night4;  so  that  Bacon’s  statement  does  not 
seem  to  be  in  any  way  justified. 

It  would  be  endless  to  cite  passages  in  which  the  attributes 
of  Eros  are  described,  nor  is  it  necessary  to  do  so. 

The  form  in  which  Bacon  connects  the  myth  of  the  primeval 
Eros  with  philosophy  is  far  less  artificial  and  unreal  than  most 
of  the  interpretations  which  he  has  given  in  the  Wisdom  of 
the  Ancients.  Chaos  represents  uninformed  matter ;  Eros 
matter  actually  existing,  and  possessed  of  the  law  or  principle 
by  which  it  is  energised ;  the  first  principle,  in  short,  which  is 
the  cause  of  all  phenomena.  The  parents  of  Eros  are  un¬ 
known  ;  that  is  to  say,  it  is  in  vain  to  seek  to  carry  our  in¬ 
quiries  beyond  the  fact  of  the  existence  of  matter  possessed  of 
such  and  such  primitive  qualities.  On  what  do  those  primary 
qualities  ultimately  depend?  On  the  “lex  summa  essential 
atque  natural  ...  vis  scilicet  primis  particulis  a  Deo  indita, 
ex  cujus  multiplicatione  omnis  rerum  varietas  emergat  et  con- 
fletur.”  Whether  this  highest  law  can  ever  be  discovered  is 

1  See  Cudworth,  Intellect.  Syst. 

2  Argonaut.  423.  In  the  third  line  wvBphas  is  admitted  to  he  corrupt.  I  would 
venture  to  suggest  jroAias,  making  &a\a.<ra-r)s  the  genitive  case  after  yeveffiv. 

3  This  conjecture  is  confirmed  by  the  corresponding  passage  in  the  De  Sap.  Vet., 
where  for  cum  ccelo  mistus  we  have  ex  chao.  —  J.  S. 

4  Lobeck,  i.  501.  It  is  to  this  intercourse  that  the  line  quoted  byProclus  refers:  — 

AOrbs  erjs  yap  waiSb s  tupetAero  Koipiov  Mas. 


68 


PREFACE  TO  THE 


by  Bacon  left  here  as  elsewhere  doubtful ;  but  he  does  not 
forbid  men  to  seek  for  it.  But  what  he  utterly  condemns  is 
the  attempt  to  make  philosophy  rise  above  the  theory  of 
matter.  We  must  ever  remember  that  Eros  has  no  progeni¬ 
tors,  “  ne  forte  intellectus  ad  inania  deflectat” — that  we  turn 
not  aside  to  transcendental  fancies ;  for  in  these  the  mind  can 
make  no  real  progress,  and  “  dum  ad  ulteriora  tendit  ad  proxi- 
miora  recidit.”  We  must  of  necessity  take  as  the  starting 
point  of  our  philosophy,  matter  possessed  of  its  primitive  qua¬ 
lities  ;  and  this  principle  is  in  accordance  with  the  wisdom  of 
those  by  whom  the  myth  of  Eros  was  constructed.  And 
certainly.  Bacon  goes  on  to  say,  “  that  despoiled  and  merely 
passive  matter  is  a  figment  of  the  human  mind  ;  ”  a  statement 
which  refers  to  the  Aristotelian  doctrine  in  which  the  primitive 
v\r]  is  not  conceived  of  as  a  thing  actually  existing,  but  as  that 
which  first  receives  existence  through  the  slBos,  wherewith  it 
is  united.  Of  this  doctrine  Bacon  asserts  that  it  is  altogether 
trifling:  “For  that  which  primarily  exists  must  no  less  exist 
than  that  which  thence  derives  its  existence ;  ”  that  is  to  say, 
matter  must  in  itself  exist  actually  and  not  potentially.  And 
the  same  conclusion  follows  from  the  Scriptures,  “  wherein  it 
is  not  said  that  God  created  hyle,  but  that  he  created  heaven 
and  earth.” 

This  application  of  Scripture  certainly  does  not  deserve  the 
indignation  which  Le  Maistre,  perhaps  in  honest  ignorance, 
has  poured  out  upon  it.1  “  He  asserts  the  eternity  of  matter,” 
is  Le  Maistre’s  commentary  on  the  passage  in  which  it  occurs. 
Beyond  doubt  he  denies  that  hyle  was  created,  but  he  also 
denies  that  it  exists;  treating  it  as  the  mere  figment  of  the 
Aristotelian  philosophy. 

But  although  Le  Maistre’s  remark  is  only  a  fair  specimen  of 
his  whole  work,  in  which  ignorance  and  passion  are  so  mixed 
together  that  it  is  hard  to  say  how  much  is  to  be  ascribed  to 
the  one  and  how  much  to  the  other,  yet  it  cannot  be  denied 
that  Bacon  does  not  appear  to  have  understood  Aristotle.  So 
far  from  putting  at  the  origin  of  things  that  which  is  potential, 
and  educing  the  actual  from  it,  Aristotle  asserts  that  any  system 
which  does  this  is  untenable ;  and  it  is  curious  that  he  refers 
particularly  to  the  theogonists,  oi  sk  vvktos  'yswcovrei,  who 


1  Examen  de  la  Philosophic  de  Bacon,  11.  p.  143. 


DE  PR1NCIPIIS  ATQUE  ORIGINIBUS. 


69 


engender  realities  out  of  night.'  For  night  and  chaos  may  not 
unfitly  be  taken  to  represent  uninformed  matter.1 2  The  doctrine 
of  Aristotle  being  in  this  as  in  other  matters  followed  by  the 
schoolmen,  it  was  a  question  with  them  how  the  words  “  and 
the  earth  was  without  form,”  which  come  immediately  after  the 
declaration  that  in  the  beginning  God  created  the  heaven  and 
the  earth,  ought  to  be  understood.  For  to  create  the  earth  is 
to  give  it  actual  existence ;  how  then  can  it  be  without  form  ? 
To  this  the  most  satisfactory  answer  was  that  the  words  with¬ 
out  form  do  not  imply  the  absence  of  substantial  form,  failing 
which  the  earth  could  have  no  actual  existence,  but  simply 
mean  that  as  yet  the  earth  was  unadorned  and  in  disorder ; 
a  solution  in  which  we  see  how  far  they  were  from  supposing 
that  according  to  Aristotle  the  first  created  thing  ought  to  be 
uninformed  matter.  They  insist  on  the  contrary  that  the 
Scripture  cannot  mean  that  any  created  thing  can  be  mere 
matter :  “  non  enim  datur  ens  actu  sine  actu.” 

Aristotle,  as  I  have  said,  condemns  the  theogonists  in  whose 
system  Night  is  a  producing  principle, —  a  remark  in  which 
he  may  refer  either  to  Hesiod  or  to  the  Orphic  writers,  but 
which  probably  relates  to  the  former  only.  In  the  reason  of 
this  condemnation  Bacon  agrees  with  him,  and  yet  takes  into 
the  myth  which  he  proposes  to  explain,  Aristophanes’s  fancy 
that  the  egg  from  which  Eros  came  forth  was  laid  by  Night. 
His  reason  for  doing  so  is  that  this  part  of  the  fable  appears  to 
him  to  relate  not  to  essence  but  to  cognition,  that  is  to  the 
method  whereby  we  may  arrive  at  a  knowledge  of  Eros,  or  of 
the  fundamental  properties  of  matter.  For  conclusions  ob¬ 
tained  by  means  of  affirmatives  are,  so  to  speak,  brought  forth 
by  Light :  whereas  those  which  are  obtained  by  negatives  and 
exclusions  are  the  offspring  of  Night  and  Darkness.  There¬ 
fore  the  egg  is  laid  by  Night,  seeing  that  the  knowledge  of 
Eros,  though  it  is  assuredly  attainable,  can  yet  only  be  at¬ 
tained  by  exclusions  and  negatives ;  that  is,  to  express  the  same 
opinion  in  the  language  of  the  Novum  Organum,  the  knowledge 
of  Forms  necessarily  depends  on  the  Exclusiva.  That  this 
method  of  exclusions  must  of  necessity  be  ultimately  successful 
is  intimated  by  the  myth  itself;  for  the  incubation  of  the  pri- 


1  Arist.  Metaph.  xii.  6. 

2  See  Brandis’s  Schol.  in  Aristot.  p.  803.,  and  for  the  remarks  of  Alexander 
Aphrodisiensis,  Lobeck,  Aglaoph.  i.  488. 


70 


PREFACE  TO  THE 


meval  egg  is  not  eternal.  In  due  time  the  egg  is  hatched  and 
Eros  is  made  manifest.  If  it  be  asked  what  analogy  there  is 
between  darkness  and  the  method  of  exclusions,  Bacon’s  answer 
is  satisfactory, —  that  darkness  is  as  ignorance,  and  that  in  em¬ 
ploying  the  method  of  exclusions  we  are  all  along  ignorant  of 
that  which  at  any  stage  of  the  process  still  remains  unexcluded. 
It  may  again  be  asked  why  the  method  of  exclusions  is  the 
only  one  whereby  Eros  may  be  disclosed, —  a  question  to 
which  Bacon  suggests  an  answer  by  saying  that  Democritus 
did  excellently  well  in  teaching  that  atoms  are  devoid  of  all 
sensible  qualities.  Bacon’s  opinion  seems  therefore  to  be,  that 
any  method  but  a  negative  one  would  necessarily  fail,  because 
that  which  is  sought  bears  no  analogy  to  any  of  the  sensible 
objects  by  which  we  are  surrounded.  The  parable,  he  says, 
maintains  throughout  the  principles  of  heterogeneity  and  ex¬ 
clusion  :  meaning  by  heterogeneity  a  strongly  marked  anti¬ 
thesis  between  the  fundamental  qualities  of  matter  and  the 
sensible  qualities  of  which  we  are  directly  cognisant.  In 
accordance  with  this  he  censures  Democritus  for  departing 
from  this  principle  in  giving  his  atoms  the  downward  motion 
of  gravity  and  the  impulsive  motion  ( motus  plagce)  which 
belong  to  ordinary  bodies.  Not  only  are  atoms  and  bodies 
different  as  touching  their  qualities,  but  also  in  their  motions. 

In  these  views,  which  however  do  not  show  either  that  the 
method  of  exclusions  is  the  only  one  which  can  succeed  or 
that  it  will  always  do  so,  there  is  much  which  deserves  atten¬ 
tion.  They  show  that  Bacon  had  obtained  a  deep  insight  into 
the  principles  of  the  atomic  theory.  The  earlier  developments 
of  this  theory  have  always  been  encumbered  by  its  being 
thought  necessary,  in  order  to  explain  phenomena,  to  ascribe 
to  the  atoms  properties  which  in  reality  belong  only  to  the 
bodies  which  they  compose ;  that  is,  by  its  being  thought 
necessary  to  break  through  Bacon’s  principle  of  heterogeneity, 
Thus  the  atoms  have  been  supposed  of  definite  sizes  and  figures, 
thereby  resembling  other  and  larger  bodies,  and  to  be  perfectly 
hard  and  unyielding.  When  freed  from  these  subsidiary  hy¬ 
potheses,  the  atomic  theory  becomes  a  theory  of  forces  only, 
and  of  whatever  ulterior  developments  it  may  be  capable, 
these  can  only  be  introduced  when  it  has  assumed  this  form. 
The  speculations  of  Boscovich  do  not  mark  the  farthest  point 
to  which  the  atomic  theory  may  be  carried,  but  they  were 


DE  PRINCIPIIS  ATQUE  ORIGINIBUS. 


71 


nevertheless  an  essential  step  in  advance,  and  altogether  in 
accordance  with  what  Bacon  has  here  said,  though  in  an 
obscure  and  somewhat  abrupt  manner.  “  We  do  well,”  remarks 
Leibnitz,  “  to  think  highly  of  Verulam,  for  his  hard  sayings  have 
a  deep  meaning  in  them  a  judgment  which  may  not  impro¬ 
bably  have  had  a  particular  reference  to  the  views  now  spoken 
of.  For  Leibnitz’s  own  monadism  is  in  effect  only  an  abstract 
atomic  theory  1 :  more  abstract  doubtless  than  any  thing  which 
Bacon  had  conceived  of,  but  yet  a  system  which  might  have 
been  derived  from  that  of  Democritus  by  insisting  on  and  deve¬ 
loping  Bacon’s  principle  of  heterogeneity.  And  again,  in  a 
different  point  of  view,  it  seems  not  unlikely  that  Leibnitz 
perceived  an  analogy  between  his  own  doctrine  and  that  of 
Bacon.  In  the  earlier  part  of  his  philosophical  life,  Leibnitz 
was  disposed  to  agree  with  the  opinion  •  common  among  the 
reformers  of  philosophy,  that  what  Aristotle  had  said  of  matter, 
of  form,  and  of  mutation,  was  to  be  explained  by  means  of 
magnitude,  figure,  and  motion.  This  opinion  he  ascribes  to  all 
the  reformers  of  the  seventeenth  century,  mentioning  by  name 
Bacon  and  several  others.2  Thirty  years  afterwards,  in  giving 
some  account  of  the  history  of  his  opinions,  he  says  that  he 
came  to  perceive,  “  que  la  seule  consideration  d’une  masse 
etendue  ne  suffisoit  pas,  et  qu’il  falloit  employer  encore  la 
notion  de  la  force,  qui  est  tres- intelligible,  quoiqu’elle  soit  du 
ressort  de  la  Metaphysique.” 3  In  introducing  this  notion  of 
force,  he  conceived  that  he  was  rehabilitating  the  Aristotelian 
or  scholastic  philosophy,  seeing  “  que  les  formes  des  Anciens 
ou  Entelechies  ne  sont  autre  chose  que  les  forces.”4  These 
primitive  forces5  being  the  constituent  forms  of  substances, 
he  supposed  them,  with  one  exception  (founded  on  dogmatic 
grounds),  to  have  been  created  at  the  beginning  of  the  world. 
The  “  lex  a  Deo  lata  ”  at  the  creation  “  reliquit  aliquod  sui 
expressum  in  rebus  vestigium,”  namely  an  efficacy,  or  form,  or 
force,  by  virtue  of  which  and  in  accordance  with  the  divine 
precept  all  phenomena  had  been  engendered.6 

If  we  compare  these  expressions,  which  contain  the  funda¬ 
mental  idea  of  Leibnitz’s  philosophy,  with  those  which  have 

1  The  monad,  Leibnitz  himself  remarks,  is  a  metaphysical  point,  or  formal  atom. 

2  Epist.  ad  Thomas,  p.  48.  of  Erdmann’s  edition  of  Leibnitz’s  Phil.  Works. 

2  Systeme  nouveau,  p.  124.,  Erdmann. 

4  Lettre  a  Bouvet,  p.  146.,  Erdmann.  *  Forces  primitives,  v.  Syst.  Nouv. 

6  See  his  De  ipsa  Natura,  p.  166. 


72 


PREFACE  TO  THE 


already  been  quoted  from  tbe  following  tract,  we  shall  I  think 
perceive  more  than  an  accidental  analogy  between  them. 
Leibnitz  speaks  of  the  primitive  forces  impressed  by  the  divine 
word  on  created  things,  “  ex  qua  series  phenomenorum  ad 
primi  jussfis  prsescriptum  consequeretur,”  —  and  Bacon  of  the 
“  lex  summa  essentiae  et  naturae,  vis  scilicet  primis  particulis 
a  Deo  indita,  ex  cujus  multiplicatione  omnis  rerum  varietas 
emergat  et  confletur.”  It  does  not  seem  improbable  that 
Leibnitz,  who  in  the  letter  to  Thomasius  classes  Bacon,  so  far 
as  relates  to  the  present  subject,  with  Gassendi  and  Descartes, 
came  afterwards  to  find  in  Bacon’s  language  hints  of  the  deeper 
view  which  he  had  himself  been  led  to  adopt,  and  which  con¬ 
stitutes  the  point  of  separation  between  his  system  and  the 
Cartesian.  This  supposition  would  at  least  be  in  accordance 
with  the  emphatic  manner  in  which  he  has  contrasted  the  phy¬ 
sical  theories  of  Descartes  and  Bacon,  taking  the  former  as  a 
type  of  acuteness  and  the  latter  of  profundity,  and  asserting 
that  compared  with  Bacon,  Descartes  seems  to  creep  along  the 
ground.1 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  here  to  remark  that  there  are 
other  traces  of  Bacon’s  influence  on  Leibnitz.  In  Erdmann’s 
edition  of  his  philosophical  works,  we  find  several  fragmentary 
papers  which  Leibnitz  wrote  under  the  name  of  Gulielmus 
Pacidius.  The  title  of  one  of  these  is  “  Gulielmi  Pacidii  Plus 
Ultra,  sive  initia  et  specimina  scientise  generalis  de  instaura- 
tione  et  augmentis  scientiarum  ac  de  perficienda  mente  re- 
rumque  inventione  ad  publicam  fcelicitatem.”  Plus  Ultra  was 
the  motto  to  Bacon’s  device  of  a  ship  sailing  through  the  Pil¬ 
lars  of  Hercules,  and  the  remainder  of  the  title  is  both  in  tone 
and  language  clearly  Baconian.  The  work  itself  was  to  have 
concluded  with  an  exhortation  “  ad  viros  dignitate  doctrina- 
que  egregios  de  human&  felicitate  exiguo  tempore,  si  velimus 
modo,  in  immensum  augenda.” 2 

Another  of  these  fragments  contains  some  account  of  himself, 
or  rather  of  Wilhelmus  Pacidius,  in  which  he  mentions  it  as 
one  of  the  happy  incidents  of  his  youth,  that  when  he  had  per¬ 
ceived  the  defects  of  the  scholastic  philosophy  the  writings  of 
several  of  the  reformers  came  into  his  hands — among  which 


1  Lelbnitiana,  vol.  vi.  p.  303.,  ed.  Genev.  1768.  — J.S. 
a  Leibnitz,  ab  Erd.  p.  89. 


DE  PRINC1PIIS  ATQUE  ORIGINIBUS. 


73 


he  gives  the  first  place  to  the  “  consilia  magni  viri  Francisci 
Baconi  Angliae  Cancellarii  de  augmentis  Scientiarum.” 1 

To  return  to  the  fable  of  Cupid.  After  interpreting  the 
statement  that  all  things  come  from  Eros  to  mean  that  all  phe¬ 
nomena  must  be  referred  to  the  fundamental  and  originally 
inherent  properties  of  matter  as  the  first  ground  of  their  pro¬ 
duction,  Bacon  goes  on  to  say  that  next  to  the  error  of  those 
who  make  formless  matter  an  original  principle,  is  the  error 
of  ascribing  secondary  qualities  to  primitive  matter.  This  he 
expresses  by  saying  that  though  Eros  is  endued  with  per¬ 
sonality,  he  is  nevertheless  naked,  “  ita  personatus1  ut  sit  tamen 
nudus.”  Those  who  have  committed  the  error  of  clothing  him 
have  either  merely  covered  him  with  a  veil,  or  have  dressed 
him  up  in  a  tunic,  or  lastly  have  wrapped  him  round  with  a 
cloak. 

These  three  errors  are  respectively  the  errors  of  those  who 
have  sought  to  explain  everything  by  the  transformations  of 
one  element  as  air  or  fire, —  of  those  who  assume  a  plurality 
of  elements,  —  and  of  those  who  assume  an  infinity  of  first 
principles  (the  homoeomeria  of  Anaxagoras),  each  possessed 
of  specific  properties. 

Contrasted  with  these  errors  is  the  doctrine  that  there  is 
one  first  material  principle,  “  idque  fixum  et  invariabile,”  and 
that  all  phenomena  are  to  be  explained,  “per  hujusmodi 
principii  .  .  .  magnitudines  figuras  et  positiones,” — a  state¬ 
ment  which  includes  along  with  the  old  atomic  theory  every 
such  hypothesis  as  the  Cartesian.  By  those  only  who  hold 
this  opinion  is  Eros  rightly  displayed ;  they  show  him  as  he 
really  is,  “  nativus  et  exutus.” 

In  the  interval  between  writing  this  tract  and  the  Novum 
Organum  Bacon’s  opinions  seem  to  have  undergone  some 
change,  as  he  has  there  condemned  the  atomists  for  asserting 
the  existence  of  “materia  non  fluxa;”  an  obscure  phrase,  but 
which  appears  irreconcilable  with  the  expression  which  I 
have  just  quoted — “  fixum  et  invariabile.” 

However  this  may  be,  Bacon  next  proceeds  to  enumerate 
the  different  forms  of  doctrine  into  which  the  doctrine  of  a 

1  Leibnitz,  ab  Erd.  p.  91. 

3  The  meaning  of  personatus  appears  from  the  phrase  Bacon  previously  uses :  “  Cu- 
pidinis  est  persona  quaedam.” 


74 


PREFACE  TO  THE 


single  element  has  been  subdivided.  The  first  principle  or 
primitive  matter  has  been  asserted  to  be  water,  or  air,  or 
fire.  Something  is  then  said  of  the  opinions  of  Thales,  of 
Anaximenes,  and  of  Heraclitus,  and  they  are  collectively  com¬ 
mended  for  having  given  Eros  but  a  single  garment,  that 
is,  for  having  ascribed  to  primitive  matter  only  a  single  form 
substantially  homogeneous  with  any  of  the  forms  of  secondary 
existences. 

The  Anaxagorean  doctrine  of  an  infinity  of  elements  is  then 
set  aside  as  belonging  to  the  interpretation  of  the  fable  of 
Ccelum,  and  thus  Bacon  comes  to  the  doctrine  of  two  opposing 
principles,  with  which  the  remainder  of  the  tract  is  taken  up. 
Parmenides,  he  observes,  among  the  ancients,  and  Telesius  in 
modern  times,  had  made  fire  and  earth,  or  heaven  and  earth, 
the  two  first,  principles. 

In  connecting  together  Telesius  and  Parmenides  Bacon 
overlooked  an  essential  point  of  difference.  For  the  system  of 
Telesius  is  merely  physical,  it  deals  only  with  phenomena,  and 
seeks  for  no  higher  grounds  of  truth  than  the  evidence  of  the 
senses.  Parmenides,  on  the  other  hand,  recognised  the  antithesis 
of  to  ov  and  to  (f>aiv6fj,evov,  of  that  which,  exists  and  that  which 
is  apparent.  His  doctrine  is  ontological  rather  than  physical, 
and  he  does  not  admit  that  phenomena  have  any  connexion  with 
real  or  essential  truth.  He  seeks  for  a  deeper  insight  into 
things  than  any  which  a  mere  “  W elt-anschauung,”  a  mere 
contemplation  of  the  universe,  could  be  made  to  furnish.  The 
hypothesis  which  he  framed  to  explain  the  phenomena  by 
which  we  are  surrounded,  is  with  him  a  hypothesis  merely, 
and  though,  like  Telesius’s,  this  hypothesis  refers  every  phe¬ 
nomenon  to  the  antagonism  of  heat  and  cold,  yet  it  has  a 
character  of  its  own,  inasmuch  as  in  a  way  not  distinctly 
conceivable  it  also  serves  to  represent  the  metaphysical  anti¬ 
thesis  of  to  ov  and  to  firj  ov. 

It  is  however  to  be  remembered  that  with  the  ontological 

O 

aspect  of  the  philosophy  of  Parmenides  Bacon  has  here  no 
concern. 

The  fundamental  notion  of  Telesius’s  system  was  doubtless 
suggested  both  to  him  and  to  Parmenides  by  certain  obvious 

1  The  same  notion  is  ascribed  also  to  Hippo  of  Rhegium,  and  to  others  of  the 
Greek  philosophers.  See  Pseudo-orig .  Philos  (16.),  for  the  fullest  statement  as  to 
Hippo. 


DE  PRINCIP1IS  ATQUE  0R1GINIBUS. 


75 


phenomena,  and  especially  by  the  growth,  decay,  and  repro¬ 
duction  of  plants  and  animals.  But  it  is  essentially  derived 
from  the  delight  which  the  mind  takes  in  every  form  of  anti¬ 
thetic  dualism,  and  especially  in  the  idea  of  the  reciprocal 
action  of  opposing  forces.  It  comes  from  the  same  source  as 
the  love  and  strife  of  Empedocles,  and  as  the  good  and  evil 
principles  of  the  Persian  theology. 

By  the  help  of  this  notion,  namely  that  heat  and  cold  are 
the  constituent  principles  of  the  universe,  Telesius  attempts  to 
give  general  explanations  of  all  phenomena,  leaving  it  to  others 
to  study  them  in  detail.  The  largeness  of  his  plan  and  the 
grave  eloquence  with  which  it  is  set  forth  won  for  him  some 
celebrity,  notwithstanding  the  extreme  obscurity  of  his  style 
and  the  vagueness  of  his  whole  doctrine. 

The  academy  of  Cosenza  (it  was  at  Cosenza  that  Telesius 
was  bom)  adopted  his  views,  and  both  there  and  elsewhere 
men  were  for  some  time  to  be  found  who  called  themselves 
Telesiani.  Spiriti,  in  his  Scrittori  Cosentini,  gives  a  list  of  the 
disciples  of  Telesius  ;  it  contains  however  no  name  of  much 
note,  except  that  of  Campanella,  and  the  fame  of  Campanella 
rests  much  more  on  his  moral  and  political  speculations  than 
on  his  defence  of  Telesius.  Giordano  Bruno  and  Patricius 
cannot  be  called  disciples  of  Telesius,  though  the  writings  of 
both  bear  traces  of  his  influence.1  Among  real  students  of 
nature  it  was  not  to  be  expected  that  so  indefinite  a  system  as 
that  of  Telesius  could  find  much  acceptance,  and  accordingly 
it  is  but  seldom  mentioned  by  scientific  writers.  Grassi,  in  the 
Libra  Astronomica 2,  seems  to  reproach  Galileo  with  having 
taken  some  notion  about  comets  from  Cardan  and  Telesius ; 
remarking  that  their  philosophy  was  sterile  and  unfruitful, 
and  that  they  had  left  to  posterity  “  libros  non  liberos.”  To 
this  Galileo  answers  that  as  for  what  Cardan  and  Telesius 
might  have  said  on  the  matter  in  hand  he  had  never  read  it, 
and  it  would  seem  as  if  he  means  to  disclaim  all  knowledge 


1  The  influence  of  Telesius  on  Bruno  is  not,  I  think,  mentioned  by  historians  of 
philosophy,  yet  there  is  no  doubt  of  its  existence.  In  the  following  passage  the 
fundamental  principle  of  Telesius  is  plainly  assumed,  mingled  with  ideas  derived  from 
Copernicus.  “  Cosi  vien  distinto  1’  universo  in  fuoco  et  acqua,  che  sono  soggetti  di  doi 
primi  principii  formali  et  attivi,  freddo  et  caldo.  Que’  corpi  che  spirano  il  caldo,  son 
ie  sole,  che  per  se  stesso  son  lucenti  et  caldi ;  que’  corpi  che  spirano  il  freddo  son  le 
terre.” —  Cnna  di  Cenere,  p.  J  74.  of  Wagner’s  edition. 

2  Published  in  1618,  with  the  pseudonym  of  Lotario  Sarsi.  It  is  incorporated  in 
the  new  edition  of  Galileo’s  works,  iv.  p.  61. 


76 


PREFACE  To  THE 


of  their  writings.  Though  he  protests  against  the  argumentum 
ex  consensu  which  Grassi  brings  against  them,  yet  it  is  plain 
that  he  does  so  only  to  confute  his  opponent,  and  not  because  he 
thought  them  worthy  of  a  greater  fame  than  they  had  received. 
Even  among  the  large  class  of  men  who  are  content  to  acqui¬ 
esce  in  general  views  and  are  not  careful  to  inquire  whether 
these  views  are  accurate  or  ill  defined,  Telesius’s  popularity 
could  not  last  long.  For  he  had  left  nothing  for  his  followers 
to  do.  All  that  could  be  said  in  favour  of  his  fundamental 
idea  he  had  said  himself,  and  any  attempt  to  develop  it  further 
could  only  show  how  insecure  a  foundation  it  was  built  on. 
His  works  are  however  not  undeserving  of  attention,  even 
apart  from  the  influence  which  they  had  on  the  opinions  of 
Bacon.  They  show  much  of  the  peculiar  character  of  mind 
which  distinguishes  southern  from  northern  Italy,  and  which 
is  yet  more  conspicuous  in  the  writings  of  Campanella  and 
of  Vico :  grave  and  melancholy  earnestness,  —  a  fondness  for 
symbol  and  metaphor,  and  for  wide-reaching  but  dreamy 
theories. 

The  first  two  books  of  his  principal  work,  the  De  Rerum 
Naturd,  were  published  at  Rome  in  1565.  The  complete 
work  was  not  published  until  1586,  only  two  years  before  his 
death.1  In  1590  a  number  of  tracts,  some  of  which  had 
appeared  in  his  lifetime,  were  published  by  Antonius  Persius, 
one  of  his  chief  disciples,  with  a  dedication  to  Patricius,  which 
seems  to  claim  him  as  at  least  half  an  adherent  to  the  Telesian 
philosophy.2  For  some  account  of  Telesius’s  minor  works  I 
may  refer  to  Spiriti’s  Scrittori  Cosentini,  or  to  what  Salsi  has 
said  of  them  in  Ginguene’s  Histoire  Litter  air e  de  Vltalie ,3 

Of  Lotter’s  work,  De  Vita  et  Scriptis  B.  Telesii,  Leipsic, 
1733,  I  much  regret  that  I  only  know  what  is  said  of  it  in  the 
Acta  Eruditorum  for  that  year.  It  appears  to  contain  much 
information  not  easily  to  be  found  elsewhere. 

The  view  which  Bacon  gives  of  the  doctrines  of  Telesius 
seems  to  have  been  much  used  and  trusted  by  the  historians 

It  was  reprinted  in  1588,  along  with  the  Contemplationes  of  Mocenicus  and  the 
Qiucstiones  Peripatetics  of  Cassalpinus.  The  volume  containing  these  three  works  is 
entitled  “  Tractationum  Philosophicarum  tomus  unus,”  and  is  apparently  not  easily 
met  with.  It  is  this  edition  that  I  have  been  in  the  habit  of  using. 

2  This  dedication  is  prefixed  to  the  tract  “  De  Mari,” 

s  The  account  of  Telesius  in  Gingueue  was  written  by  Salsi.  See  Ginguene,  vii. 
p.  500. 


DE  PRINCIPIIS  ATQUE  ORIGJNIBUS. 


77 


of  philosophy  ', — a  natural  result  of  the  involved  and  obscure 
style  in  which  they  were  originally  propounded.  Whether  it 
is  altogether  an  accurate  representation  of  these  doctrines 
may  at  least  be  doubted :  it  seems  as  if  Bacon,  in  some  mat¬ 
ters  of  detail,  mingles  with  what  he  finds  in  Telesius  some 
further  developments  of  his  own.  Perhaps  he  is  in  some 
measure  influenced  by  his  jural  habits  of  thought,  and  tries 
in  all  fairness  and  equity  to  put  a  favourable  construction 
on  that  on  which  he  sits  in  judgment.2  However  this  may 
be,  I  have  certainly  found  it  difficult  to  support  all  his  state¬ 
ments  by  quotations  from  his  author,  and  in  some  cases  have 
noticed  at  least  apparent  discrepancies. 

The  tract  ends  abruptly  with  the  discussion  of  the  system 
of  Telesius.  A  similar  discussion  of  the  atomic  theory  would 
have  been  of  far  greater  interest,  for  Bacon’s  own  opinions  are 
much  more  closely  connected  with  those  of  Democritus  than 
with  Telesius’s,  from  whom  he  derived  only  isolated  doctrines. 
The  most  important  of  these  doctrines  is  that  of  the  duality 
of  the  soul,  of  which  and  of  its  relation  to  the  orthodox  opi¬ 
nion  I  have  elsewhere  had  occasion  to  speak.3 


*  See  what  Brucker  says  of  Morhof  and  Sosellus,  Hist.  Crit.  Phil.  iv.  453. 

2  Bacon’s  own  language  suggests  this  impression.  “  Nos  enim,”  he  declares,  “in 
omnium  inventis  summa  cum  fide  et  tanquam  faventes  versamur.”  And  that  he  does 
not  conceive  himself  bound  to  minute  accuracy  in  reproducing  the  opinions  of  the 
philosophers  of  whom  he  speaks,  appears  from  several  expressions  :  “  Hujusmodi 
qujedam  de  diversitate  calorum  a  Telesio  dicuntur ;  ”  “  Haac,  aut  Us  meliora,  cogita- 
bant  illi,”  &c. 

8  See  General  Preface,  Vol.  I.  p.  49.  —  J.S. 


79 


DE  PRINCIPIIS  ATQUE  QRIGINIBUS, 

8ECUNDUM  FABULA8 

CUPIDINIS  ET  C(ELI: 

ETC. 


QuiE  de  Cupidine  sive  Amore  ab  antiquis  memorata  sunt,  in 
eandem  personam  convenire  non  possunt ;  quinetiam  ab  ipsis 
ponuntur  Cupidines  duo,  et  longo  sane  intervallo  discrepantes ; 
cum  unus  ex  iis  deorum  antiquissimus,  alter  natu  minimus 
fuisse  diceretur.  Atque  de  antiquo  illo  nobis  in  praesentia 
sermo  est.  Narrant  itaque  Amorem  ilium  omnium  deorum 
fuisse  antiquissimum,  atque  adeo  omnium  rerum,  excepto  Chao, 
quod  ei  coaevum  perhibetur.  Atque  Amor  iste  prorsus  sine 
parente  introducitur.  Ipse  autem  cum  Chao 1  mistus,  et  deos 
et  res  universas  progenuit.  A  nonnullis  tamen  ovo  prognatus2 
incubante  Noete  traditus  est.  Ejus  vero  attributa  ponuntur 
diversa,  ut  sit  infans  perpetuus,  caecus,  nudus,  alatus,  Sagitta¬ 
rius.  Vis  autem  ejus  praecipua  et  propria  ad  corpora  unienda 
valet:  etiam  claves  aetheris,  maris,  et  terrae  ei  deferebantur. 


1  Coelo  in  the  original.  For  the  grounds  of  the  correction,  see  Preface,  p.  67 _ 

J.  S. 

2  Kellgren,  De  Ovo  mundano  (Helsingfors,  1849),  has  collected  the  passages  on  the 
egg  cosmogony  in  the  Institutes  of  Menu,  the  Putanas,  and  certain  Commentaries. 
He  remarks  that,  so  far  as  he  is  aware,  no  trace  of  the  mythus  occurs  in  the  Vedas. 
It  follows  that  he  did  not  perceive  any  reference  to  it  in  the  129th  hymn  of  the  10th 
book  of  the  Rig  Veda,  with  which  he  was  certainly  acquainted,  as  he  has  quoted  a 
portion  of  Colebrook’s  translation  of  it.  In  this  translation  it  is  difficult  to  recognise 
even  the  germ  of  the  mythus,  but  in  that  which  has  since  been  given  by  Max  Muller 
it  seems  more  easy  to  do  so.  It  would  be  interesting  to  ascertain  how  far  the  mythus 
was  developed  at  the  time  at  which  the  older  portions  of  the  Rig  Veda  were  com¬ 
posed.  The  subject  may  be  said  to  have  a  natural  interest  at  Helsingfors,  as  the  egg 
cosmogony  exists  among  the  Finns.  For  the  hymn  referred  to  see  Colebrook’s  Mis¬ 
cellaneous  Essays,  i.  p.  34.,  and  Muller’s  Addenda  to  Bunsen’s  Hippolytus,  p.  140. 


80 


DE  PRINCIP1IS  ATQUE  ORIGIN1BUS, 


Fingitur  quoque  et  celebratur  alter  Cupido  minor.  Veneris 
filius,  in  quem  attributa  antiquioris  transferuntur,  et  propria 
multa  adjiciuntur. 

Fabula  ista,  cum  sequenti  de  Ccelo,  brevi  parabolae  complexu 
proponere  videtur  doctrinam  de  principiis  rerum  et  mundi  ori- 
ginibus,  non  multum  dissidentem  ab  ea  philosophia  quam  De¬ 
mocritus  exhibuit ;  nisi  quod  videatur  aliquantt)  magis  severa, 
et  sobria  et  perpurgata.  Ejus  enim  viri,  licet  acutissimi  et 
diligentissimi,  contemplationes  gliscebant  tamen,  et  modum 
tenere  nesciae  erant,  nec  se  satis  stringebant  aut  sustinebant. 
Atque  etiam  hsec  ipsa  placita  quae  in  parabola  delitescunt, 
quamvis  paulo  emendatiora,  talia  sunt  qualia  esse  possunt  ilia 
quae  ab  intellectu  sibi  permisso,  nec  ab  experientia  continenter 
et  gradatim1  sublevato,  profecta  videntur ;  nam  illud  vitium 
existimamus  etiam  prisca  secula  occupasse.  In  primis  autem 
intelligendum  est,  quae  hie  afferuntur  conclusa  et  prolata  esse 
ex  authoritate  rationis  hum  an  a;  solummodo,  et  sensus  fidem 
secuta  :  cujus  jampridem  cessantia  et  deficientia  oracula  merito 
rejiciuntur,  postquam  meliora  et  certiora  mortalibus  ex  parte 
verbi  divini  atFulserint.  Itaque  Chaos  illud,  quod  Cupidini 
coaevum  erat,  massam  sive  congregationem  materiae  inconditam 
significabat.  Materia  autem  ipsa,  atque  vis  et  natura  ejus, 
denique  principia  rerum,  in  Cupidine  ipso  adumbrata  erant. 
Ille  introducitur  sine  parente,  id  est  sine  causa:  causa  enim 
effectus  veluti  parens  est ;  idque  in  tropis  familiare  et  fere  per- 
petuum  est,  ut  parens  et  proles  causam  et  effectum  denotent. 
Materiae  autem  primae,  et  virtutis  atque  actionis  proprise  ejus, 
causa  nulla  esse  potest  in  natura  (Deum  enim  semper  excipi- 
mus) ;  nihil  enim  hac  ipsa  prius.  Itaque  efficiens  nulla,  nec 
aliquid  naturae  notius ;  ergo  nec  genus,  nec  forma.  Quam- 
obrem  quaecunque  tandem  sit  ilia  materia  atque  ejus  vis  et 
operatio,  res  positiva  est  et  surda,  atque  prorsus  ut  invenitur 
accipienda,  nec  ex  praenotione  aliqua  judicanda.  Etenim  modus 
si  sciri  detur,  tamen  per  causam  sciri  non  potest,  cum  sit  post 
Deum  causa  causarum,  ipsa  incausabilis.  Est  enim  terminus 
quidam  verus  et  certus  causarum  in  natura :  atque  aeque  impe- 
riti  est  et  leviter  philosophantis,  cum  ad  ultimam  naturae  vim  et 
legem  positivam  ventum  sit  causam  ejus  requirere  aut  fingere, 
ac  in  iis  quae  subordinata  sunt  causam  non  desiderare.2  Quare 


1  gradatum  in  original.  —  J.S 


1  Compare  Nov.  Org.  i.  48. 


SEC.  FAB.  CUP1DINIS  ET  CCELf. 


81 


Cupido  ab  antiquis  sapientibus  ponitur  in  parabola  sine  parente, 
id  est,  sine  causa.  Neque  nihil  in  hoc  est;  imo  haud  scimus  an 
non  res  omnium  maxima.  Nil  enim  philosophiam  peraeque 
corrupit  ac  ilia  inquisitio  parentum  Cupidinis ;  hoc  est,  quod 
philosophi  principia  rerum  quemadmodum  in  natura  inveniun- 
tur  non  receperunt  et  amplexi  sunt,  ut  doctrinam  quandam 
positivam,  et  tanquam  fide  experimentali ;  sed  potius  ex  legi- 
bus  sermonum  et  ex  dialecticis  et  mathematicis  conclusiunculis 
atque  ex  communibus  notionibus  et  hujusmodi  mentis  extra 
naturam  exspatiationibus  ea  deduxerunt.  Itaque  philosophanti 
quasi  perpetuo  hoc  animo  agitandum  est,  non  esse  parentes 
Cupidini,  ne  forte  intellectus  ad  inania  deflectat;  quia  in  hujus¬ 
modi  perceptionibus  universalibus  gliscit  animus  humanus,  et 
rebus  et  se  ipso  abutitur,  et  dum  ad  ulteriora  tendit  ad  proxi- 
miora  recidit.1  Cum  enim,  propter  angustias  suas,  iis  qua; 
familiariter  occurrunt  et  quae  una  et  subito  mentem  subire  et 
ferire  possunt  maxime  moveri  consuerit;  fit  ut  cum  ad  ea  quae 
secundum  experientiam  maxime  universalia  sunt  se  exten- 
derit,  et  nihilominus  acquiescere  nolit,  turn  demum,  tanquam 
adhuc  notiora  appetens,  ad  ea  quae  ipsum  plurimum  affecerint 
aut  illaqueaverint  se  vertit,  et  ea  ut  magis  causativa  et  de- 
monstrativa  quam  ipsa  ilia  universalia  sibi  fingit. 

Itaque  quod  prima  rerum  essentia,  vis,  et  Cupido,  sine  causa 
sit,  jam  dictum  est.  De  modo  vero  ejus  rei  (quae  causam  non 
recipit)  videndum.  Modus  autem  et  ipse  quoque  perobscurus 
est;  idque  a  parabola  ipsa  monemur,  ubi  eleganter  fingitur 
Cupido,  ovum  Nocte  incubante  exclusum.  Certe  sanctus  phi- 
losophus  ita  pronuntiat:  Cuncta  fecit  Beus  pulchra  tempe- 
statibus  snis,  et  mundum  tradidit  disputationibus  eorum ;  ita 
tamen  ut  non  inveniat  homo  opus  quod  operatus  est  Beus  a 
principio  usque  ad  finemd  Lex  enim  summa  essentia;  atque 
naturae,  quae  vicissitudines  rerum  secat  et  percurrit  (id  quod 
ex  verborum  complexu  describi  videtur,  opus  quod  operatus 
est  Beus  a  principio  usque  ad  finem),  vis  scilicet  primis  parti- 
culis  a  Deo  indita,  ex  cujus  multiplicatione  omnis  rerum  varie- 
tas  emergat  et  confletur,  cogitationem  mortalium  perstringere 
potest,  subire  vix  potest.  Aptissime  autem  refertur  illud  de 
ovo  Noctis  ad  demonstrationes  per  quas  Cupido  iste  in  lucem 
editur.  Quae  enim  per  affirmativas  concluduntur,  videntur 
partus  lucis;  quae  vero  per  negativas  et  exclusiones,  ea  tanquam 
1  Compare  Nov.  Org.  i,  48.  2  Eccles.  iii.  1 1. 


82 


DE  PR1NCIPIIS  ATQUE  ORIGINIBUS, 


a  tenebris  et  nocte  exprimuntur  et  educuntur.  Est  autem  iste 
Cupido  vere  ovum  exclusum  a  Nocte ;  notitia  enim  ejus  (quae 
omnino  haberi  potest)  procedit  per  exclusiones  et  negativas. 
Probatio  autem  per  exclusionem  facta,  qusedam  ignoratio  est,  et 
tanquam  nox,  quoad  id  quod  includitur ;  quare  praeclare  Demo¬ 
critus  atomos  sive  semina,  atque  eorum  virtutem,  nullius  rei 
similia  quae  sub  sensum  cadere  posset  asseruit;  sed  ea  prorsus 
caeca  et  clandestina  natura  insignit.  Itaque  de  ipsis  pronun- 
tiavit : 

Neque  sunt  igni  simulata,  neque  ulli 
Prseterea  rei  quae  corpora  mittere  possit 
Sensibus,  et  nostros  adjectu  tangere  tactus:1 

Et  rursus  de  virtute  eorum : 

At  primordia  gignundis  in  rebus  oportet 
Naturam  clandestinam  caecamque  adhibere, 

Emineat  ne  quid,  quod  contra  pugnet  et  obstet.3 

Itaque  atomi  neque  ignis  scintillis,  neque  aquae  guttis,  neque 
aurae  bullis,  neque  pulveris  granis,  neque  spiritus  aut  aetheris 
minutiis,  similes  sunt.  Neque  vis  et  forma  eorum  aut  grave 
quiddam  est  aut  leve,  aut  calidum  aut  frigidum,  aut  densum 
aut  rarum,  aut  durum  aut  molle,  qualia  in  corporibus  grandio- 
ribus  inveniuntur;  cum  istae  virtutes,  et  reliquae  id  genus,  com- 
positae  sint  et  conflatae.  Neque  similiter  motus  naturalis  atomi 
aut  motus  ille  est  descensus,  qui  appellatur  naturalis,  aut  motus 
illi  oppositus  (plagae),  aut  motus  expansionis  et  contractionis,  aut 
motus  impulsionis  et  nexus,  aut  motus  rotationis  coelestium,  aut 
quispiam  ex  aliis  motibus  grandiorum,  simpliciter.  Atque 
nihilominus  et  in  corpore  atomi  elementa  omnium  corporum,  et 
in  motu  et  virtute  atomi  initia  omnium  motuum  et  virtutum 
insunt.  Veruntamen  in  hoc  ipso,  nimirum  de  motu  atomi, 
collate  ad  motum  grandiorum,  philosophia  parabolae  a  philo- 
sophia  Democriti  dissentire  videtur.  Democritus  enim  non 
omnino  parabolae  tantum,  sed  et  sibi  quoque  impar  et  fere 
contrarius  reperitur,  in  iis  quae"  amplius  ab  eo  circa  hoc  dicta 
sunt.  Debuit  enim  motum  heteroa:eneum  atomo  tribuere,  non 
minus  quam  corpus  heterogeneum  et  virtutem  heterogeneam. 
Verum  ille  motus  duos,  descensus  gravium  et  adscensus  levium 
(quern  per  plagam  sive  percussionem  magis  gravium  pellendo 
minus  gravia  in  superius  expediebat),  delegit  ex  motibus  gran- 


1  Lucret..  I.  688. 


3  Id.  i.  779. 


SEC.  FAB.  CUPIDINIS  ET  CCELI. 


83 


dlorum,  quos  atomo  ut  primitivos  communicaret.'  Parabola 
autem  heterogeneam  et  exclusionem  ubique  tuetur,  tam  sub¬ 
stantia  quam  motu.  At  parabola  ulterius  innuit,  harum  de 
quibus  diximus  exclusionum  finem  aliqucm  et  modum  esse ; 
neque  enim  perpetuo  Nox  incubat.  Atque  Dei  certe  proprium 
est,  cum  de  ejus  natura  inquiritur  per  sensum,  ut  exclusiones  in 
affirmativis  non  terminentur.  Alia  vero  est  hujus  rei  ratio; 
ea  scilicet,  ut  post  debitas  exclusiones  et  negationes  aliquid 
affirm  etur  et  const! tuatur,  et  ut  ovum  quasi  a  tempestiva  et 
matura  incubatione  excludatur ;  neque  tantum  ovum  exclu- 
datur  Nocte,  sed  etiam  ex  ovo  excludatur  persona  Cupidinis ; 
hoc  est,  ut  non  tantum  educatur  et  extrahatur  hujusce  rei  notio 
quaedam  ex  ignoratione,  verum  etiam  notio  distincta  et  con- 
fusa.®  Atque  de  demonstrationibus,  quales  ex  circa  materiam 
primam  esse  possint,  haec  habuimus  quae  cum  sensu  parabolae 
maxime  convenire  arbitramur.  Veniendum  igitur  ad  Cupi- 
dinem  ipsum,  materiam  scilicet  primam,  et  dotes  ejus,  quas 
tanta  circumstat  nox;  et  videndum  quid  parabola  ad  illam 
lucis  afferat.  Neque  nos  fugit,  opiniones  hujusmodi  duras  et 
fere  incredibiles  ad  hominum  sensus  et  cogitationes  accedere. 
Atque  ejus  certe  rei  periculum  jam  factum  esse  plane  cer- 
nimus  in  hac  ipsa  Democriti  philosophia  de  atomis,  quae  quia 
paulo  acutius  et  altius  in  naturam  penetrabat  et  a  communi- 
bus  notionibus  erat  remotior,  a  vulgo  pueriliter  accipiebatur ; 
sed  et  philosophiarum  aliarum  quae  ad  vulgi  captum  magis  ac- 
cedebant  disputationibus,  tanquam  ventis,  agitata  et  fere  ex- 
stincta  est.  Et  tamen  etiam  ille  vir  suis  temporibus  summa 
admiratione  floruit,  et  Pentathlus  dictus  est  ob  multiplicem 
scientiam3,  et  inter  omnes  philosophos  omnium  consensu 
maxime  phjsicus  est  habitus,  ut  Magi  quoque  nomen  obtine- 
ret.  Neque  Aristotelis  pugnae  et  dimicationes  (qui  Ottoman- 
norum  more  de  regno  suo  philosophiae  anxius  erat,  nisi  fratres 
trucidasset ;  cui  etiam  curse  erat,  ut  ex  ejus  verbis  liquet,  ne 
quid  posteri  scilicet  dubitarent)  tantum  sua  violentia,  nec  etiam 
Platonis  majestas  et  solennia  tantum  reverentia  potuerunt,  ut 

1  “  CuDcta  necesse  est 

Aut  gravitate  sua  ferri  primordia  rerum, 

Aut  ietu  forte  alterius.”  Lucret.  ii.  82. 

But  Democritus  himself  did  not  ascribe  gravity  to  the  atom,  and  in  this  as  in  some 
other  points  Bacon  was  misled  by  assuming  that  Lucretius  always  represents  the 
opinions  of  Democritus.  See  Stobasus,  Eclog.  Phys.  i.  15. 

2  So  in  the  original.  I  suppose  minime,  or  some  equivalent  word,  has  dropped  out. 
M.  Bouillet  suggests  the  substitution  of  nec  for  el. —  J.  S. 

s  Diog.  Laert.  ix.  37.  But  see  Muliach.  Qua;st.  Democ.  p.  54. 


7  Bacon  HI 


84 


DE  PRINCIPIIS  ATQUE  ORIGINIBUS, 


philosopliiam  hanc  Democriti  delerent.  Sed  dum  ilia  Ari- 
stotelis  et  Platonis  strepitu  et  pompa  professoria  in  scholis 
circumsonarent  et  celebrarentur,  h®c  ipsa  Democriti  apud 
sapientiores,  et  contemplationum  silentia  et  ardua  arctius  com¬ 
plexes,  in  magno  honore  erat.  Certe  in  seculis  illis  Romanic 
doctrin®,  ilia  Democriti  et  mansit  et  placuit ;  cum  Cicero  ejus 
yiri  ubique  summa  cum  laude  mentionem  faciat,  et  non  ita 
multo  post  praeconium  illud  poet®,  qui  videtur  ex  temporis 
sui  judicio  (ut  solent  illi)  de  eo  locutus  esse,  conscriptum  sit 
et  exstet, 

Cujus  prudentia  monstrat 
Magnos  posse  viros,  et  magna  exempla  daturos, 

Vervecum  in  patria  erassoque  sub  aere  nasci.1 

Itaque  non  Aristoteles  aut  Plato,  sed  Gensericus  et  Attila  et 
barbari,  hanc  philosophiam  pessundederunt.  Turn  enim,  post- 
quam  doctrina  humana  naufragium  perpessa  esset,  tabulae  istae 
Aristotelicae  et  Platonic®  philosophise,  tanquam  materiae  cujus- 
dam  levioris  et  magis  inflat®,  servat®  sunt,  et  ad  nos  perve- 
nerunt,  dum  magis  solida  mergerentur  et  in  oblivionem  fere 
venirent.  Nobis  vero  digna  videtur  Democriti  philosophia 
qu®  a  neglectu  vindicetur,  pr®sertim  quando  cum  authoritate 
prisci  seculi  in  plurimis  consentiat.  Primo  itaque  describi- 
tur  Cupido  ut  persona  qu®dam ;  eique  attribuuntur  Infantia, 
Al®,  Sagitt®,  alia,  de  quibus  sigillatim  postea  dicemus.  Sed 
hoc  interim  sumimus ;  antiquos  proposuisse  materiam  primam 
(qualis  rerum  principium  esse  potest)  formatam  et  dotatam,  non 
abstractam,  potentialem,  informem.  Atque  certe  materia  ilia 
spoliata  et  passiva  prorsus  human®  mentis  commentum  quod- 
dam  videtur,  atque  inde  ortum,  quia  intellectui  humano  ilia 
maxime  esse  videntur,  qu®  ipse  potissimum  haurit,  et  quibus 
ipse  plurimum  afficitur.  Itaque  fit  ut  form®  (quas  vocant) 
magis  existere  videantur,  quam  aut  materia  aut  actio :  quod 
ilia  latet,  h®c  fluit ;  altera  non  tarn  fortiter  impingitur,  altera 
non  tarn  constanter  inh®ret.  Imagines  autem  ill®,  contra,  et 
manifest®  et  constantes  putantur ;  adeo  ut  materia  ilia  prima 
et  communis  tanquam  accessorium  quiddam  videatur,  et  loco 
suffulcimenti ;  actio  autem  qu®vis  tanquam  emanatio  tantum  a 
forma ;  atque  prorsus  prim®  partes  formis  deferantur.  Atque 
hinc  fluxisse  videtur  formarum  et  idearum  regnum  in  essentiis, 
materia  scilicet  addita  quadam  phantastica.  Aucta  etiam  sunt 
ista  superstitione  nonnulla  (errorem,  intemperantiam 2,  ut  fit, 

2  [So  in  original.]  The  true  reading  is  probably  intemperantia. 


JJuv.  x.  48. 


SEC.  FAB.  CUPIDINIS  ET  CCELI. 


85 


secuta),  et  ideas  abstract*  quoque  introduct*,  et  earum  digni- 
tates;  tanta  confidentia  et  majestate,  ut  cohors  somniantium 
vigilantes  fere  oppresserit.  Yerum  ista  ut  plurimum  evanu- 
erunt ;  licet  alicui,  nostro  hoc  seculo,  cur*  fuerit  ea  sponte 
inclinantia  fulcire  et  excitare,  majore  ausu  (ut  nobis  videtur) 
quam  fructu.1  Yei'um  quam  praeter  rationem  materia  abs- 
tracta  prineipium  ponatur  (nisi  obstent  prsejudicia)  facile  per- 
spicitur.  Formas  siquidem  separatas  quidam  actu  subsistere 
posuerunt 2,  materiam  separatam  nemo ;  ne  ex  iis  qui  earn 
ut  prineipium  adhibuerunt;  atque  ex  rebus  phantasticis  entia 
constituere  durum  videtur  ac  perversum,  neque  inquisitioni 
de  principiis  consonum.  Neque  enim  quieritur  quomodo  na- 
turam  entium  commodissime  cogitatione  complectamur  aut  di- 
stinguamus,  sed  qu*  sint  vere  entia  prima  et  maxime  sim- 
plicia  ex  quibus  c*tera  deriventur.  Primuin  autem  ens  non 
minus  vere  debet  exist  ere,  quam  qu*  ex  eo  fluunt ;  quodam- 
modo  magis.  Authupostaton3  enim  est,  et  per  hoc  reliqua. 
At  qu*  dicuntur  de  materia  ilia  abstracta,  non  multo  meliora 
sunt,  quam  si  quis  mundum  et  res  ex  categoriis  et  hujusmodi 
dialecticis  notionibus,  tanquam  ex  principiis,  fieri  asserat. 
Parum  enim  interest,  utrum  quis  mundum  fieri  ex  materia 
et  forma  et  privatione  dicat,  an  ex  substantia  et  qualitatibus 
contrariis.4  Sed  omnes  fere  antiqui,  Empedocles,  Anaxagoras, 
Anaximenes,  Heraclitus,  Democritus,  de  materia  prima  in 
cieteris  dissidentea,  in  hoc  convenerunt,  quod  materiam  acti- 
vam,  forma  nonnulla,  et  formam  suam  dispensantem,  atque 
intra  se  prineipium  motus  habentem,  posuerunt.  Neque  aliter 
cuiquam  opinari  licebit,  qui  non  experienti*  plane  desertor 
esse  velit.  Itaque  hi  omnes  mentem  rebus  submiserunt.  At 


1  The  allusion  is  apparently  to  Fatricius,  whose  Nova  Philosophia  was  published  in 
1593;  a  work  long  since  so  rare  that  Sorellus  (apud  Brucker,  iv.  28.)  says  that  a 
small  library  might  be  purchased  for  the  price  of  this  single  book.  See  lor  an  ac- 
epunt  of  it  Brucker,  uhi  modo. 

2  Angels  are  regarded  by  the  schoolmen  as  forms  not  immersed  in  matter-.  Thus 
St.  Thomas  says,  “  Angeli  sunt  forma;  immateriales.  ” — Sum.  Theol.  i.  q.  61.  Even 
the  soul  of  man  is  spoken  of  as  a  form  “non  penitus  materia'  immersa;”  a  way  of 
speaking  probably  employed  for  two  reasons,— to  save  the  possibility  of  the  soul’s 
separate  existence,  and  to  obviate  the  difficulty  of  the  Scotists,  that  an  unextended, 
or  intense,  form  like  the  soul  cannot  give  extension  or  corporeity.  From  this  diffi¬ 
culty  Duns  Scotus  deduced  the  existence  of  a  “  forma  corporeitatis  ”  distinct  from  the 
soul  ;  a  doctrine  not  to  he  confounded  with  that  of  Avicenna,  who,  from  the  impos¬ 
sibility  of  conceiving  unextended  matter,  was  led  to  assert  the  existence  of  a  form  of 
corporeity  primitively  inherent  in  all  matter. 

3  The  word  ctvduirio'TaTos,  of  which  the  Eatin  form  ought  to  be  authypostatus,  is 
given  by  Stephanus,  with  a  reference  to  Nicetas. 

1  Compare  De  Angmentis. 


86 


DE  PRINCIPIIS  ATQUE  0RIG1NIBUS, 


Plato  mundum  cogitationibus,  Aristoteles  vero  etiam  cogita- 
tiones  verbis,  adjudicarunt ;  vergentibus  etiam  turn  hominum 
Btudiis  ad  disputationes  et  sermones,  et  veritatis  inquisitionem 
severiorem  missam  facientibus.  Quare  hujusmodi  placita  ma- 
gis  toto  genere  reprehendenda  quam  proprie  confutanda  vi- 
dentur.  Sunt  enim  eorum,  qui  multum  loqui  volunt,  et  parum 
scire.  Atque  abstracta  ista  materia  est  materia  disputationum, 
non  universi.  Verum  rite  et  ordine  philosopbanti,  naturae 
plane  facienda  est  dissectio  non  abstractio  (qui  autem  secare 
earn  nolunt,  abstrahere  coguntur),  atque  omnino  materia  prima 
ponenda  est  conjuncta  cum  forma  prima,  ac  etiam  cum  prin- 
cipio  motus  primo,  ut  invenitur.  Nam  et  motus  quoque  abs¬ 
tractio  infinitas  phantasias  peperit,  de  animis,  vitis,  et  similibus, 
ac  si  iis  per  materiam  et  formam  non  satisfieret,  sed  ex  suis 
propriis  penderent  ilia  principiis.  Sed  haec  tria  nullo  modo 
discerpenda,  sed  tantummodo  distinguenda ;  atque  asserenda 
materia  (qualiscunque  ea  sit)  ita  ornata  et  apparata  et  formata, 
ut  omnis  virtus,  essentia,  actio,  atque  motus  naturalis,  ejus  con- 
secutio  et  emanatio  esse  possit.  Neque  propterea  metuendum, 
ne  res  torpeant,  aut  varietas  ista  quam  cernimus  explicari  non 
possit ;  ut  postea  docebimus.  Atque  quod  materia  prima  forma 
nonnulla  sit,  demonstrate  a  parabola  in  hoc,  quod  Cupidinis 
est  persona  quaedam.  Ita  tamen  ut  materia  ex  toto,  sive  massa 
materiae,  quondam  informis  fuerit :  Chaos  enim  informe ;  Cu- 
pido  persona  quaedam.  Atque  haec  cum  sacris  literis  optime 
conveniunt.  Neque  enim  scriptum  est  quod  Deus  hylen*  in 
principio  creavit,  sed  coelum  et  terram. 

Subjungitur  etiam  descriptio  nonnulla  status  rerum  qualis 
fuerit  ante  opera  dierum,  in  qua  distincta  mentio  fit  terrae  et 
aquae,  quae  sunt  nomina  formarum ;  sed  tamen  quod  massa 
secundum  totum  erat  informis.2  Verum  introducitur  in  para- 
bolam  Cupido  ita  personatus,  ut  sit  tamen  nudus.  Itaque  post 
illos  qui  materiam  ponunt  abstractam,  proxime  (sed  in  con- 
trarium)  peccant  illi  qui  earn  ponunt  non  exutam.  Atque  de 
hac  re  quaedam  adspersimus  in  iis  quae  de  demonstrationibus 
quales  in  materiam  primam  conveniant,  et  de  heterogenea 
ipsius  materiae,  a  nobis  jam  dicta  sunt.  At  hie,  quern  nunc 
ingrediemur,  est  proprius  ejus  rei  tractandae  locus.  Yidendum 
ergo  ex  iis  qui  principia  rerum  in  materia  formata  fundaverunt, 
quinam  sint  illi  qui  formam  materiae  tribuerint  nativam  et 

1  Hymen  In  the  original. — J.  S.  2  Compare  St  Thomas,  Sum.  Theol.  i.  66.  1. 


SEC.  FAB.  CUPIDINIS  ET  CCELI. 


87 


nudam,  et  qui  rursus  superfusam  et  indutam.  Inveniuntur 
autem  omnino  quatuor  opinantium  sectce.  Prima  est  eorum, 
qui  unum  quippiam  asserunt  rerum  principium,  diversitatem 
autem  entium  constituunt  in  natura  ejusdem  principii  fluxa1  et 
dispensabili.  Secunda  eorum,  qui  principium  rerum  ponunt 
substantia  unicum,  idque  fixum  et  invariabile;  diversitatem 
entium  deducunt  per  hujusmodi  principii  diversas  magnitu- 
dines,  figuras,  et  posituras.  Tertia  eorum,  qui  plura  consti¬ 
tuunt  rerum  principia ;  et  diversitatem  entium  ponunt  in 
eorum  temperamento  et  mistione.  Quarta  eorum,  qui  infinita 
aut  saltern  numerosa  constituunt  rerum  principia,  sed  specificata 
et  effigiata ;  quibus  nihil  opus  ut  comminiscantur  aliquid  quod 
res  deducat  ad  multiplex,  cum  naturam  jam  a  principio  disgre- 
gent.2  Inter  quos  secunda  secta  nobis  videtur  solummodo 
Cupidinem  exbibere,  ut  est,  nativum  et  exutum.  Prima  vero 
introducit  eum  tanqaam  velo  discretum.  Tertia  tunicatum. 
Quarta  etiam  chlamydatum  et  fere  sub  larva.  Atque  de  singulis 
pauca  dicemus,  ad  meliorem  parabolae  explicationem.  Primo 
igitur,  ex  iis  qui  unum  rerum  principium  statuerunt,  nemi- 
nem  invenimus  qui  illud  de  Terra  affirmaret.  Obstabat  scilicet 
terrae  natura  quieta  et  torpens  et  minime  activa,  sed  coeli  et 
ignis  et  reliquorum  patiens,  ne  id  cuipiam  in  mentem  veniret 
asserere.3  Attamen  prisca  sapientia  Terram  proximam  a  Chao 
ponit,  Coelique  primo  parentem,  deinde  nuptam ;  ex  quo  con- 
jugio  omnia.4  Neque  propterea  hoc  accipiendum,  ac  si  veteres 
unquam  statuissent  terram  principium  essentiae ;  sed  principium 
vel  originem  potius  schematismi  sive  systematic  Itaque  banc 
rem  ad  parabolam  sequentem  de  Coelo  rejicimus,  ubi  de  Origi- 
nibus  inquiremus ;  quae  est  inquisitio,  ad  illam  de  Principiis, 
posterior. 

At  Thales  Aquam  principium  rerum  posuit.6  Yidebat  enim 
materiam  praecipue  dispensari  in  humido,  humidum  in  aqua, 
Consentaneum  autem  esse  illud  rerum  principium  ponere,  in 

1  fluxu  in  the  original. — J.  S. 

!  In  enumerating  these  four  sects,  Bacon  alludes  successively  to  the  Ionian  phy¬ 
sicists  ;  to  the  atomists ;  to  Parmenides,  Teiesius,  Empedocles,  and  many  others ; 
and  lastly  to  Anaxagoras. 

8  This  remark  Bacon  may  have  derived  from  Aristotle,  Metaph.  L  7.  However, 
Hippo  of  Rhegium,  or  rather  Hippo  the  atheist  who  is  probably  the  same  person, 
made  earth  the  principle  of  all  things,  at  least  according  to  the  scholiast  on  Hesiod’s 
Theogony.  (See  Heinslus’s  Hesiod,  p.  237.)  Others,  however,  give  a  different  account 
of  Hippo’s  opinions,  and  it  is  possible  that  the  scholiast's  story  was  suggested  to  him 
merely  by  what  Aristotle  says  of  him  in  the  third  chapter  of  the  same  book. 

*  As  I  have  remarked  in  the  preface,  ref  rence  is  here  made  to  Hesiod. 

8  Plutarch,  De  Plac.  Philosoph. 3, 


88 


DE  PRINCIPIIS  ATQUE  ORIG1NIBUS, 


quo  virtutes  entium  et  vigores,  prasertim  elementa  generatio- 
num  et  instaurationum,  potissimum  invenirentur.  Genituram 
animalium  humidam  ;  etiam  plantarum  semina  et  nuclea,  quam- 
diu  vegetarent  ne'e  effoeta  essent,  tenera  et  mollia.  Metalla 
quoque  liquescere  et  fluere,  et  esse  tanquam  terra  succos  con- 
cretos,  vel  potius  aquas  quasdam  minerales.  Terram  ipsam 
imbribus  aut  irrigatione  fluviorum  foecundasri  et  instaurari, 
nihilque  aliud  videri  terram  et  limum,  quam  faces  et  sedi- 
menta  aqua.  Et  aerem  planissime  esse  aqua  exspirationem 
atque  expansionem.  Quin  et  ignem  ipsum  non  concipi,  ne- 
que  omnino  durare  aut  ali,  nisi  ex  humido  et  per  humidum. 
Pinguedinem  autem  illam  humidi,  in  qua  flamma  et  ignis  sus- 
tentantur  et  vivunt,  videri  quandam  aqua  maturitatem  et  con- 
coctionem.  Corpus  rursus  et  molem  aqua  per  universum, 
ut  fomitem  communem,  dispertiri.  Oceanum  terra  circum- 
fundi.  Vim  maximam  aquarum  dulcium  subterraneam ;  unde 
fontes  et  fluvii,  qui,  venarum  instar,  aquas  per  terra  et  faciem 
et  viscera  deportent.  At  immensas  vaporum  et  aquarum  con- 
gregationes  in  supernis  esse,  utque  aliam  quandam  aquarum 
universitatem,  utpote  a  qua  inferiores  aqua,  atque  adeo  ocea- 
nus  ipse,  reparentur  et  reficiantur.  Etiam  ignes  coelestes  existi- 
mabat  aquas  illas  et  vapores  depascere ;  neque  enim  aut  sine 
alimento  subsistere,  aut  aliunde  ali  posse ;  figuram  autem  aqua, 
qua  in  ejus  particulis  (guttis  videlicet)  cernitur,  eandem  cum 
figura  universi  esse,  rotundam  nempe  et  spharicam ;  quin  et 
undulationem  aqua,  etiam  in  aere  et  flamma,  notari  et  conspici : 
motum  denique  aqua  habilem,  nec  torpescentem,  nec  prafe- 
stinum ;  numerosissimam  autem  piscium  et  aquatilium  gene- 
rationem.  Sed  Anaximenes  Aerem  delegit,  quod  unum  esset 
rerum  principium.1  Nam  si  moles  in  constituendis  rerum 
principiis  spectanda  sit,  videtur  aer  longe  maxima  universi 
spatia  occupare.  Nisi  enim  detur  vacuum  separatum,  aut 
recipiatur  superstitio  ilia  de  heterogenea  coelestium  et  sublu- 
narium  ;  quicquid  a  globo  terra  ad  ultima  coeli  extenditur 
spatii,  atque  astrum  aut  meteorum  non  est,  aerea  substantia 
compleri  videtur.  Atque  globi  terrestris  domicilium  instar 
puncti  ad  cceli  ambitum  censetnr.  In  athere  vere2  ipso,  quan- 
tula  portio  in  stellis  conspergitur  ?  cum  in  citiinis  spharis 
singula  conspiciantur,  in  ultima,  licet  ingens  earum  numerus 
sit,  tamen  pra  spatiis  interstellaribus  exiguum  quiddam  spatii 

1  riutarch,  1,  c,  1  So  in  the  original :  probably  a  mistake  for  verb.  —  J.S. 


SEC.  FAB.  CUPIDIN1S  ET  CtELI. 


89 


sidereum  appareat ;  ut  omnia  tanquam  in  vastisaimo  aeria  pelago 
natare  vidcantur.  Neque  parva  eat  ea  portio  aeria  et  spiritus, 
quae  in  aquis  et  cavia  terrae  locia  aedem  et  moram  habet ;  unde 
aquae  fluorem  auum  recipiunt.  Quin  et  extenduntur  quandoque 
et  intumeacunt ;  terrae  autem  non  solum  poroaitaa  aua  accidit, 
sed  etiam  tremotes  et  concussionea,  evidentia  aigna  venti  et 
aeria  inclusi.  Quod  si  media  quaedam  natura  sit  propria  prin- 
cipiorum,  ut  tant®  varietatis  posait  esse  susceptiva ;  ea  prorsus 
m  aere  reperiri  videtur.  Eat  enim  aer  tanquam  commune 
rerum  vinculum,  non  tantum  quia  ubique  prsesto  eat,  et  succe- 
dit,  et  vacua  posaidet,  sed  multo  magis  quod  videtur  ease 
naturae  cujusdam  mediae  et  adiaphorae.  Hoc  enim  corpus  illud 
eat,  quod  lucem,  opacitatem,  omniumque  colorum  tincturas,  et 
umbrarum  eclipses  excipit  et  vebit ;  quod  aonorum  etiam  har- 
monicorum,  et  (quod  multo  majus  eat)  articulatorum,  impres- 
aionea  et  signaturas  motu  accuratiasimo  discriminat ;  quod 
odorum  difFerentias,  non  tantum  generales  illas  suavis  et 
foetidi,  gravis,  acuti,  et  similium,  sed  proprias  et  specificatas, 
rosae,  viol®,  subit  nec  confundit;  quod  ad  celebrea  et  poten- 
tissimas  illas  qualitates  calidi,  frigidi,  etiam  humidi,  sicci, 
quodammodo  aequum  se  praebet ;  in  quo  vapores  aquei,  halitua 
pingues,  spiritus  aalium,  metallorum  fumi,  suspensa  volant; 
denique  in  quo  radii  ccelestes,  et  arctiores  rerum  consensus 
et  discordiae,  secreto  commeant  et  obmurmurant;  ut  sit  aer 
veluti  chaos  secundum,  in  quo  tot  rerum  semina  agant,  er- 
rent,  tentent,  atque  experiantur.  Postremo,  si  vim  genialem 
et  vivificantem  in  rebus  consulas,  quae  ad  rerum  principia 
manuducat  eaque  manifestet,  etiam  aeria  potiores  partes  esse 
videntur;  adeo  ut  aeria  et  spiritus  et  animse  vocabula  usu 
nonnunquam  confundantur.  Idque  merito,  cum  vitae  paulo 
adultioris  (exceptis  scilicet  rudimentis  illis  vitae  in  embryonibus 
et  ovis)  respiratio  aliqua  comes  sit  veluti  individuus ;  adeo  ut 
pisces  concreta  et  conglaciata  aquarum  superficie  suffocentur. 
Etiam  ignis  ipse,  nisi  ab  aura  circumfusa  animetur,  exstinguitur, 
nihilque  aliud  videtur  quam  aer  attritus,  irritatus,  et  incensus ; 
quemadmodum  aqua  e  contra  videri  poasit  aeria  coagulum  et 
receptus.  Etiam  terram  perpetuo  aerem  exhalare,  neque  ut 
per  aquam  in  formam  aeria  transitum  faciat  opus  habere. 
Heraclitus  vero  magis  acutus,  sed  minus  credibilis,  Ignem 
rerum  principium  posuit.1  Neque  enim  naturam  mediam. 


1  Plutarch,  1.  c. 


90 


DE  PR1NCIPIIS  ATQUE  ORIGIN1BUS, 


quae  maxime  vaga  et  corruptibilis  esse  solet,  sed  naturam 
gummam  et  perfectam,  quae  corruptionis  et  alterationis  ter¬ 
minus  quidam  sit,  ad  rerum  principia  constituenda  quaesivit. 
Videbat  autem  maximam  rerum  varietatem  et  perturbationem 
in  corporibus  solidis  et  consistentibus  inveniri.  Talia  enim 
corpora  organica  esse  possunt,  et  veluti  machinae  quaedam,  quae 
etiam  ex  figura  innumeras  variationes  nanciscuntur,  qualia  sunt 
corpora  animalium  et  plantarum.  Etiam  in  his  ipsis,  ea  quoque 
quae  organica  non  sunt,  tamen  si  acutius  introspiciantur,  valde 
esse  dissimilia  reperiuntur.  Quanta  enim  dissimilitude  inter 
partes  animalium  illas  ipsas,  quae  vocantur  similares  ?  cerebrum, 
bumorem  crystallinum,  albuginem  oculi,  os,  membranam,  car- 
tilaginem,  nervum,  venam,  carnem,  pinguedinem,  medullam, 
sanguinem,  sperma,  spiritum,  chylum,  reliqua  ?  etiam  inter 
partes  vegetabilium,  radicem,  corticem,  caulem,  folium,  florem, 
semen,  et  similia  ?  At  fossilia  organica  non  sunt  certe,  sed 
tamen  et  in  una  specie  vkrie  commista  sunt,  et  ad  invicem 
admodum  copiosam  varietatem  ostendunt.  Quamobrem  basis 
ilia  diversitatis  entium,  ampla,  lata,  et  exporrecta,  in  qua  tan- 
tus  rerum  apparatus  elucescit  et  obversatur,  constitui  videtur 
in  natura  solida  et  consistenti.  Corpora  vero  liquorum  vis 
schematismi  organici  plane  deserit.  Neque  enim  reperitur  per 
totam  istam  naturam  visibilem,  aut  animal  aut.  planta  in  cor- 
pore  mere  fluido.  Ergo  numerosissima  ilia  varietas  a  natura 
liquida  abscinditur  et  subducitur.  Manet  nihilominus  varie¬ 
tas  non  parva,  ut  in  tanta  diversitate  fusilium,  succorum, 
destillatorum,  et  hujusmodi,  manifestum  est.  At  in  aeriis  et 
pneumaticis  corporibus  arctatur  multo  magis  varietas,  et  ob- 
ducitur  promiscua  quaedam  rerum  similitudo.  Certe  vis  ilia 
colorum  et  saporum,  quibus  liquores  quandoque  distinguuntur, 
omnino  cessat ;  odorum  vero  manet,  atque  aliarum  nonnul- 
larum,  ita  tamen  ut  transeant,  confundantur,  et  minus  hae- 
reant;  adeo  ut  in  universum  quo  magis  ad  ignis  naturam  fiat 
appropinquatio  tantum  de  varietate  depereat.  At  postquam 
ad  ignis  naturam  ventum  est,  ejusque  rectificati  et  purioris, 
omne  organum,  omnisque  proprietas,  omnis  dissimilaritas  exu- 
itur,  atque  natura  tanquam  in  vertice  pyramidali  in  unum 
Qoire  videtur,  atque  ad  terminum  actionis  suae  propriae  per- 
venisse.  Itaque  incensionem  sive  ignescentiam  pacem  nomi- 
navit,  quia  naturam  componeret ;  generationem  autem  bellum, 
quia  ad  multiplex  deduceret.1  Atque  ut  ista  ratio  (qua  res  a 

1  Diog.  Lacrt.  ix.  8. 


SEC.  FAB.  CUPIDINIS  ET  CCELI. 


91 


varietate  ad  unum,  et  ab  imitate  ad  varium,  fluminis  instar 
fluerent  et  refluerent)  aliquo  modo  explicari  posset ;  ignem  ei 
densari  et  rarescere  placuit,  ita  tamen  ut  rarescentia  ilia  ver¬ 
sus  naturam  igneam,  actio  esset  naturae  directa  et  progres¬ 
siva  ;  densatio  autem  veluti  retrogradatio  natural  et  destitutio. 
Utrumque  fato  et  certis  periodis  (secundum  summam)  fieri 
censebat :  ut  mundi  istius,  qui  volvitur,  futura  sit  quandoque 
conflagratio,  et  deinde  instauratio,  atque  incensionis  et  genera- 
tionis  series  perpetua  et  successio.  Ordinem  autem  (si  quis 
diligenter  versetur  in  tenui  ea  quse  de  hoc  viro  atque  ejus 
decretis  ad  nos  pervenit  memoria)  diversum  statuit  incensionis 
et  exstinctionis.  In  scala  enim  incensionis,  nihil  ab  iis  quse 
vulgata  sunt  dissentiebat ;  ut  progressus  rarescentise  et  exte- 
nuationis  esset  a  terra  ad  aquam,  ab  aqua  ad  aerem,  ab  aere 
ad  ignem ;  at  non  idem  decursus ;  sed  ordinem  plane  inver- 
tebat.1  Ignem  enim  per  exstinctionem  terrain  educere  assere- 
bat,  tanquam  faeces  quasdam  atque  fuligines  ignis ;  eas  deinceps 
uditatem  concipere  et  colligere,  unde  aqua;  fiat  effluvium,  quse 
rursus  aerem  emittat  et  exspiret ;  ut  ab  igne  ad  terram  mutatio 
fiat  in  praeceps,  non  gradatim. 

Atque  hsec,  aut  iis  meliora,  cogitabant  illi  qui  unum  rerum 
principium  statuerunt,  naturam  simpliciter  intuiti,  non  conten- 
tiose.  Atque  laudandi  sunt,  quod  vestem  unicam  Cupidini 
tribuerint,  id  quod  nuditati  proximum  est ;  atque  hujusmodi 
vestem,  quse  est  (ut  diximus)  veli  cujuspiam  instar,  non  pro- 
fecto  tela;  spissioris.  Vestem  autem  Cupidinis  appellamus 
formam  aliquam  materiae  primse  attributam,  quse  asseratur  esse 
cum  forma  alicujus  ex  entibus  secundis  substantialiter  homo- 
genea.  Ista  autem  quse  de  aqua,  aere,  igne,  ab  istis  asseruntur, 
non  firmis  admodum  rationibus  nixa,  reprehendere  non  fuerit 
difficile ;  neque  causa  videtur  cur  de  singulis  disseramus,  sed 
tantum  in  genere.  Primo  itaque  videntur  antiqui  illi  in  in- 
quisitione  principiorum  rationem  non  admodum  acutam  insti- 
tuisse  ;  sed  hoc  solummodo  egisse,  ut  ex  corporibus  apparenti- 
bus  et  manifestis,  quod  maxime  excelleret  qusererent ;  et  quod 
tale  videbatur,  principium  rerum  ponerent ;  tanquam  per  ex- 
cellentiam,  non  vere2  aut  realiter.  Putabant  enim  hujus¬ 
modi  naturam  dignam,  quse  sola  esse  diceretur  qualis  apparet : 
caetera  vero  eandem  ipsam  naturam  esse  existimabant,  licet 

1  riutarch,  I.  c.  Diogenes  Laertius,  however,  does  not  support  the  statement  of 
the  text. 

2  vero  in  the  original _ J.  S. 


92 


DE  PRINC1PIIS  ATQUE  ORIGINIBUS, 


minime  secundum  apparentiam ;  ut  vel  per  tropum  locuti,  vcl 
tanquam  fascinati  videantur,  cum  impressio  fortior  reliqua 
traxerit.  At  vere  contemplautem,  aequum  se  praebere  opoi'tet 
ad  omnia,  atque  principia  rerum  statuere,  quae  etiam  cum 
minimis  et  rarissimis  et  maxime  desertis  quibuscunque  entium 
conveniant,  non  tantum  cum  maximis  et  plurimis  et  vigentibus. 
Licet  enim  nos  homines  entia  quae  maxime  occurrunt  maxime 
miremur,  tamen  naturae  sinus  ad  omnia  laxatur.  Quod  si  prin- 
cipium  illud  suum  teneant  non  per  excellentiam,  sed  simpliciter ; 
videntur  utique  in  duriorem  tropum  incidere ;  cum  res  plane 
deducatur  ad  aequivocum,  neque  de  igne  naturali  aut  naturali 
aere  aut  aqua  quod  asserunt  praedicari  videatur,  sed  de  igne 
aliquo  phantastico  et  notionali  (et  sic  de  caeteris),  qui  nomen 
ignis  retineat,  definitionem  abneget.  Porro  videntur  et  illi  in 
eadem  incommoda  compelli,  quae  assertores  materiae  abstractae 
subeunt.  Ut  enim  illi  materiam  potentialem  et  phantasticam 
ex  toto,  ita  et  isti  ex  parte  introducunt.  Ponunt  etiam  ma¬ 
teriam  quoad  aliquid  (principium  illud  nempe  suum)  formatam 
et  actualem ;  quoad  reliqua  tantum  potentialem.  Neque  ali¬ 
quid  lucri  fieri  per  istud  genus  principii  unici  videtur,  magis 
quam  per  illud  materiae  abstractae ;  nisi  quod  habetur  aliquid 
quod  obversetur  ad  intellectum  humanum,  in  quo  cogitatio 
humana  magis  defigatur  et  acquiescat,  et  per  quod  notio  prin¬ 
cipii  ipsius  paulo  plenior  sit,  reliquor um  omnium  abstrusior 
et  durior.  Sed  scilicet  ilia  aetate  Pradicamenta  regnum  non 
acceperant,  ut  potuisset  principium  illud  naturae  abstractae 
latere  sub  fide  et  tutela  predicament!  substantiae.  Itaque 
nemo  ausus  est  confingcre  materiam  aliquam  plane  phanta¬ 
sticam,  sed  principium  statuerunt  secundum  sensum ;  aliquod 
ens  verum  ;  modum  autem  ejus  dispensandi  (liberius  se  ge- 
rentes)  phantasticum.  Nihil  enim  inveniunt,  imo  nec  commi- 
niscuntur,  quo  appetitu  aut  stimulo,  aut  qua  ratione,  via,  aut 
ductu,  istud  principium  suum  a  se  degeneret,  et  rursus  se 
recipiat.1  At  cum  tanti  appareant  per  universum  contrario- 
rum  exercitus,  densi,  rari,  calidi,  frigidi,  lucidi,  opaci,  animati, 
inanimati,  et  aliorum  plurimorum  quae  se  invicem  oppugnant, 
privant,  perimunt ;  heec  omnia  ab  uno  quopiam  rei  materiatae 
fonte  manare  putare,  neque  tamen  ullum  ejus  rei  modum 
ostendere,  speculationis  cujusdam  attonitas  videtur,  et  inquisi- 
tionem  deserentis.  Nam  si  de  re  ipsa  per  sensum  constaret. 


Compare  Arist.  Mef.  i.  3. 


SEC.  FAB.  CUPIDIN1S  ET  C(ELI. 


93 


ferendum  esset,  licet  modus  esset  in  obscuro  ;  rursus  si  modus 
vi  rationis  erutus  esset  aliquis  habilis  et  credibilis,  discedendum 
fortasse  ab  apparentiis  ;  sed  minime  postulandum  ut  iis  assen- 
tiamus,  quorum  nec  entia  per  sensum  manifesta,  neque  expli- 
cationes  per  rationem  probabiles.  Praeterea,  si  unum  esset 
rerum  principium,  debuerat  ejus  conspici  in  omnibus  rebus 
nota  quaedam,  et  tanquam  partes  potiores,  et  prsedominantia 
nonnulla ;  neque  inveniri  principatum  ullum,  quod  principio 
ex  diametro  opponatur.  Etiam  in  medio  collocari  debuerat,  ut 
omnibus  commodius  sui  copiam  faceret,  et  per  ambitum  se 
diffunderet.  At  horum  nihil  esse  in  illis  placitis  invenitur. 
Nam  terra,  quae  a  principii  honore  separatur  et  excluditur, 
videtur  suscipere  et  fovere  naturas  illis  tribus  principialibus 
oppositas,  cum  ad  mobilitatem1  et  lucidam  naturam  ignis,  oppo- 
nat  naturam  quietam  et  opacam ;  ad  tenuitatem  et  mollitiem 
aeris,  opponat  similiter  naturam  densam  et  duram ;  et  ad  humi- 
ditatem  et  sequacitatem  aquae,  naturam  siccam,  rigidam,  et  aspe- 
ram ;  atque  ipsa  quoque  terra  medium  locum  occupant,  caeteris 
deturbatis.  Porro,  si  unicum  esset  rerum  principium,  debuerat 
et  illud  turn  ad  rerum  generationem,  turn  ad  earum  dissolu- 
tionem,  aequam  praebere  naturam.  Tam  enim  est  principii,  ut 
res  in  illud  solvantur,  quam  ut  res  ex  illo  gignantur.  At  hoc 
non  fit ;  sed  ex  iis  corporibus  aer  et  ignis  ad  materiam  gene- 
rationis  prsebendam  inepta  videntur,  ad  eorum  resolutionem 
excipiendam  parata.  At  aqua  contra  ad  generationem  benigna 
et  alma ;  ad  resolutionem  sive  restitutionem  magis  aliena  et 
aversa ;  id  quod  facile  cerneretur,  si  imbres  paulisper  cessarent. 
Quin  et  putrefactio  ipsa  nullo  modo  res  ad  aquam  puram  et 
crudam  redigit.  Sed  longe  maximus  error,  quod  constituerunt 
principium  corruptibile  et  mortale.  Id  enim  faciunt,  cum 
principium  introducunt  tale,  quod  naturam  suam  in  compositis 
deserat  et  deponat. 

Nam  quodcunque  suis  mutatum  finibus  exit, 

Continuo  hoc  mors  est  illius,  quod  fuit  ante. 

Verum  hac  ratione  magis  nobis  opus  erit  statim,  cum  ad 
illam  tertiam  sectam,  quae  plura  decrevit  rerum  principia,  sermo 
jam  ordine  devectus  sit ;  quae  certe  secta  plus  roboris  habere 
videri  possit,  plus  praejudicii  certe  habet.  Itaque  ad  opiniones 
non  secundum  genus  et  in  communi,  sed  singulas  accedemus. 

1  nobilitatem  in  the  original.  A  similar  mistake  occurs  at  the  end  of  the  Thema 
Cceli;  which  Mr.  Ellis  was  the  first  to  observe.—/.  S. 

2  Lucret.  iii.  518. 


94 


DE  PRINC1PIIS  ATQUE  0RIG1NIBUS, 


Itaque  ex  iis  qui  plura  principia  dixerunt,  separabimus  eos 
qui  infinita  asserunt.  Ille  enim  locus  de  infinite  ad  parabolam 
Coeli  pertlnet.  Yerum  ex  antlquis  Parmenides  duo  rerum 
principia,  ignem  et  terram,  dixit,  sive  coelum  et  terrain.1  Solem 
enim  et  sidera  verum  ignem  esse  asseruit,  eumque  purum  et 
limpidum 2,  non  degenerem,  qualis  apud  nos  est  ignis,  qui  tan- 
quam  Yulcanus  in  terram  dejectus  ex  casu  claudicat.  Parme- 
nidis  vero  placita  instauravit  seculo  nostro  Telesius,  vir  peripa- 
teticis  rationibus  (si  aliquid  ill®  essent)  potens  et  instructus, 
quas  etiam  in  illos  ipsos  vertit ;  sed  affirmando  impeditus,  et 
destruendo  quam  astruendo  melior.  Ipsius  vero  Parmenidis 
inventorum  parca  admodum  et  perexilis  memoria.  Attamen 
fundamenta  similis  opinionis  plane  jacta  videntur  in  libro  quern 
Plutarchus  de  primo  frigido  conscripsit ;  qui  tractatus  vide- 
tur  ex  aliquo  tractatu  antiquo,  qui  tunc  temporis  exstabat,  jam 
periit,  descriptus  et  desumptus.  Habet  enim  non  pauca  et 
acutiora  et  firmiora,  quam  solent  esse  autboris  ipsius  qui  ea 
vulgavit ;  a  quibus  monitus  atque  excitatus  videtur  Telesius, 
ut  ea  et  studiose  arriperet  et  strenue  persequeretur  in  suis  de 
Natura  Rerum  commentariis.  Placita  autem  hujus  sect®  sunt 
hujusmodi.  Primas  formas  ac  prima  entia  activa,  atque  adeo 
primas  substantias,  calorem  et  frigus  esse 3 ;  eadem  nihilominus 
incorporea  existere  ;  sed  subesse  materiam  passivam  et  poten- 
tialem,  quae  corpoream  molem  praebeat,.  atque  sit  utriusque 
n  a  turn  ex  aequo  susceptiva,  ipsa  omnis  actionis  expers.4  Lucem 
pullulationem  caloris  esse  5,  sed  caloris  dissipati,  qui  coeundo 
multiplicatus,  fit 6  robustus  et  sensibilis.7  Opacitatem  similiter 
destitutionem  et  confusionem  naturae  radiantis  ex  frigore.8 


1  This  opinion,  or  something  analogous  to  it,  was  held  by  many  of  the  older  phy¬ 
sicists.  (See  Karsten’s  Parmenides,  p.  230.)  Beside  those  whom  Karsten  mentions, 
we  know  that  Hippo  Rheginus  is  said  to  have  made  fire  and  earth,  or  heat  and  cold, 
his  first  principles.  (See  Pseudo-Origen.  Philosoph.  c.  16.) 

2  Stobaeus,  Eclog.  Phys.  i.  23. 

8  “Patet  calorem  et  frigus  agentia  rerum  omnium  principia  esse.” — De  Rer.  Nat.  i.  3. 

4  “  Calorem  frigusque  incorporeum  esse:  rerum  omnium  principia  tria  esse,  agentes 
naturas  duas  incorporeas  et  qua;  illas  suscipit  corpoream  unam,  et  omnis  ipsam  actionis 
omnisque  expertam  esse  operationis.” — lb.  i.  4. 

“  Materia  aeque  ad  calorem  ac  ad  frigus  suscipiendum  apta  facta  est.” — lb.  1.  c. 

‘  “  Candor  .  .  .  nequaquam  res  a  calore  sejuncta,  et  alius  a  calore,  sed  si  non  calor 
ipse  ipsius  certe  species  et  veluti  facies  est.” —  lb.  i.  1. 

*  sit  in  orig. 

7  “  Patet  ....  albedlnem  nec  earn  modo  quse  ....  quod  sese  assidue  am- 
plificat,  et  quaquaversus  efi'undit  ....  per  se  visilis  est,  et  lux  dicitur,  sed  quae 
veluti  torpet  .  .  .  .  et  non  lux  sed  albedo  dicitur  ...  a  solis  calore  in  quibus 
spectatur  rebus  omnibus  inditam,  illiusque  speciem  et  veluti  faciem  esse.” — lb.  i.  2. 

8  The  opposite  to  albedo,  of  which  light  is  the  concentration,  is  nigredo,  and  this 
is  not  ascribed  by  Telesius  to  cold,  but  to  matter.  “  Nigredo  omnino  .  .  .  cum 


SEC.  FAB.  CUPIDINIS  ET  CCELI. 


95 


Rarum  et  Densum  caloris  et  frigoris  texturas  et  veluti  telas 
esse ;  calorem  vero  et  frigus  eorum  effectores  et  opifices,  den- 
sante  opus  frigore  et  inspissante,  divellente  auteir  '■alore  et  ex- 
tendente.1  Ex  ejusmodi  texturis  indi  corporibus  dispositionem 
erga  motum,  vel  habilem  vel  aversam,  Haris  videlicet  promptam 
et  habilem,  Densis  torpescentem  et  aversam.  Itaque  calorem 
per  tenue  motum  excitare  et  peragere,  frigus  per  densum  motum 
compescere  et  sedare.  Quare  esse  et  poni  quatuor  naturas 
coessentiales  atque  conjugatas,  easque  duplices,  ordinem  eum 
quern  diximus  ad  invicem  servantes  (fons  enim  calor  et  frigus, 
caeterae  emanationes) ;  sed  tamen  perpetuo  concomitantes  et 
inseparabiles.  Eas  esse,  Calidum,  Lucidum,  Rarum,  Mobile. 
Et  quatuor  rursus  his  oppositas,  Frigidum,  Opacum,  Densum, 
Immobile.  Sedes  vero  et  contignationes  primaa  conjugationis,  in 
caelo,  sideribus,  ac  praecipue  in  sole  statui ;  secundaa  in  terra.2 
Coelum  enim  e  summo  integroque  calore  et  materia  maxime  ex- 
plicata  esse  calidissimum,  lucidissimum,  tenuissimum,  maxime 
mobile.  Terram  contra,  ex  frigore  integro  et  irrefracto  et 
materia  maxime  eontracta,  frigidissimam,  tenebricosissimam, 
densissimam,  penitus  immobilem,  ac  summopere  motum  exhor- 
rentem.3  Summitates  vero  cceli  naturam  suam  integram  atque 
illaesam  servare,  diversitatem  nonnullam  inter  se  admittentes, 
sed  a  contrarii  violentia  et  insultu  penitus  semotas  4 :  similem 


.  .  .  calori  quod  albus  sui  natura  visus  sit  assiguari  nequeat,  minus  etiam  frigori, 
quod  iis  plerumque  inest  entibus  quae  bene  calida  sunt,  superest  ut  materiae  assignanda 
sit.” — De  Rerum  Nat.  i.  4.  Bacon’s  tendency  throughout  is  to  make  the  antagonism 
of  heat  and  cold  more  symmetrical  than  it  is  with  Telesius,  who  retains  something  of 
the  Parmenidean  view,  in  which  heat  is  the  active  principle,  and  cold  in  a  manner 
passive,  —  the  relation  between  them  being  symbolised  by  that  of  the  sexes. 

1  “  Calor  quivis  .  .  .  qua1  corripit  exuperatque  immutare  videtur,  frigus  scilicet 
ex  iis,  ejusque  facultates  conditionesque  omnes  crassitiem,  obscuritatem,  immobili- 
tatem  deturbare, -et  se  ipsum  iis  propriasque  facultates  conditionesque  omnes  —  tenui- 
tatem  albedinem  et  mobilitatem  indere.” — lb.  i.  1.  But  although  Telesius  asserts 
“  calorem  unius  modo  tenuitatis  opificium  esse,”  —  meaning  that  it  produces  “  crassi- 
ties  ”  only  per  accidens,  yet  he  nowhere  says,  I  think,  that  “  mobilitas  ”  is  the  result 
of  tenuity  and  not  the  direct  efiect  of  the  action  of  heat.  (See  De  Rer.  Nat.  i.  7.) 
On  the  contrary,  he  says,  “  Calorem  sui  natura  mobilem,  frigus  contra  immobile  esse 
and  again,  that  “  agentes  operantesque  naturae,  calor  nimirum  frigusque  moli  cul 
sese  indunt,  unum  prorsus  Aunt.” —  lb.  1.  2. 

2  “  Liceat  .  .  .  uno  in  sole  et  Stellas  reliquas  et  universum  intueri  coelum." —  lb. 

i.  11.  “  Omnino  calidus  tenuis  candidus  mobilisque  est  sol.” — lb.  i.  1.  “Nec  vero 

sol  modo,  sed  et  stellse  reliquas  omnes  et  coelum  itidem  universum  .  .  .  ab  eadem 
qua  Sol  natura  et  a  calore  omnino  constitutum  videtur.” — lb.  i.  S. 

“  Terra  contra  frigida,  crassa,  immobilis,  tenebricosaque.” —  lb.  i.  1. 

5  “  Sol,  coelumque  universum  .  .  .  propterea  perpetuo  circumvolvitur,  quod  lpsius 
opifex  calor  circulari  assidue  commotus  motu,  molem  cui  penitus  infixus  est  .  .  . 
secum  agiL  Sic  itidem  et  Terra  immobilis  in  sublimi  permanet  .  .  .  quod  frigus 
a  quo  constituta  est  .  .  ,  nullo  moveri  potest  motu.” — lb.  i.  2. 

4  “  Sol  modo  terraque  .  .  nec  fieri  unquam  nec  unquam  immutari,  entia  vero 
reliqua  assidue  fieri  assidueque  immutari  corrumpique  videntur.  Patet  entia  reliqua 


96 


DE  PRINC1PIIS  ATQUE  ORIGINIBUS, 


per  ima  sive  intinia  terra  constantiam  esse;  extrema  tantum, 
ubi  contrariorum  sit  appropinquatio  et  concursus,  laborare,  et 
ab  invicem  pati  et  oppugnari.  Coelum  itaque  tota  mole  et  sub¬ 
stantia  calidum,  et  omnis  contraries  naturae  prorsus  expers,  sed 
inaqualiter ;  aliis  partibus  scilicet  magis  calidum,  aliis  minus. 
Stellarum  enim  corpus  intensius  calidum,  interstellare  remissius ; 
quin  et1  stellis  ipsis  alias  aliis  ardentiores,  et  ignis  magis  vividi  et 
vibrantis :  ita  tamen  ut  contraria  natura  frigoris,  aut  aliquis  ejus 
gradus,  nunquam  eo  penetret;  recipere  enim  diversitatem  na¬ 
tura,  contrarietatem  non  recipere.2  Neque  vero  de  calore  aut 
igne  coelestium,  qui  est  integer  et  nativus,  ex  igne  communi 
judicium  omnino  fieri.  Ignem  enim  nostrum  extra  locum  suum, 
trepidum,  contrariis  circumfusum,  indigum,  et  stipem  alimenti, 
ut  conservetur,  emendicantem,  et  fugientem  3 ;  at  in  coelo  vero 
locatum,  ab  impetu  alicujus  contrarii  disjunctum,  constantem, 
ex  se  et  similibus  conservatum,  et  proprias  operationes  libere  et 
absque  molestia  peragentem.  Item  coelum  omni  parte  lucidum, 
sed  secundum  magis  et  minus.  Cum  enim  sint  ex  stellis  notis 
et  numeratis  qua  nisi  coelo  sereno  conspici  non  possint,  atque 
in  galaxia  sint  nodi  minutarum  stellarum  qua  albedinem  quun- 
dam  conjuncta,  non  corpus  lucidum  distincta  reprasentent ; 
nemini  dubium  esse  posse,  quin  et  sint  stella  complures  quoad 
nos  invisibiles  ;  atque  adeo  universum  coeli  corpus  luce  pradi- 
tum  sit,  licet  fulgore  non  tam  robusto  et  vibrante,  nec  radiis  tarn 
confertis  et  constipatis,  ut  tanta  spatia  distantiarum  vincere 
queat,  et  ad  nostrum  aspectum  pervenire.4  Ita  rursus  coelum 
universum  ex  substantia  tenui  et  rara,  nil  in  ea  contrusum,  nil 
illibenter  compactum,  sed  tamen  alia  parte  materiam  magis  ex- 

omnia  a  sole  terram  oppugnante  invertenteque  (repugnante  et  contra  agente  terra) 
effecta  e9se.” — De  Rer.  Nat  1.  11. 

1  So  in  the  original.  We  should  apparently  read  ex  for  et. —  J.  S. 

2  “  Una  terra  excepta,  reliquorum  entium  nullum  prorsus  a  frigore,  sed  ...  a 
calore  constituta  sunt  omnia.  .  ,  .  Non  sensus  modd,  ratio,  omnium  fere  veterum 
physicorum  consensus,  sed  divinse  etiam  liters  coelum  calidum  testantur.  .  .  Nullum 
porro,  nec  infima  nec  suprema  coeli  portio  ad  nos  calorem,  nullamque  emittere  videtur 
lucem,  quod  in  longe  utraque  tenuissima  perexilis  inest  calor.” — De  Rer.  Nat.  i.  3. 

8  “  Flammas,  quae  nutrimento  absumpto  perierunt,  in  non  ens  abiisse  existimare 
non  contingit,  in  summam  proindeque  et  invisilem  tenuitatem  actas,  et  ab  insidente 
calore  sursum  elatas  esse,  existimandum  est.” — lb.  L  1. 

4  “  Eadem  illius  (solis)  stellarumque  et  coeli.  universi  natura  conditiones  reliquae 
omnes,  at  (the  text  is  aut)  hujus  vires,  conditionesque  reliquae,  multae  robustiores 
nobisque  manifestioresque  sunt.” —  lb.  i.  11.  “  Lactea  .  .  via  .  .  quin  coeli 

portio  sit  paululo  quid  quam  reliquum  est  magis  conspissata  et  propterea  splendidior 
facta  nulli  dubium  esse  potest.” — lb.  i.  3.  Observe  that  nothing  is  said  of  stars  in 
the  Milky  Way.  “  Ab  ipsis  (supremis  et  inflmis  cceli  portionibus)  lucem  quandam 
emanare,  et  qua:  .  .  .  quibusdam  animalium  generibus  percipiatur,  quae  longissima 
noctu  conficiunt  itinera  declarant." —  lb.  1.  c. 


SEC.  FAB.  CUPIDINIS  ET  CCELL 


97 


plicatam,  alia  minus  explicatam  sortiri.1  Postremo,  motum 
coeli  eum  inveniri  qui  rei  maxime  mobili  competat,  conversionis 
nimirum  sive  rotationis.  Motus  enim  circularis  absque  termino 
est,  et  sui  gratia.  Motus  in  linea  recta,  ad  terminum  et  ad 
aliquid,  et  tanquam  ut  quiescat.2  Itaque  universum  coelum 
motu  circulari  ferri,  nec  ullam  ejus  partem  hujus  motus  exper- 
tem  esse ;  sed  tamen  quemadmodum  et  in  calore  et  in  luce  et 
raritate  coeli  versatur  inaequalitas,  ita  et  in  motu  eandem  notari; 
adeoque  magis  insigniter,  quia  observationem  humanam  magis 
lacessit  et  sustinet,  ut  etiam  calculos  pati  possit.3  Motum  autem 
orbicularem  et  incitatione  differ  re  posse  et  latione ;  incitatione  *, 
ut  sit  celerior  aut  tardior ;  latione,  ut  sit  in  circulo  perfecto, 
aut  aliquid  habeat  spira:  neque  se  plane  restituat  ad  eundem 
terminum  (nam  linea  spiralis  ex  circulo  et  recta  composita  est). 
Itaque  hsec  ipsa  coelo  accidere,  varietatem  nempe  incitationis,  et 
deflexionem  a  restitutione,  sive  spiralitatem.5  Nam  et  s  tel  I  as 
inerrantes  et  pianette  impariter  properant ;  et  planetae  evidenter 
a  tropico  in  tropicum  deflectunt;  atque  quo  sublimiora  coelestia 
sunt,  eo  et  majorem  incitationem  sortiuDtur,  et  propiorem  spiram. 
Nam  si  phamomena  simpliciter  atque  ut  conspiciuntur  accipi- 
antur,  et  ponatur  motus  diurnus  unus  naturalis  et  simplex  in 
coelestibus,  et  formositas  ilia  mathematica  (ut  motus  reducantur 
ad  circulos  perfectos)  contemnatur,  et  recipiantur  line®  spirales, 
et  contrarietates  illse  motuum  in  consecutione  ab  oriente  in  oc~ 
cidentem  (quern  vocant  primi  mobilis),  et  rursus  ab  occidente  in 
orientem  (quem  vocant  motum  proprium  planetarum)  redigan- 
tur  in  unum,  salvando  differentiam  temporis  in  restitutione  per 
prasfestinationem  et  derelictionem,  et  diversam  politatem  zodiaci 
per  spiras ;  manifestum  est,  hoc  quod  diximus  evenire :  exem- 

1  “  Summa  universum  (coelum)  tenuitate  summaque  donatum  esse  albedine,  lux 
.  .  .  manifeste  declarat.” —  De  Her.  Nat.  i.  3. 

2  Telesius  gives  no  other  reason  than  the  following.  “  Sol,  coelumque  universum 
propterea  perpetuo  circumvolvitur,  quod  ipsius  opifex  calor  circulari  assidue  commotus 
motu  molem  cui  penitus  infixus  est  .  .  secum  agit.” — lb.  i.  2.  The  motions  of  the 
heavens  and  their  construction  he  afterwards  seeks  to  explain  on  teleological  .grounds 
which  Bacon  does  not  notice,  but  which  are  a  prominent  part  of  Telesius’s  system. 
See  De  Her.  Nat  A.  9.  10.,  and  comp,  the  physiological  speculations  in  the  sixth  book. 

3  Telesius  does  not  attempt  to  connect  the  inequality  of  heat  with  that  of  motion, 
declaring — “non  modum,  quo  qualis  est,  const ructus  sit  mundus,  sed  cur  ita  con- 
struendus  fuerit,  et  cur  quibus  coelum  movetur  motibus  iis  moveri  oportuerit,  in¬ 
quirendum  esse.” — lb.  i.  9. 

*  In  the  original  et  is  repeated  before  incitatione.  —  J.  S. 

3  Telesius  says  that  the  special  hypotheses  of  astronomy  are  foreign  to  his  purpose; 
his  leaning  is  however  in  favour  of  the  doctrine  here  ascribed  to  him,  and  which  we 
know  from  Tassoni  was  adopted  by  his  disciples.  See  the  preface  to  the  Descriptio 
Globi  Intellect,  and  De  Her.  Nat.,  ubi  modo. 


98 


DE  PRINCIPI1S  ATQUE  ORIGINIBUS, 


pli  gratia,  ut  luna,  qute  est  planetarum  infima,  incedat  et  tar- 
dissime  et  per  spiras  maxime  raras  et  hiantes.  Atque  talis 
quaedam  natura  portionis  illius  coeli  quae  fit  (propter  distantiam 
a  contrario)  firma  et  perpetua,  huic  sectae  videri  possit.  Utrum 
vero  veteres  terminos  servant  Telesius,  ut  talia  esse  putaret 
quaecunque  supra  lunam  collocantur,  cum  luna  ipsa,  an  altius 
vim  inimicam  adscendere  posse,  perspicue  non  ponit.  At 
terrae  (quae  est  oppositas  naturae  contignatio  et  sedes)  por- 
tionem  itidem  maximam  intemeratam  et  inconcussam  statuit, 
et  quo  ccelestia  non  penetrent.  Earn 1  vero  qualis  sit,  non  esse 
cur  inquiratur,  ait.  Sat  esse  ut  quatuor  illis  naturis,  frigidi- 
tate,  opacitate,  densitate,  et  quiete,  iisque  absolutis  et  nullate- 
nus  imminutis,  dotata  judicetur.  Partem  autem  terrae  versus 
superficiem  ejus,  veluti  quendam  corticem  aut  incrustationem, 
generationi  rerum  assignat 2 ;  omniaque  entia  quae  nobis  quovis 
modo  innotuerunt,  etiam  ponderosissima,  durissima,  et  altissime 
demersa,  metalla,  lapides,  mare,  ex  terra  per  calorem  coeli  aliqua 
ex  parte  versa  et  subacta,  et  quae  nonnihil  caloris,  radiationis, 
tenuitatis,  et  mobilitatis  jam  conceperit,  et  denique  ex  media 
inter  solem  et  terram  puram  natura  participet,  consistere.3 
Itaque  necesse  est,  ut  terra  ilia  pura  infra  profundissima  maris, 
minerarum 4,  et  omnis  generati  deprimatur ;  et  a  terra  ilia  pura 
usque  ad  lunam,  aut  altiora  fortasse,  media  quaedam  natura 
ex  temperamentis  et  refractionibus  coeli  et  terrae  collocetur. 
Postquam  autem  interiora  utriusque  regni  satis  muniisset, 
expeditionem  et  bellum  molitur.  Nam  in  spatiis  illis  intra 
extima  coeli  et  intima  terrae,  omnem  tumultum  et  conflictum 
et  tartarismum  inveniri,  ut  fit  in  imperiis,  in  quibus  illud 
usuvenit,  ut  fines  incursionibus  et  violentiis  infestentur,  dum 
interiores  provinciae  secura  pace  fruuntur.  Has  itaque  naturas 
et  earum  concretiones,  sese  assidue  generandi  et  multiplicandi 
et  quaquaversus  offundendi,  et  molem  materiae  universam  oc- 
cupandi,  et  sese  mutuo  oppugnandi  et  invadendi,  et  propriis 

1  So  in  the  original  ;  a  mistake  apparently  for  ea.  — J.  S. 

2  “  Extrema  tantum  utriusque  (coeli  et  terrse)  portio  (siquidem  et  extremi  hujus  coeli 
pars  ulla  in  aliud  unquam  agitur  ens)  in  entia,  in  quae  assidue  agi  videtur,  immutarl 
possit :  reliqua  utriusque  moles  in  propria  servari  queat  natura." — De  Rer.  Nat.  i.  10. 

3  “  Non  perpetuo  agit  Sol,  sed  agere  interdum  cessat,  et  dum  agit  non  iisdem  per- 
petuo  sed  aliis  atque  aliis  agit  viribus :  .  .  .  non  quotidiano  tantum  .  .  .  agit 
calore.  .  .  ,  sed  eo  insuper  .  .  .  quem  jam  diu  terris  indidit  atque  indit  .... 
Robustior  factus  sobs  calor,  strenue  supremam  terrae  portionem  emollit  laxatque,  et 

strenue  pra?existentem  ei  calorem  fovet . materiam  n actus  longe  minus 

repugnantem." — lb.  i.  13. 

*  mineranem  in  the  original.  —  J.  S. 


SEC.  FAB.  CUPIDINIS  ET  CCELL 


9y 

se  sedibua  deturbandi  et  ejiciendi,  et  sese  in  iis  constituendi, 
praeterea  et  alterius  naturae  vim  et  actiones,  et  proprias  etiam, 
percipiendi  et  prehendendi,  et  ex  hujusmodi  perceptione  se 
movendi  et  accommodandi,  appetitum  et  facultatem  habere ; 
atque  ex  ista  decertatione,  omnium  entium  atque  omnis  actionis 
et  virtutis  varietatem  deduci.1  Videtur  tamen  alicubi,  licet 
titubanter  et  strictim,  aliquid  dotis  materia;  impertiri ;  primo 
ut  non  augeatur  nee  minuatur  per  formas  et  activa  entia,  sed 
summa  universali  constet2 :  deinde  ut  motus  gravitatis  sive 
descensus  ad  illam  referatur3;  etiam  quiddam  de  nigredine 
materia  injicit.4  Illud  autem  perspicue;  calorem  et  frigus 
eadem  vi  et  copia,  in  materia  explicata  vires  remittere,  in 
complicata  intendere,  cum  mensuram  non  suam  sed  materia 
impleant.5  Modum  vero  excogitat  atque  explicat  Telesius, 
quo  ex  hoc  certamine  et  lucta  induci  atque  expediri  possit  tarn 
foecunda  et  multiplex  entium  generatio.  Ac  primo  cavet  terra, 
inferiori  scilicet  principio,  ac  ostendit  quid  in  causa  sit  cur  a 
sole  terra  jampridem  destructa  et  absorpta  non  sit,  nec  in 
futurum  esse  possit.6  Caput  buic  rei  distantiam  ponit  terra  a 
stellis  Axis  immensam,  a  sole  ipso,  satis  magnam,  et  qualis  esse 
debeat,  bene  mensuratam.  Secundo,  declinationem  radiorum 
sobs  a  perpendiculo,  babito  respectu  ad  partes  terra  diversas ; 
quod  videlicet  supra  majorem  partem  terra  sol  nunquam  sit 
in  vertice,  aut  incidentia  radiorum  perpendicularis ;  adeo  ut 

1  “A  sole  porro  terrain  oppugnante,  ej usque  naturam  et  conditiones  reliquas  detur- 
bante,  suasque  indente,  tot  interea  adeoque  diversa  constituuntur  entia  :  .  .  .  Solia 
temeque  vires  longe  amplissim®  sunt  .  .  .  et  dum  alter®  alteras  oppugnant  et  ad 
Internecionem  agunt,  nequaquam  stertunt  nihilque  contra  agunt  alter®,  sed  strenucS 
repugnant,  et  dum  non  penitus  pereunt  contrarias  et  ips®  oppugnant  obheduntque  et 
imminuunt.” — De  Rer.  Nat.  i.  14. 

‘  “  Materi®  molem  neque  minui  neque  auger!  unquam.’’ — lb.  1.  5. 

8  “Communis  ipsorum  omnium  (erassiorum  entium)  delapsus  .  .  .  moli  as- 
signandus  est.” — lb.  i.  4.  The  reason  being,  that  it  cannot  be  assigned  to  heat  which 
tends  upwards,  nor  to  cold  which  tends  to  immobility. 

4  See  above,  p.  94.  n.  8.  [The  original  has  ingrcdine. — J.  S.] 

8  “  Quam  .  .  .  molis  portionem  sortitus  est  calor  penitus  illam  is  subiit  universam. 
.  .  .  Calori  frigorique  illam  ut  libet  efflngendi  disponendique,  non  et  efficiendi  et 
veluti  novam  creandi,  donata  est  vis.” — -lb.  i.  5. 

*  The  tenth  chapter  of  Telesius’s  first  book  is  teleological.  “  Summa  Dei  bonitas 
.  .  .  ens  nullum  .  .  .  perdi  velit.”  For  the  preservation  of  the  universe  and  the 
balance  of  heat  and  cold,  the  earth  is  put  in  the  middle  point  of  the  heavens.  The 
heavens  and  the  earth  are  both  spherical — the  former  according  to  the  free  and 
uniform  motion  of  the  different  orbs,  and  the  latter  that  half  of  it  may  always  be 
exposed  to  the  sun’s  influence.  If  the  earth  were  larger  and  not  in  the  centre  of  the 
universe,  the  power  of  cold  would  predominate  and  destroy  the  lower  part  of  heaven. 
For  the  security  of  the  earth,  —  the  density  and  heat  of  the  heavens  are  not  uniform, 
and  both  sun  and  stars  are  at  a  great  distance ;  and  the  oblique  and  unequal  motion 
of  the  sun  prevents  his  remaining  too  long  over  any  part  of  the  earth’s  surface.  All 
this  agrees  tolerably  well  with  Bacon's  account  of  it,  but  to  his  fifth  reason  I  do  not 
find  anything  corresponding  in  the  text. 


Bacon  III 


100 


DE  PRINCIPIIS  ATQUE  ORIGIN1BUS, 


universum  terra  globum  vigore  aliquo  caloris  notabili  nunquam 
occupet.  Tertio,  obliquitatem  motus  solis  in  transcursu  per 
zodiacum,  habito  respectu  ad  easdem  terra  partes;  unde  calor 
solis  in  qualicunque  vigore  non  assiduo  ingeminatur,  sed  per 
intervalla  majora  redit.  Quarto,  celeritatem  solis  respectu 
motus  diurni,  qui  tantum  ambitum  tam  exiguo  temporis  spatio 
conficit ;  unde  minor  mora  caloris,  neque  momentum  aliquod 
temporis  in  quo  calor  constet.  Quinto,  continuationem  cor- 
porum  inter  solem  et  terram,  quod  sol  non  per  vacuum  integras 
caloris  demittat  vires,  sed  per  tot  corpora  renitentia  perme- 
ans,  et  cum  singulis  satagens  et  dimicans,  in  immensum  lan- 
gueat  et  enervetur ;  tanto  magis  quod  quo  longius  procedat 
atque  debilior  evadat,  eo  corpora  inveniat  magis  inobsequentia  ; 
maxime  omnium,  postquam  ad  terra  superficiem  ventum  est, 
ubi  videtur  non  solum  renitentia,  sed  plane  quadam  repulsio. 
Processum  vero  immutationis  talem  asserit.  Bellum  plane 
inexpiabile  atque  internecivum  esse ;  neque  contrarias  istas 
naturas  ullo  symbolo  convenire,  neque  per  tertiam,  prater- 
quam  hylen.  Itaque  utramque  naturam  hoe-ipsum  appetere, 
niti,  contendere,  ut  alteram  plane  perdat,  seque  solam  et  suam 
materia  indat ;  ut  sit  solis  opus  (quod  perspicue  et  sape  dicit) 
plane  terram  vertere  in  solem ;  et  vicissim  opus  terra,  solem 
vertere  in  terram1 ;  neque  hoc.officere  quin  omnia  certo  ordi- 
ne,  definitis  temporibus,  et  justis  mensuris  fiant ;  atque  actio 
quaque  cursu  debito  incipiat,  moliatur,  vigeat,  langueat, 
cesset.  Quod  tamen  per  leges  foederis  aut  concordia  ullas 
non  fieri,  sed  omnino  per  impotentiam:  omne  enim  plus  et 
minus  in  virtute  et  actione,  non  ab  intensionis  moderamine 
(qua  integrum  quiddam  concupiscit),  sed  ab  opposita  natura 
ictu  et  frano  esse.  Operationis  diversitatem  et  multiplicitatem 
atque  etiam  perplexitatem  omnino  propter  unum  ex  tribus 
istis  evenire ;  vim  caloris,  dispositionem  materia,  modum  sub- 
actionis ;  qua  tamen  tria  nexu  quodam  inter  se  implicantur, 
atque  sibi  ipsis  concausa  sunt.  Calorem  ipsum,  vi,  copia, 
mora,  medio,  succession  e  diflPerre :  successionem  vero  ipsam 
in  plurimis  variari ;  accedentia,  recedentia ;  sive  intensione,  re- 
missione ;  saltu,  gradu,  reditu ;  sive  repetitione  per  majora  aut 

1  14  Calorem  in  terram  sol  emittens  .  .  .  quas  cyus  portiones  exuperat,  .  .  . 
ipsum  .  .  .  in  ignem,  ipsum  scilicet  in  eoelum,  solemque  agit  in  ipsum.  ...  Si 
integrum,  robustumque,  et  diuturnum  adsit  frigus,  quae  corripit .  .  ,  ipsam  in  terram 
ea  acturum  sit  omnia.”  —  De  Rer.  Nat.  i.  1. 


SEC.  FAB.  CUPIDINIS  ET  CCELl. 


101 


minora  intervalla ;  atque  hujusmodi  alterationibus.  Calores 
itaque  prorsus  vi  et  natura  longe  diversissimos  esse,  prout 
puriores  vel  impuriores,  habita  ratione  ad  primum  fontem 
(solem  videlicet),  fact!  sint.  Neque  calorem  omnem  calorem 
fovere;  sed  postquam  gradibus  bene  multis  ad  invicem  distent, 
se  mutuo  non  minus  quam  frigora  perimere  ac  perdere,  et 
proprias  actiones  agere,  et  alterius  actionibus  adversari  atque 
opponi ;  ut  minores  calores  ad  multo  majores  constituat  Telesius 
tanquam  proditores  et  perfugas,  et  cum  frigore  conspirantes.1 
Itaque  vividum  ilium  calorem  qui  in  igne  est  et  vibratur, 
exilem  ilium  calorem  qui  in  aqua  serpit  omnino  interimere ; 
atque  similiter  calorem  praeternaturalem  humorum  putridorum, 
in  corpore  humano,  calorem  naturalem  suffocare  et  exstin- 
guere.  Copiam  vero  caloris  plurimum  interesse,  manifestius 
esse  quam  ut  explicatione  egeat.  Neque  enim  unam  aut  al¬ 
teram  ignis  prunam  seque  vebementer  ac  multas  coacervatas 
calefacere  ;  maxime  autem  insigniter  copiae  caloris  effectum 
demonstrari  in  multiplicatione  caloris  solis,  per  reflexionem 
radiorum  ;  numerus  enim  radiorum  conduplicatur  per  reflexio¬ 
nem  simplicem,  multiplicatur  per  variam.  Copias  caloris  vero 
debet  adscribi  vel  addi  et  unio,  quod  etiam  obliquitate  et 
perpend  iculo  radiorum  optime  ostenditur,  cum  quo  propius  et 
ad  acutiores  angulos  radius  directus  et  reflexus  coeat,  eo  va- 
lidiorem  caloris  ictum  jaciat.  Quin  et  sol  ipse,  cum  inter 
majores  illos  et  robustiores  stellarum  fixarum  ignes,  Regulum, 
Caniculum,  Spicam,  versatur,  valentiores  fervores  efflat.  Mo- 
ram  vero  caloris  evidentissime  maximi  moment!  operationem 
esse ;  cum  omnes  virtutes  naturales  tempora  colant,  observent ; 
ut  ad  vires  actuandas  tempus  requiratur  nonnullum,  ad  robo- 
randas  bene  multum.  Itaque  moram  caloris  calorem  ajqualem 
in  progressivam  et  insequalem  convertere,  quia  calor  et  ante- 
cedens  et  subsequens  simul  conjugantur;  id  et  in  fervoribus 
autumnalibus,  quia  fervoribus  solstitialibus,  et  in  boris  aestivis 
pomeridianis,  quia  horis  ipsis  meridianis  ardentiores  sentiuntur, 
manifestum  esse ;  etiam  in  frigidioribus  regionibus  debilitatem 
caloris,  mora  et  longitudine  dierum  aestivis  temporibus  quan- 
doque  compensari.  At  medii  potentiam  et  efficaciam  in  calore 


>  «  Quis  enim  calidorum  entium  longe  diversissimas  esse  vires,  et  calida  quae  sunt, 
sese  mutuo  aversari  aufugereque,  et  mutuo  sese  oppugnare  interimereque,  calores 
scilicet  diversis  donates  viribus,  sese  mutuo  oppugnare  corrumpereque  non  percipit  ?” 
—  De  Rer.  Nat.  i.  13. 


102 


DE  PRINCIPIIS  ATQUE  ORIGINIBUS, 


deferendo  insignem  esse.  Hinc  enim  tempestatum  temperiem 
magnopere  variam,  ut  coelum  indicibili  inconstantia  per  dies 
aestivos  algidum  nonnihil,  per  dies  hiemales  sudum  quandoque 
inveniatur;  sole  interim  iter  suum  et  spatia  sua  constanter 
et  legitime  servante.  Etiam  segetes  et  uvas  flantibus  austris  et 
ccelo  nubiloso  magis  mutari.  Atque  omnem  coeli  secundum 
varias  annorum  revolutiones  dispositionem  et  excretionem, 
aliquando  pestilentem  et  morbidam,  aliquando  salubrem  et 
amicam,  hinc  causam  et  originem  sumere ;  medio  scilicet  aere 
variante,  quae  dispositionem  ex  ipsa  vicissitudine  et  alteratione 
tempestatum  diversam,  longa  fortasse  serie,  colligit.  Succes- 
sionis  vero  caloris  atque  ordinis  quo  calor  calorem  consequitur, 
ut  multiplicem  rationem,  ita  summam  virtutem  esse.  Neque 
solem  tam  numerosam  et  prolificam  generationem  educere  po- 
tuisse,  nisi  corporis  solis  moventis  configuratio  versus  terram 
et  terrte  partes  plurimae  insequalitatis  et  variationis  particeps 
esset.  Nam  et  circulariter  movetur  sol,  et  rapide  et  ex  obliquo, 
et  se  retexit,  ut  et  absens  sit  et  praesens,  et  propior  et  remotior, 
et  magis  ex  perpendiculo  et  magis  ex  obliquo,  et  citius  rediens 
et  tardius,  neque  ullo  temporis  momento  calor  emanans  a  sole 
sibi  constet,  neque  brevi  intervallo  usquam  (nisi  sub  ipsis 
tropicis)  se  restituat;  ut  tanta  variatio  generantis  cum  tanta 
varietate  generati  optime  conveniat.  Cui  addi  posse  medii  sive 
vehiculi  naturam  diversissimam.  Caetera  quoque  quae  de  in- 
aequalitate  et  gradibus  caloris  unici  dicta  sunt,  posse  ad  vicis- 
situdines  et  varietates  successionis  in  caloribus  diversis  referri. 
Itaque  Aristotelem  non  male  generationem  et  corruptionem 
rerum  obliquae  vise  solis  attribuisse,  eamque  ut  efficientem 
causam  earum  constituisse1,  si  libidine  pronuntiandi  et  arbitrum 
naturae  se  gerendi,  et  res  ad  placitum  suum  distinguendi  et 
concinnandi,  recte  inventum  non  corrupisset.  Ilium  enim  et 
generationem  et  corruptionem  (quae  nunquam  prorsus  privativa, 
sed  generationis  alterius  praegnans  est) -inaequalitati  caloris  solis 
secundum  totum,  hoc  est,  accedentiae  et  recedentiae  solis  con- 
junctim,  non  generationem  accedentiae,  corruptionem  recedentiae 
divisim,  assignare  debuisse  ;  quod  pinguiter  et  ex  vulgi  fere 
judicio  fecit.2  Quod  si  cui  mirum  videatur,  generationem 

'  “  Efficientem  rerum  causam  .  .  .  perperam  (ab  Aristotele)  obliquaj  solis  lationl 
assignatam.  Obliqua  latio  non  aliud  agit  quiequam,  sed  tantum  ut  Sol  magis  mi- 
nusve  directus  fiat.” — De  Her.  Nat.  iv.  2. 

2  “  Solem  accedentem  generationis  causam  non  esse,  nec  recedentem  corruptionis 
ut  Aristoteli  placet.” 


SEC.  FAB.  OUPIDINIS  ET  CCELI. 


103 


rerum  soli  attribui ;  cum  sol  ignis  esse  asseratur  et  supponatur, 
ignis  autem  nil  generet;  id  leviter  objici.  Somnium  enim 
plane  esse  illud  de  heterogenia  calorum  solis  et  ignis.  Infinitas 
enim  esse  opevationes,  in  quibus  actio  solis  et  actio  ignis  con- 
veniant ;  ut  in  maturatione  fructuum,  conservatione  plantarum 
tenerarum  et  dementi®  cceli  assuetarum  in  regionibus  frigidis, 
exclusione  ovorum,  restitutione  urinarum  ad  claritatem  (calorem 
enim  solis  et  animalis  conjungimus),  resuscitatione  animalcu- 
lorum  frigore  obrigentium,  evocatione  rorum 1  et  vaporum,  et 
id  genus.2  Sed  nihilominus  ignem  nostrum  malum  minium 
esse,  nec  solid  actiones  bene  imitari '  aut  prope  attingere ;  cum 
6olis  calor  tribus  dotatus  sit  proprietatibus,  quas  ignis  com¬ 
munis  aegre  ullo  artificio  reprassentare  possit.3  Primo,  quod 
sit  ob  distantiam  gradu  ipso  minor  et  blandior;  hoc  vero 
ejusmodi  esse,  ut  aliquo  modo  aequiparari  possit;  caloris  enim 
tabs  modus  magis  incognitus  est  quam  imparabilis.  Secundo, 
quod  per  tot  et  talia  media  fluens  et  gliscens  dissimularem 
quandam  et  generativam  vim  mutuetur  et  obtineat;  maxime 
vero  quod  tarn  regulari  inajqualitate  augeatur,  minuatur,  acce- 
dat,  recedat,  nunquam  vero  subsultorie  aut  pracipitanter  sibi 
succedat.  Quae  duo  postrema  ab  igne  fere  sunt  inimitabilia, 
licet  industria  perspicaci  et  perpensa  res  provehi  possit.  Atque 
hujusmodi  quaedam  de  diversitate  calorum  a  Telesio  dicuntur. 

Frigidi  autem,  contrarii  nempe  principii,  atque  dispensatio¬ 
ns  ejus  vix  meminit4;  nisi  forte  quae  de  dispositione  materias 
jam  secundo  loco  dicentur,  ea  huic  rei  satisfacere  posse  puta- 
verit ;  quod  tamen  facere  non  debuit,  quandoquidem  frigus 
nullo  modo  privationem  caloris,  sed  omnino  principium  acti- 
vum,  caloris  semulum  et  tanquam  competitorem,  videri  voluit. 
Quae  autem  de  material  dispositione  disseruit,  eo  pertinent  ut 
ostendant  quomodo  materia  a  calore  patiatur  et  subigatur  et 
vertatur,  missa  frigoris  mentione  aut  cura.  De  frigore  autem 
(nos  enim  in  omnium  inventis  summa  cum  fide,  et  tanquam 

1  eorum  In  the  original.  —  J.  S. 

2  “  Igneum  calorem  ab  animalium  solisque  calore  diversum  non  esse.” — De  Rer. 
Nat.  vi.  20.  Telesiu9  gives  some  instances  in  proof  of  this  assertion :  Bacon’s  how¬ 
ever  are  for  the  most  part  his  own. 

3  “  Non  igitur  ad  animalium  plantarumque  generationem  ineptus  est  ignis,  quod 
ejus  calor  ab  animalium  et  a  coelesti  calore  diversu9  sit,  sed  quod  nimis  est  vehemens.” 
—  lb.  vi.  20. 

4  “  Nostrorum  entium  nullum  prorsus  a  frigore,  sed  eorum  quodvis  a  calore  consti- 
tutum  est,  et  vel  suprema  terrse  portio  incalidum  acta  est  ens.”  —  lb.  i  16.  ;  a  passage 
which  suggests  the  rdtnark  I  have  already  made,  that  Telesius  did  not  regard  heat  and 
cold  as  equally  active  principles.  Compare  ii.  23.  throughout. 


104 


DE  PR1NCIP1IS  ATQUE  ORIGINIBDS, 


faventes,  versamur)  hujusmodi  qutedam  dicere  potuit.  Sedem 
frigid!  immotam  et  fixam  ad  structuram  caloris  mobilem  et 
versatilem  optime  convenire ;  tanquam  incudem  ad  malleum. 
Nam  si  utrumque  principium  varietatem  et  alterationem  ha- 
buisset,  genuissent  proculdubio  entia  boraria  et  momentanea. 
Etiam  immensas  regiones  calidi  (ccelum  scilicet),  compacta 
natura  globi  terrse  et  circumjacentium  nonnihil  compensari ; 
cum  non  spatia,  sed  copia  materia  in  spatiis  spectetur  ;  frigidi 
vero  naturam,  virtutes,  et  rationes,  merito  aut  silentio  praeteriri 
aut  brevi  sermone  transmitti  debere,  cum  nil  certi  et  explorati 
de  eo  haberi  possit  per  experientiam.  Habemus  enim  ignem 
communem,  tanquam  solis  vicarium,  qui  caloris  naturam  mani- 
festet.  At  frigidi  telluris  nulla  est  substitutio,  qua  in  manu 
hominis  sit  et  adhibeatur  prasto  ad  experimentum.  Etenim 
illos  horrores  et  rigores  frigidi  qui  ex  globo  et  ambitu  terra 
hiemalibus  temporibus  et  in  regionibus  frigidissimis  exspirant, 
in  aerem,  tepores  plane  et  balnea  esse,  pra  natura  primi  fri¬ 
gidi  in  visceribus  terra  inclusi ;  ut  frigus  illud  cujus  homi¬ 
nes  sensum  et  potestatem  habeant,  simile  quiddam  sit,  ac  si 
calorem  nullum  alium  haberent,  prater  eum  qui  a  sole  asti- 
vis  diebus  et  in  calidis  regionibus  emanat ;  qui  ad  ignes  for- 
nacis  ardentis  collatus,  refrigerium  quoddam  censeri  possit. 
Sed  in  iis  qua  subdititia  sunt  minus  morandum.  Viden- 
dum  igitur  deinceps,  qualia  sint  ea  qua  a  Telesio  dicuntur 
circa  dispositionem  materia,  in  quam  calor  agat ;  cujus  ea 
est  vis,  ut  actionem  ipsam  caloris  promoveat,  impediat,  immu- 
tet.  Ejus  ratio  quadruplex.  Prima  differentia  sumitur  ex 
calore  prainexistente  aut  non  prainexistente.'  Secunda,  ex 
copia  aut  paucitate  materia.2  Tertia,  ex  gradibus  subactionis.3 
Quarta,  ex  clausura  vel  apertura  corporis  subacti.4  Quod  ad 
primam  attinet,  supponit  Telesius  in  omnibus  entibus  qua 
nobis  cognita  sunt  subesse  atque  latitare  calorem  nonnullum, 
licet  ad  tactum  minime  deprehendatur,  qui  calor  cum  novo  aut 
superveniente  calore  conjungitur ;  quin  et  ipse  ab  eodem  ad- 
ventitio  calore  ad  actiones  suas  peragendas  etiam  "in  proprio 
modulo  excitatur  atque  incenditur.  Hujus  rei  argumentum 
esse  insigne,  quod  nullum  scilicet  sit  ex  entibus,  non  metallum, 

1  See  above  [p.  98.  note  3.]. 

a  “  Materia  dispositiones  .  .  .  juxta  expansions  constrictionisque  diversitatem 
expendendas  esse.” — De  Rer.  Nat.  i.  19. 

3  lb.  1.  20.  passim. 

4  This  difference  is  not  stated  by  Telesius,  though  it  may  be  presumed  that  it  had 
occurred  to  him. 


SEC.  FAB.  CUPIDINIS  ET  CffiLI. 


105 


non  lapis,  non  aqua,  non  aer,  quod  non  ex  attactu  atque 
etiam  ab  admotione  ignis  aut  corporis  calidi  calescat.1  Quod 
factum  iri  verisimile  non  est,  nisi  calor  prseinexistens  et  latens 
prseparatio  quasdam  esset  ad  calorem  novum  et  manifestum. 
Etiam  illud  magis  et  minus,  nempe  facilitatem  aut  tarditatem 
in  calore  concipiendo,  quod  in  entibus  invenitur,  secundum 
modum  caloris  prasinexistentis  competere.  Aerem  enim  parvo 
calore  tepescere,  atque  eo  qui  in  corpore  aquaj  non  percipiatur 
sed  sensum  fugiat.  Etiam  aquam  citius  tepescere,  quam  lapi- 
dem  aut  metallum  aut  vitrum.  Nam  quod  aliquod  ex  istis, 
metallum  scilicet  aut  lapis,  citius  tepescere  videatur  quam 
aqua,  id  tantum  in  superficie  fieri,  non  in  profundo  ;  quia  cor¬ 
pora  consistentia  minus  communicabilia  sunt  in  partibus  suis, 
quam  liquida.  Itaque  extima  metalli  citius  calefieri  quam  ex- 
tima  aquae,  universam  autem  molem  tardius.  Secunda  differen¬ 
tia  ponitur  in  coacervatione  et  exporrectione  materiae.  Ea  si 
densa  fuerit,  fit  ut  caloris  vires  magis  uniantur,  et  per  unionem 
magis  augeantur  et  intendantur;  contra,  si  laxior  fuerit,  ut 
magis  disgregentur,  et  per  disgregationem  magis  minuantur  et 
enerventur.  Itaque  fortiorem  esse  calorem  metallorum  ignito- 
rum  quam  aquae  ferventis,  etiam  quam  flammae  ipsius,  nisi 
quod  flamma  per  tenuitatem  magis  subintret.  Nam  flammam 
carbonum  sive  lignorum,  nisi  flatu  excitetur,  ut  per  motum 
facilius  impellatur  et  penetret,  non  admodum  furere ;  quin  et 
nonnullas  flammas  (qualis  est  spiritus  vini  inflammati,  prae- 
sertim  in  exigua  quantitate  et  dispersa)  adeo  lenis  caloris  esse, 
ut  ad  manum  fere  toleretur.  Tertia  differentia,  quae  sumitur 
ex  subactione  materiae,  multiplex  est ;  gradus  enim  subactionis 
memorantur  ab  eo  quasi  septem 2 ;  quorum  primus  est  Lentor, 

1  The  notion  of  heat  latent  in  all  bodies,  inexistens  calor,  is  frequent  in  Telesius ; 
as  in  the  passage  quoted  above,  p.  98.,  from  the  thirteenth  chapter  of  the  first  book, 
and  as  in  the  nineteenth,  where  it  is  said,  “  Comprimendi  (calori)  nimirum  ut  cedant 

flectanturque  et  fluant . inexistens  praestat  calor  qui,  si  non  propria  vi, 

at  comprimentis  ope  usus,  iliam  commovet;”  where  illam,  I  believe,  refers  to  the 
words  “materiae  expansio,”  contained  in  the  clause  I  have  omitted.  But  I  have  not 
found  the  argument  by  which  Bacon  goes  on  to  support  this  doctrine,  which  would 
naturally  have  occurred  in  the  twenty-third  chapter  of  the  second  book,  in  which 
Telesius  seeks  to  show  that  all  the  elements  except  earth  bear  traces  of  having  been 
generated  by  heat. 

2  Only  six.  “  Insignes  crassitlei  ad  tenuitatem  progredientes  immutationes,  len- 
torem,  mollitiem,  viscositatem,  fluorem,  vaporem  esse.”  After  describing  these  five 
degrees,  Telesius  goes  on  at  once  to  say :  “  Sextum  verum  atque  extremum  (spatium 
occupat)  tenuitas,  qua;  scilicet  non  tactum  modo  sed  quantumvis  in  se  ipsa  coaeta 
visum  etiam,  quod  vapores  non  faciunt,  penitus  lateat  et  quantavis  facta  lucem  nihil 
imminuit  foedatve  usquam,  ut  a  vaporibus  sqjungenda  ideo  sit  et  ccelo  ex  universo 
inesse  videtur." — De  Rer.  Nat.  i.  20.  Whence  it  seems  that  air  is  included  among 
the  vapores. 


106 


DE  PRINC1PIIS  ATQUE  ORIGINIBUS, 


qui  est  dispositio  materias  exhibens  corpus  ad  majorem  vio- 
lentiam  nonnihil  obsequens,  et  compressionis  et  praecipue  ex- 
tensionis  patiens,  flexibile  1  denique  aut  ductile.  Secundus, 
Mollities,  cum  majore  violentia  nil  opus  est,  sed  corpus  etiam 
levi  impulsione  atque  ad  tactum  ipsum  sive  manum  cedit, 
absque  evident!  renitentia.  Tertia,  Yiscositas  sive  Tenacitas, 
quae  est  principium  quoddam  fluoris.  Videtur  enim  corpus 
viscosum  ad  contactum  et  complexum  alterius  corporis  incipere 
fluere  et  continuari,  nec  se  ipso  finiri,  licet  sponte  et  ex  sese 
non  fluat;  fluidum  enim  sui  sequax  est,  viscosum  alterius 
magis.  Quarta,  ipse  fluor,  cum  corpus  spiritus  interioris  par- 
ticeps  in  motu  versatur  libens,  et  seipsum  sequitur,  atque  asgre 
definitur  aut  consistit.  Quinta,  Vapor,  cum  corpus  attenuatur 
in  intactile,  quod  etiam  majore  cum  agilitate  et  mobilitate 
cedit,  fluit,  undulat,  trepidat.  Sexta,  Halitus,  qui  vapor  est 
quidam  magis  coctus  et  maturus,  et  ad  igneam  naturam  reci- 
piendam  subactus.  Septima,  aer  ipse ;  aerem  autem  contend  it 
Telesius  omnino  calore  nativo,  neque  eo  parvo  aut  impotenti, 
prseditum  esse ;  quod  etiam  in  frigidissimis  regionibus  aer 
nunquam  congelatur  aut  concrescit.  Etiam  illud  evidenti  in- 
dicio  esse,  aerem  in  natura  propria  calidum  esse,  quod  omnis 
aer  clausus,  et  ab  universitate  aeris  divulsus,  et  sibi  permissus, 
teporem  manifeste  colligit ;  ut  in  lana  et  rebus  fibrosis.  Etiam 
iu  locis  clausis  et  angustis,  aerem  ad  respirationem  sentiri 
quodam  modo  suffocativum,  quod  a  calido  est.  Atque  hagc 
propterea  fieri,  quod  aer  clausus  sua  natura  uti  incipiat,  cum 
aer  foras  et  sub  dio  refrigeretur  a  frigore,  quod  globus  terrsB 
perpetuo  emittit  et  efflat.  Quin  etiam  aerem  nostrum  commu- 
nem  tenui  quadam  coelestium  dote  insigniri,  cum  habeat  non¬ 
nihil  in  se  lucis ;  quod  ex  visu  animalium,  quae  noctu  et  in 
locis  obscuris  cernere  possunt,  ostenditur.2  Atque  talis  est 
Telesio  dispositionis  materiae  series,  in  mediis  videlicet ;  siqui- 
dem  extrema,  videlicet  ex  altera  parte  corpora  dura  et  rigida, 
ex  altera  ignis  ipse,  tanquam  termini  mediorum  non  recen- 

1  Jluxibile  in  the  original.  —  J.  S. 

3  That  certain  animals  can  see  at  night  is  with  Telesius  a  proof  that  the  ap¬ 
parently  obscure  parts  of  the  heavens  —  the  highest  and  lowest, — give  out  a  percep¬ 
tible  amount  of  light,  not  that  the  air  is  itself  luminous, —  unless  the  “inflma  eceli 
portio”  be  understood  to  mean  our  atmosphere.  (See  De  Rer.  Nat  i.  3.)  It  is  re¬ 
markable  that  Bacon  omits  Telesius’s  chief  argument  in  favour  of  the  opinion  that 
the  air  is  generated  by  and  contains  heat,  namely  that  it  partakes  in  some  measure 
of  the  circular  motion  which  the  heavens  derive  from  the  pure  and  effectual  heat  by 
which  they  are  constituted.  The  natural  motion  of  the  air  is  made  manifest  accord¬ 
ing  to  Telesius  by  the  sound  heard  when  a  shell  is  put  to  the  ear. 


SEC.  FAB.  CUPIDINIS  ET  C(ELI. 


107 


sentur.  Sed  praeter  hosce  gradus  simplices,  magnam  aucu- 
patur  diversitatem  in  dispositione  materise  ex  corpore  similari 
et  dissimilari ;  cum  scilicet  portiones  materias  in  uno  corpore 
compositse  et  coadunatae,  vel  ad  unum  ex  gradibus  supra-dictis 
aequaliter  referri  possunt,  vel  ad  diversa  impariter.1  Longe 
enim  maximam  inde  sequi  in  operatione  caloris  differentiam. 
Itaque  quartam  illam  differentiam  necessario  adhiberi  ex  na- 
tura  ac  etiam  positura  corporis  in  quod  calor  agat,  clausa, 
aut  porosa  et  aperta.  Quando  enim  in  aperta  et  exposita 
operatur  calor,  operatur  seriatim  et  per  singula,  attenuando 
et  simul  educendo  et  separando.  Cum  vero  in  occlusa  et  com- 
pacta,  operatur  secundum  totum  et  secundum  massam,  nulla 
facta  jactura  caloris,  sed  calore  novo  et  vetere  se  conjungentibus 
et  plane  conspirantibus ;  unde  fit  ut  potentiores  et  magis  intrin- 
secas  et  exquisitas  alterationes  et  subactiones  conficiat.  Verum 
de  hoc  plura  mox  dicentur,  cum  de  modo  subactionis  dissere- 
mus.  Sed  interim  satagit  et  aestuat  Telesius,  et  miris  modis 
implicatur 2 ,  ut  expediat  modum  divortii  et  separationis  qualita- 
tum  suarum  primarum  connaturalium,  caloris,  lucis,  tenuitatis, 
et  mobilitatis,  ac  quaternionis  opposite,  prout  corporibus  ac- 
cidunt :  cum  corpora  alia  inveniantur  calida,  aut  ad  calorem 
optime  prseparata,  sed  eadem  inveniantur  quoque  densa,  quieta, 
nigra ;  alia  tenuia,  mobilia,  lucida  sive  alba,  sed  tamen  frigida ; 
et  similiter  de  caeteris ;  una  quapiam  qualitate  in  rebus  ex- 
istente,  reliquis  non  competentibus ;  alia  vero  duabus  ex  istis 
naturis  participent,  duabus  contra  priventur,  varia  admodum 
permutatione  et  consortio.  Qua  in  parte  Telesius  non  ad¬ 
modum  feliciter  perfungitur,  sed  more  adversariorum  suorum 
ee  gerit;  qui  cum  prius  opinantur  quam  experiuntur,  ubi  ad 
res  particulares  ventum  est,  ingenio  et  rebus  abutuntur,  atque 
tarn  ingenium  quam  res  misere  lacerant  et  torquent ;  et  tamen 
alacres  et  (si  ipsis  credas)  victores  suo  sensu  utcunque  abun¬ 
dant.  Concludit  autem  rem  per  desperationem  et  votum,  illud 
significans,  licet  et  caloris  vis  et  copia,  et  materiae  dispositio, 
crasso  modo  et  secundum  summas  distingui  et  terminari  pos- 
sint;  tamen  exactas  et  accuratas  eorum  rationes,  et  distinctos 
et  tanquam  mensuratos  modos,  extra  inquisitionis  human* 


1  “Perpauca  quaedam  similar!  e  terra  et  uno  eodemque  a  calore  universa  effects 
sunt  .  .  .  sed  e  terra  pleraque,  quae  aliis  sui  partibus  et  non  magnis  ils  tenuis 
laxiorque,  aliis  vero  crassior  est  densiorque.” — De  Rer.  Nat.  i.  15. 

*  See  De  Rer.  Nat.  i.  16.  The  general  purport  of  his  explanation  ia,  that  the 
action  of  heat  is  mingled  with  and  controlled  by  that  of  cold. 


108 


DE  PRINCIPIIS  ATQUE  ORIGINIBUS, 


aditus  sepositoa  esse;  ita  tamen,  ut  (quo  modo  inter  impos- 
sibilia)  diversitas  dispositionis  materi®,  melius  quam  caloris 
vires  et  gradus,  perspici  possit ;  atque  nihilominus  in  his  ipsis 
(si  qua  fata  sinant)  human®  et  scienti®  et  potenti®  fastigium 
et  culmen  esse.  Postquam  autem  desperationem  plane  pro- 
fessus  esset,  tamen  in  vota  precesque  non  cessat:  Ita  enim 
dixit :  Qui  porro  color  vel  quantus,  hoc  est,  quod  caloris  robur 
et  qua  ejus  copia,  quam  terram  et  qua  entia  in  qualia  invertat, 
minime  inquirendum  videtur,  ut  quod  homini  nulla  (ut  nobis  vi¬ 
detur)  innotescere  queat  ratione.  Qui  enim  vel  caloris  vires  et 
calorem  ipsum  veluti  in  gradus  partiri,  vel  materia  cui  inditus 
est  copiam  quantitatemque  distincte  percipere  et  certis  determi- 
natisque  caloris  viribus  copiaque  certam  materia  quantitatem 
dispositionemque  certasque  actiones,  aut  contra ',  certa  matei  ia 
quantitati  certisque  actionibus  certam  determinatamque  caloris 
copiam,  assignare  liceat  ?  Utinam  id  otio  fruentes  et  perspicaciore 
prcediti  ingenio,  et  quibus  in  summa  tranquillitate  rerum  naturam 
perscrutari  licuerit,  assequantur :  ut  homines  non  omnium  modo 
scientes,  sed  omnium  fere  potentes  fiant /2  honestius  paulo  quam 
solent  ejus  adversarii,  qui  quicquid  artes  quas  ipsi  pepererunt 
non  assequuntur,  id  ex  arte  omnino  impossibile  statuunt,  ut 
nulla  ars  damnari  possit,  cum  ipsa  et  agat  et  judicet.  Restat 
tertium  quod  erat,  subactionis  videlicet  modus.  Hoc  triplici 
dogmate  absolvit  Telesius.  Primum  est,  id  quod  antea  a  nobis 
obiter  est  notatum,  nullam  pi;orsus  symbolizationem  intelligi 
(ut  in  Peripateticorum  doctrina),  per  quam  res  tanquam  Concor¬ 
dia  quadam  foveantur  et  conspirent.  Omnern  enim  generatio- 
nem,  atque  adeo  omnem  effectum  in  corpore  naturali,  victoria 
et  praedominantia,  non  pacto  aut  foedere  transigi.  Id  quod 
novum  non  est,  cum  etiam  Aristoteles  in  doctrina  Empedoclis 
hoc  ipsum  notaverit.3  Quod  scilicet  cum  Empedocles  Litem 


1  centra  in  original. 

*  This  quotation  is  inaccurate.  “  Qui  porro  calor,  vel  quantus,  quod  nimirum 
caloris  robur  et  quse  ejus  copia,  quam  terram  et  qufe  entia  in  qualia  invertat,  minime 
inquirendum  videtur,  ut  quod  homini  nulla,  ut  nobis  videtur,  innotescere  queat 
ratione.  Qui  enim  vel  caloris  vires,  et  calorem  ipsum  veluti  in  gradus  partiri  vel 
materia:  cui  inditus  est  copiam  quantitatemque  distincte  percipere,  et  certis  determi- 
natisque  caloris  viribus  copiaeque  in  certam  materiae  quantitatem  dispositionemque, 
certas  actiones  et  certae  materiae  quantitati  certam  determinatamque  caloris  copiam 
assignare  liceat  ?  Utinam  id  alii  et  perspicaciore  praediti  ingenio  et  quibus  in  summa 
tranquillitate  rerum  naturam  perscrutari  licuerit  assequantur,  ut  homines  non  omnium 
modo  scientes  sed  et  potentes  fiant.” — De  Rer.  Nat.  i.  17.  Perhaps  Bacon  may  quote 
from  the  edition  published  in  1565  [or  from  a  copy  corrected  by  conjecture ;  for  there 
Is  evidently  something  wrong  in  the  passage  as  it  stands.  — J.  S.] 

0  Arist.  Meteor,  iii.  4. 


SEC.  FAB.  CUPIDIN1S  ET  C(ELI. 


109 


et  Amicitiam,  rerum  principia  efficientia  statuissci,  tamen  in 
explicationibus  suis  causarum,  Inimicitia  fere  utatur,  alterius 
tanquam  oblitus.  Secundum  est,  calorem  actione  sua  propria 
perpetuo  vertere  ens  in  humidum,  et  quod  calori  siccitas  nullo 
modo  coeat,  nec  frigori  humiditas.1  Idem  enim  esse  attenuate 
et  humectare;  atque  quod  maxime  tenue,  id  etiam  maxime 
humidum  esse :  cum  per  humidum  intelligatur  id  quod  facil- 
lime  cedit,  abit  in  partes,  et  rursus  se  restituit,  atque  aegre 
finitur  aut  consistit.  Quae  omnia  magis  insunt  flammae,  quam 
aeri ;  qui  a  Peripateticis  constituitur  maxime  humidus.  Ita- 
que  calorem,  humidum  perpetuo  allicere,  depascere,  extende- 
re,  indere,  generare ;  contra,  frigus  omnia  agere  in  siccitatem, 
concretionem,  duritiem ;  ubi  vult  Aristotelem  et  hebetem  in 
observatione,  et  sibi  discordem,  et  erga  experientiam  imperio- 
sum  et  libidinosum  yideri,  quod  calorem  cum  siccitate  copulet.2 
Nam  quod  aliquando  entia  desiccet  calor,  id  per  accidens  fieri ; 
nimirum  in  corpore  dissimilari  et  ex  partibus  aliis  magis  crassis 
aliis  magis  tenuibus  coagmentato,  eliciendo  et  (per  attenua- 
tionem)  exitum  dando  parti  tenuiori,  dum  pars  crassior  inde 
cogatur  et  magis  se  constringat :  quae  tamen  ipsa  pars  crassior, 
si  advenerit  calor  ferocior,  et  ipsa  fluit ;  ut  in  lateribus  mani- 
festum  est.  Primo  enim  calor  non  ita  fervens3,  lutum  cogit  in 
lateres,  tenuiore  parte  evaporata;  at  fortior  calor  etiam  illam 
substantiam  lateritiam  solvit  in  vitrum.  Atque  haec  duo  do¬ 
gmata  veluti  errorum  redargutiones  censeri  possunt;  tertium 
plane  affirmat,  neque  id  solum,  sed  et  perspicue  distinguit  sub- 
actionis  modum.  Is  duplex  est,  vel  rejiciendo,  vel  vertendo ; 
atque  alteruter  ex  iis  modis  perducitur  in  actum,  secundum 
vim  caloris  et  dispositionem  materiaa.  Cujus  rei  tamen  duo 
videntur  tanquam  canones.  Unus,  quod  cum  calidum  et  fri- 
gidum  magna  mole  et  tanquam  justo  exercitu  concurrunt, 
sequitur  ejectio.  Nam  entia,  veluti  acies,  loco  moventur  et 
impelluntur.  Ubi  vero  minore  quantitate  res  geritur,  turn  se¬ 
quitur  versio4;  nam  interimuntur  entia  et  naturam  potius  quam 
locum  mutant.  Hujus  rei  insigne  et  nobile  exemplum  esse  in 
regionibus  aeris  superioribus,  quae  licet  ad  calorem  coelestem 
magis  appropinquent,  tamen  frigidiores  inveniuntur  quam  con- 

1  “  Propria  igitur  caloris,  et  caloris  opus  humiditas.”  —  De  Rer.  Nat.  iii.  14. 

!  “  Naturce  itidem  sensuique  et  sibi  eUam  ipsi  discors  Aristoteles  calori  siccitatem 
et  frigori  humorem  copulat.” — lb.  1.  c. 

8  servans  in  the  original.  —  J.  S. 

*  It  does  not  appear  that  Telesius  recognised  the  possibility  of  transforming  heat 
into  cold,  or  vice  versa ;  which  seems  to  be  implied  by  the  word  versio. 


110 


DE  PRINCIP11S  ATQUE  ORIGINIBUS, 


finia  terrae.  In  illis  enim  locis,  postquam  propius  ad  sedem 
primi  calidi  ventuin  est,  calor  se  colligens  universam  frigoris 
vim  quae  adscenderat  simul  ejicit  et  detrudit,  et  aditu  pro- 
hibet.  Quinetiam  similiter  fieri  posse,  ut  sint  per  profunda 
terras  calores  vehementiores  quam  in  superficie;  postquam 
scilicet  ad  sedem  primi  frigidi  appropinquatio  facta  est,  quod 
se  excitans,  magno  impetu  calidum  rejicit,  et  fugit l,  et  in  se 
vertit.  Alter  canon  est,  quod  in  aperto  sequitur  ejectio ;  in 
clauso  versio.  Hoc  autem  insigniter  conspici  in  vasibus  oc- 
clusis,  ubi  emissio  corporis  attenuati  (quod  spiritum  fere  voca- 
mus)  prohibita  et  retrusa  profundas  et  intrinsecas  in  corporibus 
alterationes  et  fermentationes  generat.  At  hoc  ipsum  similiter 
fieri,  cum  corpus  ob  partium  compactionem  sibi  ipsi  instar  vasis 
occlusi  est.  Atque  haec  sunt  quae  Telesio,  et  fortasse  Parme- 
nidi,  circa  rerum  principia  visa  sunt ;  nisi  quod  Telesius  hylen 
addidit  de  proprio ;  peripateticis  scilicet  notionibus  depravatus. 

Atque  similia  veri  fuissent  quae  a  Telesio  dicuntur,  si  homo 
tollatur  e  natura,  et  simul  artes  mechanicae  quae  materiam 
vexant,  atque  fabrica  mundi  simpliciter  spectetur.  Nam  pa- 
storalis  quaedam  videtur  ista  philosophia,  quae  mundum  contem- 
platur  placide,  et  tanquam  per  otium.  Siquidem  de  3ystemate 
mundi  disserit  non  male,  de  principiis  imperitissime.  Quin  et 
in  ipso  quoque  systemate  ingens  est  lapsus,  quod  tale  constituat 
systema  quod  videri  possit  aeternum,  nec  supponat  chaos  et 
mutationes  schematismi  magni.  Sive  enim  ea  est  Telesii  philo¬ 
sophia,  sive  Peripateticorum,  sive  quae  alia,  quae  in  eum  modum 
systema  instruat,  libret,  muniat,  ut  non  videatur  fluxisse  a 
chao ;  ea  levior  philosophia  videtur,  atque  omnino  ex  angustiis 
pectoris  humani.  Nam  omnino  secundum  sensum  philosophanti 
materia?  aeternitas  asseritur ;  mundi  (qualem  eum  intuemur)  nega- 
tur ;  quod  et  priscae  sapientiae,  et  ei  qui  ad  ipsam  proxime  accedit, 
Democrito,  visum  est.  Idem  sacra?  literae  testantur.  Illud 
proecipue  interest;  quod  ilia?  etiam  materiam  a  Deo;  hi  ex  sese 
statuunt.  Tria  enim  videntur  esse  dogmata  quae  scimus  ex 
fide  circa  hanc  rem.  Primo,  quod  materia  creata  sit  ex  nihilo. 
Secundo,  quod  eductio  systematis  fuerit  per  verbum  omnipo- 
tentiae,  neque  quod  materia  se  ipsa  eduxerit  e  chao  in  schema- 
tismum  ilium.  Tertio,  quod  schematismus  ille  (ante  praevarica- 
tionem)  fuerit  optimus  ex  iis  quae  materia  (qualis  creata  erat) 
suscipere  posset.  At  philosophise  illae  ad  nullum  horum  adscen- 


1  So  in  the  original  —J.S. 


SEC.  FAB.  CUP1DINIS  ET  CfELL 


111 


dere  potuerunt.  Nam  et  creationem  ex  nihilo  exhorrent,  et 
hunc  schematismum  post  multas  ambages  et  molimina  materise 
eductum  sentiunt ;  nec  de  optimitate  laborant,  cum  schemati- 
smus  asseratur  occiduus  et  variabilis.  In  his  itaque  fidei  atque 
ejus  firmamentis  standum.  Utrum  vei'o  materia  ilia  creata,  per 
longos  seculorum  circuitus,  ex  vi  primo  indita  se  in  ilium  opti¬ 
mum  schematismum  colligere  et  vertere  potuisset  (quod  missis 
ambagibus  ex  verbi  imperio  continuo  fecit ),  non  inquirendum 
fortasse  est.  Tam  enim  est  miraculum,  et  ejusdem  omnipo- 
tentise,  repraesentatio  temporis  quam  efformatio  entis.  Yidetur 
autem  natura  divina  utraque  omnipotentiae  emanatione  se  in- 
signire  yoluisse :  primo,  operando  omnipotenter  super  ens  et 
materiam,  creando  scilicet  ens  e  nihilo ;  secundo,  super  motum 
et  tempus,  anticipando  ordinem  naturae,  et  accelerando  proces- 
sum  entis.  Verum  haec  ad  parabolam  de  Coelo  pertinent,  ubi 
quae  nunc  breviter  perstringimus  fusius  disseremus.  Itaque  ad 
principia  Telesii  pergendum.  Atque  utinam  hoc  saltern  semel 
et  inter  omnes  conveniret,  ne  aut  ex  non  entibus  entia,  aut  ex 
non  principiis  principia,  constitui  placeret,  neque  manifesta  re- 
cipiatur  contradictio.  Principium  autem  abstractum  non  est 
ens;  rursus  ens  mortale  non  est  principium;  ut  necessitas 
plane  invincibilis  hominum  cogitationes  (si  sibi  constare  velint) 
compellat  ad  atomum,  quod  est  verum  ens,  materiatum,  forma- 
tum,  dimensum,  locatum,  habens  antitypiam,  appetitum,  motum, 
emanationem.  Idem  per  omnium  corporum  naturalium  inte- 
ritus  manet  inconcussum  et  seternum..  Nam  cum  tot  et  tarn 
variae  sint  corporum  majorum  corruptiones,  omnino  necesse 
est  ut  quod  tanquam  centrum  manet  immutabile  id  aut 
potentiale  quiddam  sit,  aut  minimum.  At  potentiale  non  est ; 
nam  potentiale  primum,  reliquorum  quae  sunt  potentialia  simile 
esse  non  potest,  quse  aliud  actu  sunt,  aliud  potentia.  Sed 
necesse  est  ut  plane  abstractum  sit,  cum  omnem  actum  abneget, 
et  omnem  potentiam  contineat.  Itaque  relinquitur,  ut  illud 
immutabile  sit  minimum ;  nisi  forte  quis  asserat  omnino  prin¬ 
cipia  nulla  existere,  sed  rem  alteram  alteri  pro  principiis  esse, 
legem  atque  ordinem  mutationis  constantia  esse  et  aeterna, 
essentiam  ipsam  fluxam  et  mutabilem.  Atque  satius  foret 
hujusmodi  quiddam  diserte  affirmare,  quam  studio  seternum 
aliquod  principium  statuendi,  in  durius  incommodum  incidere, 
ut  idem  principium  ponatur  phantasticum.  Ilia  enim  prior 
ratio  aliquem  exitum  habere  videtur,  ut  res  mutentur  in 


112 


DE  PRINCIPIIS  ATQUE  OR1GINIBUS, 


orbem ;  haec  prorsus  nullum,  quae  notionalia  et  mentis  admini- 
cula  habet  pro  entibus.  Et  tamen  quod  hoc  ipsum  nullo  modo 
fieri  possit,  postea  docebimus.  Telesio  tamen  hyle  placuit, 
quam  ex  juniore  aevo  postnatam  in  Parmenidis  philosophiam 
transtulit.  At  cer tamen  instituit  Telesius  agentium  suorum 
principiorum  mirum  et  plane  iniquum,  et  copiis  et  genere  bel- 
landi.  Nam  quod  ad  copias  attinet,  terra  ei  est  unica,  at  coeli 
exercitus  ingens ;  etiam  terra  puncti  fere  instar,  cceli  vero 
spatia  et  regiones  immensse.  Neque  huic  incommodo  ill ud 
subvenire  queat,  quod  terra  et  connaturalia  ejus  ex  materia 
maxime  compacta  asserantur,  coelum  contra  et  aetherea  ex 
materia  maxime  explicata.  Licet  enim  plurimum  certe  intersit, 
tamen  haec  res  nullo  modo  copias  vel  longo  intervallo  aequabit. 
At  robur  dogmatis  Telesii  versatur  in  hoc  vel  praecipue,  si  tan- 
quam  aequalis  portio  hyles  (secundum  quantum,  non  secundum 
exporrectionem)  utrique  principio  agenti  assignetur,  ut  res 
durare  possint,  et  systema  constitni  et  stabiliri.  Quicunque 
enim  cum  Telesio  sentiet  in  c ceteris,  et  exsuperantiam  hyles, 
prcesertim  tarn  amplo  excessu,  in  uno  principio,  ad  alterum 
recipiet,  haerebit  nec  se  omnino  explicabit.  Itaque  in  dialogo 
Plutarchi  de  facie  in  orbe  lunae,  sana  mente  proponitur  ilia 
consideratio,  non  esse  verisimile,  in  dispersione  materiae  na- 
turam  quicquid  compacti  corporis  erat  in  unicum  terras  globum 
conclusisse,  tot  interim  volventibus  globis  astrorum.  Huic  vero 
cogitationi  tam  immoderate  indulsit  Gilbertus,  ut  non  solum 
terram  et  lunam,  sed  complures  alios  globos  solidos  et  opacos 
per  expansionem  coeli  inter  globos  lucentes  sparsos  assereret.1 
Quin  et  ipsi  Peripatetici,  postquam  coelestia  suo  statu,  sub- 
lunaria  autem  per  successionem  et  renovationem  aeterna  posuis- 
sent,  non  confisi  sunt  se  hoc  dogma  tueri  posse,  nisi  elementis 
veluti  aequas  materiae  portiones  assignassent.  Hoc  est  enim 
illud,  quod  de  decupla  ilia  portione  qua  ambiens  elementum 
interiu8  elementum  superet  consomniant.  Neque  ista  eo  ad- 
ducimus,  quod  nullum  ex  iis  nobis  placeat,  sed  ut  ostendamus 
inopinabile  quiddam  esse,  atque  cogitationem  prorsus  male 
mensuratam,  si  quis  terram  contrarium  agens  coelo  princi- 
pium  statuat :  quod  Telesius  fecit.  Atque  hoc  ipsum  durius 
multo  invenitur,  si  quis  praeter  quantum  ipsum,  disparem 
virtutem  et  actum  cceli  et  terra;  intueatur.  Perdita  enim 
omnino  sit  dimicationis  conditio,  si  ex  altera  parte  telorum 


1  Gilbert,  Nov.  Phys.  i.  10. 


SEC.  FAB.  CUPIDINIS  ET  CCELI. 


113 


hostilium  ictus  perferantur,  ex  altera  non  pertingant,  sed  citra 
cadant.  At  liquet  plane  solis  vires  in  terram  mitti ;  terrae 
autem  vires  usque  ad  solem  pervenire  nemo  spondeat.  Etenim 
inter  omnes  virtu tes  quas  natura  parit,  ilia  lucis  et  umbrae 
longissime  emittitur,  et  maximo  spatio  sive  orbe  circumfunditur. 
Umbra  autem  terrae  citra  solem  terminatur,  cum  lux  solis,  si 
terra  diaphana  esset,  globum  terrae  transverberare  possit.  No- 
minatum  calidum,  frigidum,  (de  quibus  nunc  est  sermo)  nun- 
quam  deprehenduntur  tam  magna  spatia  vincere  in  virtute 
sua  perferenda,  quam  lux  et  umbra.  Itaque  si  umbra  terrae 
non  pertingit  ad  solem,  multo  minus  frigidum  terrae  eo  adspirare 
posse  consentaneum  est.  Id  si  ita  sit,  nempe  ut  sol  et  calidum 
in  quaedam  corpora  media  agant,  quo  contrarii  principii  virtus 
non  adscendat,  nec  ullo  modo  eorum  actum  impediat ;  necesse 
est  ut  ilia  (sol,  inquam,  et  calidum)  proxima  quaeque  occupent, 
et  dein  remotiora  quoque  conjungant,  ut  tandem  futura  sit 
Heracliti  conflagratio,  solari  et  coelesti  natura  gradatim  versus 
terram  et  confinia  ejus  descendente  et  magis  appropinquante. 
Neque  ilia  admodum  conveniunt,  ut  vis  ilia  naturam  suam 
imponendi  et  multiplicandi  et  alia  in  se  vertendi,  quam  Tele- 
6ius  principiis  attribuit,  non  operetur  in  similia  aeque  aut  magis 
quam  in  contraria;  ut  coelum  jam  excandescere  debuerit,  et 
stellse  inter  se  committi.  Verum  ut  propius  accedamus,  qua- 
tuor  omnino  demonstrationes  proponendae  videntur,  quae  Telesii 
philosophiam  de  principiis  plane  convellere  et  destruere  pos- 
sint,  etiam  singulae,  multo  magis  conjunctae.  Harum  prima 
est,  quod  inveniantur  in  rebus  nonnullae  actiones  et  effectus, 
etiam  ex  potentissimis  et  latissime  diffusis,  quae  ad  calorem 
et  frigus  nullo  modo  referri  possint.  Proxima,  quod  inveni¬ 
antur  naturae  nonnullae  quarum  calor  et  frigus  sint  effectus  et 
consecutiones ;  neque  id  ipsum  per  excitationem  caloris  prae- 
inexistentis,  aut  admotionem  caloris  advenientis ;  sed  prorsus 
per  quae  calor  et  frigus  in  primo  esse  ipsorum  indantur  et 
generentur.  Itaque  principii  ratio  in  iis  ex  utraque  parte 
deficit,  turn  quia  aliquid  non  ex  ipsis,  turn  quia  ipsa  ex  aliquo. 
Tertia,  quod  etiam  ea  quae  a  calore  et  frigore  originem  ducunt 
(quae  certe  sunt  quam  plurima)  tamen  procedunt  ab  illis  tan- 
quam  ab  efficiente  et  organo,  non  tanquam  a  causa  propria  et 
intima.  Postremo,  quod  conjugatio  ilia  quatuor  connaturalium 
omnino  permiscetur  et  confunditur.  Quare  de  his  sigillatim 
dicemus.  Atque  alicui  fortasse  vix  operae  pretium  videri 


114 


DE  PRINCIPIIS  ATQUE  ORIGINIBUS, 


possit,  nos  In  philosophia  Telesii  arguenda  tam  diligenter 
versari,  philosophia  scilicet  non  admodum  celebri  aut  recepta. 
Yerum  nos  hujusmodi  fastidia  nil  moramur.  De  Telesio  autem 
bene  sentimus,  atque  eum  ut  amantem  veritatis  et  scientiis 
utilem  et  nonnullorum  placitorum  emendatorein  et  novorum 
hominum  primum  agnoscimus.  Neque  tamen  nobis  cum  eo 
res  est  tanquam  Telesio,  sed  tanquam  instauratore  philosophise 
Parmenidis,  cui  multa  debetur  reverentia.  Sed  illud  in  primis 
in  causa  est  quod  haec  fusius  agamus,  quod  in  eo  qui  primus 
nobis  occurrit  complura  disserimus,  quae  ad  sequentium  secta- 
rum  (de  quibus  postmodum  tractandum  erit)  redargutionem 
transferri  possint,  ne  saepius  eadem  dicere  sit  necesse.  Sunt 
enim  errorum  (licet  diversorum)  fibrae  miris  modis  inter  se  im¬ 
plicate:  et  intextae,  quae  tamen  saepenumero  una  redargutione, 
tanquam  falce,  demeti  et  succidi  possint.  Yerum,  ut  occoe- 
pimus  dicere,  videndum  quales  inveniantur  in  rebus  virtutes 
et  actiones,  quae  ad  calidum  et  frigidum  nullo  rerum  consensu 
aut  ingenii  violentia  trahi  possint.  Primo  itaque  sumendum 
quod  a  Telesio  datur,  materiae  summam  aeternum  constare,  nec 
augeri  aut  minui.  Hanc  ille  dotem,  qua  materia  se  servat  et 
sustinet,  transmittit  ut  passivam,  et  tanquam  ad  rationem  quanti 
potius  quam  ad  formam  et  actionem  pertinentem,  ac  si  nihil 
opus  esset  earn  calori  et  frigori  deputare,  quae  agentium  tantum 
formarum  et  virtutum  fontes  ponuntur ;  materiam  enim  non 
simpliciter,  sed  omni  agente  virtute  destitui  et  exui.  Atque 
haec  asseruntur  magno  mentis  errore,  et  prorsus  mirabili,  nisi 
quod  consensus  atque  opinio  pervulgata  et  inveterata  mira- 
culum  tollit.  Nil  enim  simile  fere  inter  errores  reperitur, 
quam  ut  quis  virtutem  istam  materiae  inditam  (per  quam  ipsa 
se  ab  interitu  vindicat,  adeo  ut  minima  quaeque  materiae  portio 
nec  universa  mundi  mole  obrui  nec  omnium  agentium  vi  et 
impetu  destrui  aut  ullo  modo  annihilari  et  in  ordinem  redigi 
queat,  quin  et  spatii  nonnihil  occupet,  et  renitentiam  servet 
cum  dimensione  impenetrabili,  et  ipsa  vicissim  aliquid  moliatur, 
nec  se  deserat)  pro  agente  virtute  non  habeat ;  cum  contra  sit 
omnium  virtutum  longe  potentissima,  et  plane  insuperabilis,  et 
veluti  merum  fatum  et  necessitas.  Hanc  autem  virtutem  nec 
conatur  Telesius  ad  calidum  et  frigidum  referre.  Atque  hoc 
recte ;  neque  enim  scilicet  aut  incendium  aut  torpor  et  con- 
gelatio  huic  rei  aliquid  addunt  vel  detrahunt,  nec  super  eum 
aliquid  possunt ;  cum  ipsa  interim  et  in  sole,  et  ad  centrum 


SEC.  FAB.  CUPIDINIS  ET  CCELI. 


115 


terras,  et  ubique  vigeat.  Sed  in  eo  lapsus  videtur,  quod  molem 
materiae  certam  et  definitam  agnoscit ;  ad  virtutem  qua  se 
numeris  suis  tueatur  caacutit,  eamque  (profundissimis  Peripa- 
teticorum  tenebris  immersus)  accessorii  loco  ducit;  cum  sit 
maxime  principalis,  corpus  suum  1  vibrans,  aliud  submovens, 
solida  et  adamantina  in  seipso,  atque  unde  decreta  et  possibilis 
et  impossibilis  emanant  authoritate  inviolabili.  Schola  itidem 
vulgaris  earn  facili  verborum  complexu  pueriliter  prensat,  satis- 
factum  buic  cogitationi  putans,  si  duo  corpora  in  eodem  loco 
non  posse  esse  pro  canone  ponat,  virtutem  autem  istam  atque 
ejus  modum  nunquam  apertis  oculis  contemplatur  et  ad  vivum 
dissecat ;  parum  scilicet  gnara,  quanta  ex  ea  pendeant,  et  qua- 
lis  lux  inde  scientiis  exoriatur.  Verum  (quod  nunc  agiturj 
ista  virtus  quantacunque  extra  Telesii  principia  cadit.  Trans- 
eun  dum  jam  ad  virtutem  illam  quae  ad  priorem  hanc  est  tan- 
quam  antistropha,  earn  scilicet  quae  nexum  materiae  tuetur. 
Ut  enim  materia  materia  obrui  non  vult,  ita  nec  materia  a 
materia  divellL  Atque  nihilominus  utrum  haec  naturae  lex 
sit  aeque  ac  ilia  altera  peremptoria,  magnam  habet  dubita- 
tionem.  Telesio  enim,  quemadmodum  et  Democrito,  vacuum 
coacervatum  et  sine  meta  dari  placuit,  ut  entia  singularia 
contiguum  suum  deponant,  nonnunquam  et  deserant,  aegre 
(ut  aiunt)  et  illibenter,  sed  majore  nempe  aliqua  violentia 
domita  et  coacta;  idque  ille  nonnullis  experimentis  demon- 
strare  contendit,  ea  potissimum  adducens,  quae  passim  citan- 
tur  ad  abnegandum  et  refellendum  vacuum,  eaque  tanquam 
extrahens  et  amplians  eo  modo,  ut  entia  videri  possint  in 
levi  aliqua  necessitate  posita  contiguum  illud  tenere ;  sin 
majorem  in  modum  torqueantur,  vacuum  admittere ;  sicuti  in 
clepsydris  aqueis,  in  quibus  si  foramen  per  quod  aqua  descen- 
dere  possit  minutius  sit,  spiraculo  egebunt,  ut  aqua  descendat ; 
sin  latius,  etiam  absque  spiraculo,  aqua  in  foramen  majore 
mole  incumbens,  et  vacuum  supra  nil  morata,  deorsum  fertur. 
Similiter  in  follibus,  in  quibus  si  eos 2  comprimas  et  occludas 
ut  nullus  illabenti  aeri  aditus  pateat  ac  postea  eleves  et  ex¬ 
pandas,  si  pellis  gracilis  sit  et  debilis,  dirumpitur  pellis;  si 
crassa  et  frangi  inepta,  non  item;  et  alia  hujusmodi.3  Verum 
experimenta  ista  nec  exacte  probata  sunt,  nec  inquisitioni 
omnino  satisfaciunt  aut  qusestionem  terminant ;  atque  licet  per 

1  [So  in  the  original.]  The  sense  appears  to  require  unum. 

3  in  the  original.  — J.  S.  *  De  R*r.  Nat.  L  25. 


9  Bacon  HI 


116 


DE  PR1NCIPIIS  ATQUE  ORIGINIBUS, 


ilia  Telesius  se  addere  rebus  et  inventis  putet  et  quod  ab 
aliis  confusius  observatum  est  subtilius  distinguere  nitatur, 
tamen  nullo  modo  par  rebus  evadit  nec  exitum  rei  evolvit,  sed 
in  mediis  prorsus  deficit ;  quod  ex  more  est  et  ipsi  et  Peripa- 
teticis,  qui  ad  experimenta  contuenda  instar  noctuarum  sunt, 
neque  id  tam  ob  facultatis  imbecillitatem,  sed  ob  cataractaa 
opinionum,  et  contemplationis  plena;  et  fixae  impatientiam. 
Qusestio  vero  ista  (ex  maxime  arduis)  quousque  detur  vacuum, 
et  ad  quae  spatia  fieri  possit  seminum  vel  coitio  vel  distractio, 
et  quid  sit  in  hoc  genere  peremptorium  et  invariabile,  ad  lo¬ 
cum  ubi  de  vacuo  tractandum  erit  rejicinms.  Neque  enim 
multum  interest  ad  id  quod  nunc  agitur,  utrum  natura  vacuum 
penitus  respuat,  an  entia  (ut  emendatius  se  loqui  putat  Tele¬ 
sius  ')  mutuo  contactu  gaudeant.  Illud  enim  planum  facimus, 
istam  sive  vacui  fugam,  sive  contactus  cupidinem,  nullo  modo 
a  calido  et  frigido  pendere,  nec  a  Telesio  ipsi1 *  3  adscribi,  nec 
ex  rerum  ulla  evidentia  illis  adscribi  posse ;  cum  materia  loco 
mota  aliam  prorsus  materiam  trabat,  sive  ilia  sit  calida  sive 
frigida,  sive  liquida  sive  sicca,  sive  dura  sive  mollis,  sive  arnica 
sive  inimica,  adeo  ut  corpus  calidum  corpus  gelidissimum  citius 
attraxerit  ut  ei  adsit,  quam  se  ab  omni  corpore  disjungi  et 
deseri  patiatur.  Nam  vinculum  materiae  fortius  est  quam 
dissidium  calidi  et  frigidi.  Et  6equacitas  materiae  non  curat 
diversitatem  formarum  specialium.  Itaque  nullo  modo  haec 
virtus  nexus  ab  illis  principiis  calidi  et  frigidi.  Sequuntur 
virtutes  duae  invicem  oppositae,  quae  regnum  hoc  principiorum 
(ut  videri  possit)  ad  calidum  et  frigidum  detulerunt,  sed  jure 
male  enucleato ;  eas  dicimus,  per  quas  entia  se  aperiunt  et  rare- 
faciunt,  dilatant  et  expandunt,  ita  ut  majus  spatium  occupent 
et  se  in  majorem  sphaeram  conjiciant;  aut  rursus  se  claudunt 
et  condensant,  coarctant  et  contrahunt,  ita  ut  spatiis  decedant 
et  in  minorem  sphaeram  se  recipiant-  Ostendendum  itaque 
est,  quatenus  ista  virtus  a  calido  et  frigido  ortum  habeat,  et 
quatenus  seorsum  moretur,  nec  cum  ilia  rationes  misceat. 
Atque  verissimum  est,  quod  affirmat  Telesius,  rarum  et  den- 
sum  caloris  et  frigoris  esse  veluti  opificia  propria ;  longe  enim 
maximae  sunt  illorum  partes  ad  hoc,  ut  corpora  majus  et  mi¬ 
nus  spatium  occupent ;  sed  tamen  confusius  ista  accipiuntur. 


1  “  Entia  prorsus  omnia  mutuum  contactum  sentire  et  summopere  eo  oblectari . .  . 

apparent.”— De  Her.  Nat.  i.  6. 

3  So  in  tbe  original.  I  think  it  should  be  ipso.  —  J.  S. 


SEC.  FAB.  CUPIDINIS  ET  CtELI. 


117 


Videntur  enim  corpora  quandoque  ab  una  spatiatione  naturall 
in  alteram  migrare  et  se  transferre,  idque  libenter  et  tanquam 
volentia,  et  formam  mutantia;  quandoque  autem  tantummodo 
a  naturali  spatiatione  depulsa,  et  manente  forma  veteri  in 
consuetam  spatiationem  reverti.  Atque  virtus  ilia  progressiva 
in  novum  spatium  a  calido  et  frigido  fere  regitur.  At  virtus 
altera  restitutiva  non  item,  siquidem  expandit  se  aqua  in 
vaporem  et  aerem,  oleum  similiter  et  pinguia  in  balitum  et 
flammam,  ex  vi  caloris ;  nec  (si  perfecte  transmigraverint) 
reverti  satagunt;  quin  et  aer  ipse  ex  calore  intumescit  et 
extenditur.  Quod  si  migratio  fuerit  semiplena,  post  caloris 
abscessum  in  se  facile  recidit;  ut.  etiam  in  virtute  restitutiva 
partes  frigoris  et  caloris  sint  nonnull®.  At  qu®  non  me- 
diante  calore  sed  violentia  aliqua  extensa  sunt  et  distracta, 
etiam  absque  ulla  frigoris  accessione  aut  diminutione  caloris  in 
priora  spatia  (cessante  violentia)  cupidissime  revertuntur ;  ut 
in  exsuctione  ovi  vitrei,  et  follibus  levatis.  Id  vero  in  solidis 
et  crassis  longe  evidentius  est.  Nam  si  distendatur  pannus  vel 
chorda,  remota  vi  magna  velocitate  resiliunt;  atque  eadem  est 
compressionis  ratio.  Nam  aer  violentia  aliqua  contrusus  et 
incarceratus  multo  conatu  erumpit ;  atque  adeo  omnis  ille  motus 
mechanicus  quo  durum  a  duro  percutitur,  qui  vulgo  motus 
violenti  nomine  appellatur,  per  quem  res  solid®  mittuntur  et 
volant  per  aerem  et  aquam,  nihil  aliud  est  quam  nixus  partium 
corporis  emissi  ad  se  expediendum  a  compressione ;  et  tamen 
nusquam  hie  apparent  vestigia  calidi  et  frigidi.  Neque  est 
quod  quis  argutetur  ex  doctrina  Telesii  hoc  modo,  ut  dicat; 
Esse  singulis  spatiationibus  naturalibus  assignatam  portionem 
quandam  calidi  et  frigidi,  ex  certa  quadam  analogia :  Itaque 
fieri  posse  ut  tametsi  nihil  addatur  caloris  et  frigoris,  tamen 
si  spatia  materiati  extendantur  aut  contrahantur,  res  eodem 
recidat  *,  quia  plus  et  minus  imponitur  materi®  in  spatio,  quam 
pro  ratione  caloris  et  frigoris.  Verum  ista  licet  non  absurda 
dictu,  tamen  sunt  eorum  qui  semper  aliquid  comminisci  solent 
ut  quod  semel  visum  est  teneant,  nec  naturam  et  res  perse- 
quuntur.  Nam  si  addatur  calor  et  frigus  hujusmodi  corporibus 
extensis  aut  compressis,  idque  majore  mensura  quam  pro 
ratione  et  natura  corporis  ipsius,  veluti  si  pannus  ille  tensus 
calefiat  ad  ignem,  tamen  nullo  modo  rem  compensabit,  nec 


1  Recidit  In  original.  —  J.  S. 


118 


DE  PRINCIPIIS  ATQUE  ORIGINIBUS. 


impetum  restitutionls  exstinguet.  Itaque  planum  jam  fecimus, 
istam  virtutem  spatiationis  ex  calore  et  frigore  in  parte  notabili 
non  pendere,  cum*  tamen  sit  ipsa  ilia  virtue,  quas  plurimum 
authoritatis  his  principiis  tribuerit.  Sequuntur  duae  virtutes 
quas  omnibus  in  ore  sunt,  atque  longe  et  late  patent,  per 
quas  scilicet  corpora  massas  sive  congregationes  majores 
rerum  connaturalium  petunt ;  in  quarum  observatione,  ut  in 
reliquis,  aut  nugantur  homines  aut  plane  aberrant.  Schola 
enim  communis  satis  habet,  si  motum  naturalem  a  violento 
distinguat ;  et  gravia  deorsum,  levia  sursum  ferri  ex  motu 
naturali  pronuntiet.  Verum  parum  proficiunt  ad  philosophiam 
hujusmodi  speculationes.  Ista  enim  natura,  ars,  violentia, 
compendia  verborum  sunt  et  nugas.  Debuerunt  autem  hunc 
motum  non  tantum  ad  naturam  referre,  sed  etiam  affectum 
et  appetitum  particularem  et  proprium  corporis  naturalis  in 
hoc  ipso  motu  quaerere.  Sunt  enim  et  alii  motus  complures 
naturales  ex  passionibus  rerum  longe  diversis.  Itaque  res  se¬ 
cundum  differentias  proponenda  est.  Quin  et  ipsi  illi  motus 
quos  violentos  appellant  magis  secundum  naturam  appellari 
possint,  quam  iste  quern  vocant  naturalem ;  si  sit  illud  magis 
secundum  naturam  quod  est  fortius,  aut  etiam  quod  est  magis 
ex  ratione  universi.  Nam  motus  iste  adscensus  et  descensus 
non  admodum  imperiosus  est,  nec  etiam  universalis,  sed  tan- 
quam  provincialis  et  secundum  regiones ;  quin  et  aliis  mo- 
tibus  obsequens  et  subjectus.  Quod  vero  gravia  deorsum  ferri 
aiunt,  levia  sursum,  idem  est  ac  si  dicerent,  gravia  esse  gravia, 
levia  levia.  Quod  enim  prasdicatur,  id  ex  vi  ipsa  termini  in 
subjecto  assumitur.  Si  vero  per  grave  densum,  per  leve  rarum 
intelligunt,  promovent  nonnihil ;  ita  tamen  ut  ad  adjunctum  et 
concomitans,  potius  quam  ad  causam,  rem  deducant.  Qui  vero 
gravium  appetitum  ita  explicant,  ut  ad  centrum  terras  ilia  ferri 
contendant,  levia  ut 1  ad  circumferentiam  et  ambitum  cceli,  tan- 
quam  ad  loca  propria ;  asserunt  certe  aliquid,  atque  etiam  ad 
causam  innuunt,  sed  omnino  perperam.  Loci  enim  null*  sunt 
vires,  neque  corpus  nisi  a  corpore  patitur,  atque  omnis  incitatio 
corporis,  quas  videtur  esse  ad  se  collocandum,  appetit  atque 
molitur  configurationem  versus  aliud  corpus,  non  collocationem 
aut  situm  simplicem. 


1  So  in  the  original ;  but  the  ut  ought  probably  to  be  omitted.  —  J.  S, 


NEW  ATLANTIS.1 


1  The  Thema  Cali,  had  it  stood  by  itself,  would  have  followed  here ;  for  it  belongs 
properly  to  this  class,  and  was  written  before  the  St w  Atlantia.  But  being  so  closely 
connected  with  the  Descriptio  Globi  Intellectualis,  which  belongs  to  the  next,  it  was 
thought  better  not  to  separate  them. —  J.  S. 


121 


PREFACE, 


The  New  Atlantis  seems  to  have  been  written  in  1624,  and, 
though  not  finished,  to  have  been  intended  for  publication  as  it 
stands.  It  was  published  accordingly  by  Dr.  Hawley  in  1627, 
at  the  end  of  the  volume  containing  the  Sylva  Sylvarum ;  foi 
which  place  Bacon  had  himself  designed  it,  the  subjects  of  the 
two  being  so  near  akin  ;  the  one  representing  his  idea  of  what 
should  be  the  end  of  the  work  which  in  the  other  he  supposed 
himself  to  be  beginning.  For  the  story  of  Solomon’s  House 
is  nothing  more  than  a  vision  of  the  practical  results  which  he 
anticipated  from  the  study  of  natural  history  diligently  and 
systematically  carried  on  through  successive  generations. 

In  this  part  of  it,  the  work  may  probably  be  considered  as 
complete.  Of  the  state  of  Solomon’s  House  he  has  told  us  all 
that  he  was  as  yet  qualified  to  tell.  His  own  attempts  to 
“  interpret  nature  ”  suggested  the  apparatus  which  was  neces¬ 
sary  for  success :  he  had  but  to  furnish  Solomon’s  House  with 
the  instruments  and  preparations  which  he  had  himself  felt  the 
want  of.  The  difficulties  which  had  baffled  his  single  efforts 
to  provide  that  apparatus  for  himself  suggested  the  constitution 
and  regulations  of  a  society  formed  to  overcome  them :  he  had 
but  to  furnish  Solomon’s  House  with  the  helps  in  head  and 
hand  which  he  had  himself  wished  for.  His  own  intellectual 
aspirations  suggested  the  result:  he  had  but  to  set  down  as 
known  all  that  he  himself  most  longed  to  know.  But  here  he 
was  obliged  to  stop.  He  could  not  describe  the  process  of  a 
perfect  philosophical  investigation  ;  because  it  must  of  course 
have  proceeded  by  the  method  of  the  Novum  Organum,  which 
was  not  yet  expounded.  Nor  could  he  give  a  particular  ex¬ 
ample  of  the  result  of  such  investigation,  in  the  shape  of  a 
Form  or  an  Axiom ;  for  that  presupposed  the  completion,  not 
only  of  the  Novum  Organum,  but  (at  least  in  some  one  subject) 


122 


PREFACE  TO  THE  NEW  ATLANTIS. 


of  the  Natural  History  also ;  and  no  portion  of  the  Natural 
History  complete  enough  for  the  purpose  was  as  yet  producible. 
Here  therefore  he  stopped ;  and  it  would  almost  seem  that  the 
nature  of  the  difficulty  which  stood  in  his  way  had  reminded 
him  of  the  course  he  ought  to  take ;  for  just  at  this  point  (as 
we  learn  from  Dr.  Hawley)  he  did  in  fact  leave  his  fable  and 
return  to  his  work.  He  had  begun  it  with  the  intention  of 
exhibiting  a  model  political  constitution,  as  well  as  a  model 
college  of  natural  philosophy ;  but  “  his  desire  of  collecting 
the  natural  history  diverted  him,  which  he  preferred  many 
degrees  before  it.”  And  in  this,  according  to  his  own  view  of 
the  matter,  he  was  no  doubt  right ;  for  though  there  are  few 
people  now  who  would  not  gladly  give  all  the  Sylva  Sylvarum, 
had  there  been  ten  times  as  much  of  it,  in  exchange  for  an 
account  of  the  laws,  institutions,  and  administrative  arrange¬ 
ments  of  Bensalem,  it  was  not  so  with  Bacon ;  who  being 
deeper  read  in  the  phenomena  of  the  human  heart  than  in 
those  of  the  material  world,  probably  thought  the  perfect 
knowledge  of  nature  an  easier  thing  than  the  perfect  govern¬ 
ment  of  men,  —  easier  and  not  so  far  off ;  and  therefore  pre¬ 
ferred  to  work  where  there  was  fairest  hope  of  fruit. 

To  us,  who  can  no  longer  hope  for  the  fruits  which  Bacon 
expected,  the  New  Atlantis  is  chiefly  interesting  as  a  record  of 
his  own  feelings.  Perhaps  there  is  no  single  work  of  his  which 
has  so  much  of  himself  in  it.  The  description  of  Solomon’s 
House  is  the  description  of  the  vision  in  which  he  lived, — the 
vision  not  of  an  ideal  world  released  from  the  natural  condi¬ 
tions  to  which  ours  is  subject,  but  of  our  own  world  as  it 
might  be  made  if  we  did  our  duty  by  it ;  of  a  state  of  things 
which  he  believed  would  one  day  be  actually  seen  upon  this 
earth  such  as  it  is  by  men  such  as  we  are ;  and  the  coming  of 
which  he  believed  that  his  own  labours  were  sensibly  hasten¬ 
ing.  The  account  of  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  people 
of  Bensalem  is  an  account  of  his  own  taste  in  humanity ;  for  a 
man’s  ideal,  though  not  necessarily  a  description  of  what  he  is, 
is  almost  always  an  indication  of  what  he  would  be ;  and  in 
the  sober  piety,  the  serious  cheerfulness,  the  tender  and  gra¬ 
cious  courtesy,  the  open-handed  hospitality,  the  fidelity  in 
public  and  chastity  in  private  life,  the  grave  and  graceful 
manners,  tire  order,  decency,  and  earnest  industry,  which 
prevail  among  these  people,  we  recognise  an  image  of  himself 


PREFACE  TO  THE  NEW  ATLANTIS. 


123 


made  perfect,  —  of  that  condition  of  the  human  soul  which 
he  loved  in  others,  and  aspired  towards  in  himself.  Even  the 
dresses,  the  household  arrangements,  the  order  of  their  feasts 
and  solemnities,  their  very  gestures  of  welcome  and  salutation, 
have  an  interest  and  significance  independent  of  the  fiction, 
as  so  many  records  of  Bacon’s  personal  taste  in  such  matters. 
Nor  ought  the  stories  which  the  Governor  of  the  House  of 
Strangers  tells  about  the  state  of  navigation  and  population 
in  the  early  post-diluvian  ages,  to  be  regarded  merely  as 
romances  invented  to  vary  and  enrich  the  narrative,  but  ra¬ 
ther  as  belonging  to  a  class  of  serious  speculations  to  which 
Bacon’s  mind  was  prone.  As  in  his  visions  of  the  future, 
embodied  in  the  achievements  of  Solomon’s  House,  there  is 
nothing  which  he  did  not  conceive  to  be  really  practicable  by 
the  means  which  he  supposes  to  be  used ;  so  in  his  speculations 
concerning  the  past,  embodied  in  the  traditions  of  Bensalem, 
I  doubt  whether  there  be  any  (setting  aside,  of  course,  the 
particular  history  of  the  fabulous  island)  which  he  did  not 
believe  to  be  historically  probable.  Whether  it  were  that  the 
progress  of  the  human  race  in  knowledge  and  art  seemed  to 
him  too  small  to  be  accounted  for  otherwise  than  by  supposing 
occasional  tempests  of  destruction,  in  which  all  that  had  been 
gathered  was  swept  away, —  or  that  the  vicissitudes  which  had 
actually  taken  place  during  the  short  periods  of  which  we  know 
something  had  suggested  to  him  the  probability  of  similar  ac¬ 
cidents  during  those  long  tracts  of  time  of  which  we  know 
nothing, — or  merely  that  the  imagination  is  prone  by  nature  to 
people  darkness  with  shadows, — certain  it  is  that  the  tendency 
was  strong  in  Bacon  to  credit  the  past  with  wonders ;  to  sup¬ 
pose  that  the  world  had  brought  forth  greater  things  than  it 
remembered,  had  seen  periods  of  high  civilisation  buried  in 
oblivion,  great  powers  and  peoples  swept  away  and  extin¬ 
guished.  In  the  year  1607,  he  avowed  before  the  House  of 
Commons  a  belief  that  in  some  forgotten  period  of  her  history 
(possibly  during  the  Heptarchy)  England  had  been  far  better 
peopled  than  she  was  then.  In  1609,  when  he  published  the 
Be  Sapientia  Veterum,  he  inclined  to  believe  that  an  age  of 
higher  intellectual  development  than  any  the  world  then  knew 
of  had  flourished  and  passed  out  of  memory  long  before  Homer 
and  Hesiod  wrote ;  and  this  upon  the  clearest  and  most  deli¬ 
berate  review  of  all  the  obvious  objections;  and  more  deci- 


124 


PREFACE  TO  THE  NEW  ATLANTIS. 


dedly  than  he  had  done  four  years  before  when  he  published 
the  Advancement  of  Learning.  And  I  have  little  doubt  that 
when  he  wrote  the  New  Atlantis  he  thought,  it  not  improbable 
that  the  state  of  navigation  in  the  world  3000  years  before 
was  really  such  as  the  Governor  of  the  House  of  Strangers 
describes;  that  some  such  naval  expeditions  as  those  of  Coy  a 
and  Tyrambel  may  really  have  taken  place ;  and  that  the 
early  civilisation  of  the  Great  Atlantis  may  really  have  been 
drowned  by  a  deluge  and  left  to  begin  its  career  again  from  a 
state  of  mere  barbarism. 

Among  the  few  works  of  fiction  which  Bacon  attempted,  the 
New  Atlantis  is  much  the  most  considerable ;  which  gives  an 
additional  interest  to  it,  and  makes  one  the  more  regret  that  it 
was  not  finished  according  to  the  original  design.  Had  it  pro¬ 
ceeded  to  the  end  in  a  manner  worthy  of  the  beginning,  it 
would  have  stood,  as  a  work  of  art,  among  the  most  perfect 
compositions  of  its  kind. 


The  notes  to  this  piece,  which  are  not  marked  with  Mr. 
Ellis’s  initials,  are  mine. 


J.  s. 


NEW  ATLANTIS: 

A  WORK  UNFINISHED. 

WRITTEN  BY 

THE  RIGHT  HONOURABLE 


FRANCIS  LORD  VERULAM,  VISCOUNT  ST.  ALBAN. 


127 


TO  THE  READER, 


This  fable  my  Lord  devised,  to  the  end  that  he  might  ex¬ 
hibit  therein  a  model  or  description  of  a  college  instituted  for 
the  interpreting  of  nature  and  the  producing  of  great  and 
marvellous  works  for  the  benefit  of  men,  under  the  name  of 
Salomon’s  House,  or  the  College  of  the  Six  Days’  Works. 
And  even  so  far  his  Lordship  hath  proceeded,  as  to  finish 
that  part.  Certainly  the  model  is  more  vast  and  high  than 
can  possibly  be  imitated  in  all  things ;  notwithstanding  most 
things  therein  are  within  men’s  power  to  effect.  His  Lord- 
ship  thought  also  in  this  present  fable  to  have  composed  a 
frame  of  Laws,  or  of  the  best  state  or  mould  of  a  common¬ 
wealth  ;  but  foreseeing  it  would  be  a  long  work,  his  desire 
of  collecting  the  Natural  History1  diverted  him,  which  he 
preferred  many  degrees  before  it. 

This  work  of  the  New  Atlantis  (as  much  as  concerneth  the 
English  edition)  his  Lordship  designed  for  this  place 2 ;  in  regard 
it  hath  so  near  affinity  (in  one  part  of  it)  with  the  preceding 
Natural  History. 


W.  RAWLEY. 


1  In  the  Latin  translation  Rawley  adds,  aliarumque  Instaurationis  partivm  con- 
texendarum ;  alluding  probably  to  the  De  Any  mentis,  the  only  portion  of  tile  Instau- 
ration,  not  belonging  to  the  Natural  History,  which  he  seems  to  have  been  employed 
upon  afterwards. 

2  It  was  published  at  the  end  of  the  volume  containing  the  Sylva  Sylvarum.  The 
titiepage  bears  no  date. 


129 


NEW  ATLANTIS. 


We  sailed  from  Peru,  (where  we  had  continued  by  the  space 
of  one  whole  year,)  for  China  and  Japan,  by  the  South  Sea'; 
taking  with  us  victuals  for  twelve  months ;  and  had  good 
winds  from  the  east,  though  soft  and  weak,  for  five  months’ 
space  and  more.  But  then  the  wind  came  about,  and  settled 

in  the  west  for  many  days,  so  as  we  could  make  little  or  no 

way,  and  were  sometimes  in  purpose  to  turn  back.  But  then 
again  there  arose  strong  and  great  winds  from  the  south, 
with  a  point  east ;  which  carried  us  up  (for  all  that  we  could 
do)  towards  the  north :  by  which  time  our  victuals  failed  us, 

though  we  had  made  good  spare  of  them.  So  that  finding 

ourselves  in  the  midst  of  the  greatest  wilderness  of  waters  in 
the  world,  without  victual,  we  gave  ourselves  for  lost  men, 
a  d  prepared  for  death.  Yet  we  did  lift  up  our  hearts  and 
voices  to  God  above,  who  showeth  his  wonders  in  the  deep ;  be¬ 
seeching  him  of  his  mercy,  that  as  in  the  beginning  he  dis¬ 
covered2  the  face  of  the  deep,  and  brought  forth  dry  land,  so  he 
would  now  discover  land  to  us,  that  we  might3  not  perish. 
And  it  came  to  pass  that  the  next  day  about  evening,  we  saw 
within  a  kenning  before  us,  towards  the  north,  as  it  were  thick 
clouds,  which  did  put  us  in  some  hope  of  land ;  knowing  how 
that  part  of  the  South  Sea  was  utterly  unknown ;  and  might 
have  islands  or  continents,  that  hitherto  were  not  come  to 
light.  Wherefore  we  bent  our  course  thither,  where  we  saw 
the  appearance  of  land,  all  that  night;  and  in  the  dawning  of 
the  next  day,  we  might  plainly  discern  that  it  was  a  land ;  flat 
to  our  sight,  and  full  of  boscage ;  which  made  it  shew  the 

1  The  words  “  by  the  South  Sea  ”  are  omitted  in  the  translation. 

!  So  in  the  original.  If  discovered  be  the  right  word,  it  must  mean  removed  the 
covering  of  the  face  of  the  deep.  But  I  think  there  must  be  some  mistake.  The 
Latin  version  has  quemadmodum  in  principio  congreggtiones  aquarum  mandavit  et 
Aridam  apparere  fecit.  The  allusion  is,  no  doubt,  to  Genes,  i.  9.:  “  Let  the  waters 
under  the  heaven  be  gathered  together  unto  one  place,  and  let  the  dry  land  appear.” 

3  movght  in  the  original  ;  a  form  of  the  word  frequently,  though  not  uniformly, 
adopted  by  Bacon.  1  have  always  substituted  might. 


130 


NEW  ATLANTIS. 


more  dark.  And  after  an  hour  and  a  half  s  sailing,  we  entered 
into  a  good  haven,  being  the  port  of  a  fair  city  ;  not  great  in¬ 
deed,  but  well  built,  and  that  gave  a  pleasant  view  from  the 
sea 1 :  and  we  thinking  every  minute  long  till  we  were  on  land, 
came  close  to  the  shore,  and  offered  to  land.  But  straightways 
we  saw  divers  of  the  people,  with  bastons  in  their  hands,  as  it 
were  forbidding  us  to  land  ;  yet  without  any  cries  or  fierceness, 
but  only  as  warning  us  off  by  signs  that  they  made.  Where¬ 
upon  being  not  a  little  discomforted,  we  were  advising  with 
ourselves  what  we  should  do.  During  which  time  there  made 
forth  to  us  a  small  boat,  with  about  eight  persons  in  it ;  whereof 
one  of  them  had  in  his  hand  a  tipstaff  of  a  yellow  cane,  tipped 
at  both  ends  with  blue,  who  came  aboard  our  ship,  without  any 
show  of  distrust  at  all.  And  when  he  saw  one  of  our  number 
present  himself  somewhat  afore  the  rest,  he  drew  forth  a  little 
scroll  of  parchment,  (somewhat  yellower  than  our  parchment, 
and  shining  like  the  leaves  of  writing  tables,  but  otherwise 
soft  and  flexible,)  and  delivered  it  to  our  foremost  man.  In 
which  scroll  were  written  in  ancient  Hebrew,  and  in  ancient 
Greek,  and  in  good  Latin  of  the  School,  and  in  Spanish,  these 
words ;  “  Land  ye  not,  none  of  you ;  and  provide  to  be  gone 
from  this  coast  within  sixteen  days,  except  you  have  further 
time  given  you.  Meanwhile,  if  you  want  fresh  water,  or 
victual,  or  help  for  your  sick,  or  that  your  ship  needeth  repair, 
write  down  your  wants,  and  you  shall  have  that  which  be- 
longeth  to  mercy.”  This  scroll  was  signed  with  a  stamp  of 
cherubins’  wings,  not  spread  but  hanging  downwards,  and  by 
them  a  cross.  This  being  delivered,  the  officer  returned,  and 
left  only  a  servant  with  us  to  receive  our  answer.  Consulting 
hereupon  amongst  ourselves,  we  were  much  perplexed.  The 
denial  of  landing  and  hasty  warning  us  away  troubled  us  much ; 
on  the  other  side,  to  find  that  the  people  had  languages  and 
were  so  full  of  humanity,  did  comfort  us  not  a  little.  And 
above  all,  the  sign  of  the  cross  to  that  instrument  was  to  us  a 
great  rejoicing,  and  as  it  were  a  certain  presage  of  good.  Our 
answer  was  in  the  Spanish  tongue  ;  “  That  for  our  ship,  it  was 
well ;  for  we  had  rather  met  with  calms  and  contrary  winds 
than  any  tempests.  For  our  sick,  they  were  many,  and  in  very 
ill  case ;  so  that  if  they  were  not  permitted  to  land,  they  ran 
danger  of  their  lives.”  Our  other  wants  we  set  down  in  parti 

1  ex  qua  parte  Mare  spectabat,  elegantiam  magnam  pra  se  tulit.  —  Lat.  vers. 


NEW  ATLANTIS. 


131 


cular ;  adding,  “  that  we  had  some  little  store  of  merchandise, 
which  if  it  pleased  them  to  deal  for,  it  might  supply  our  wants 
without  beino;  chargeable  unto  them.”  We  offered  some  re- 
ward  in  pistolets  unto  the  servant,  and  a  piece  of  crimson  vel¬ 
vet  to  be  presented  to  the  officer ;  but  the  servant  took  them  not, 
nor  would  scarce  look  upon  them ;  and  so  left  us,  and  went 
back  in  another  little  boat  which  was  sent  for  him. 

About  three  hours  after  we  had  dispatched  our  answer,  there 
came  towards  us  a  person  (as  it  seemed)  of  place.  He  had  on 
him  a  gown  with  wide  sleeves,  of  a  kind  of  water  chamolet,  of 
an  excellent  azure  colour,  far  more  glossy  than  ours ;  his  under 
apparel  was  green ;  and  so  was  his  hat,  being  in  the  form  of 
a  turban,  daintily  made,  and  not  so  huge  as  the  Turkish  tur¬ 
bans  ;  and  the  locks  of  his  hair  came  down  below  the  brims  of 
it.  A  reverend  man  was  he  to  behold.  He  came  in  a  boat, 
gilt  in  some  part  of  it,  with  four  persons  more  only  in  that 
boat;  and  was  followed  by  another  boat,  wherein  were  some 
twenty.  When  he  was  come  within  a  flight-shot 1  of  our  ship, 
signs  were  made  to.  us  that  we  should  send  forth  some  to  meet 
him  upon  the  water ;  which  we  presently  did  in  our  ship-boat, 
sending  the  principal  man  amongst  us  save  one,  and  four  of  our 
number  with  him.  When  we  were  come  within  six  yards  of 
their  boat,  they  called  to  us  to  stay,  and  not  to  approach  far¬ 
ther;  which  we  did.  And  thereupon  the  man  whom  I  before 
described  stood  up,  and  with  a  loud  voice  in  Spanish,  asked, 
“Are  ye  Christians?”  We  answered,  “We  were;”  fearing  the 
less,  because  of  the  cross  we  had  seen  in  the  subscription.  At 
which  answer  the  said  person  lifted  up  his  right  hand  towards 
heaven,  and  drew  it  softly  to  his  mouth,  (which  is  the  gesture 
they  use  when  they  thank  God,)  and  then  said :  ‘  If  ye  will 
swear  (all  of  you)  by  the  merits  of  the  Saviour  that  ye  are 
no  pirates,  nor  have  shed  blood  lawfully  nor  unlawfully  within 
forty  days  past,  you  may  have  licence  to  come  on  land.”  We 
said,  “  We  were  all  ready  to  take  that  oath.”  Whereupon  one 
of  those  that  were  with  him,  being  (as  it  seemed)  a  notary, 
made  an  entry  of  this  act.  Wffiich  done,  another  of  the 
attendants  of  the  great  person,  which  was  with  him  in  the 
same  boat,  after  his  lord  had  spoken  a  little  to  him,  said  aloud ; 

1  spiculi  jactum.  When  archers  try  which  can  shoot  furthest,  they  call  it  flight- 
shooting.  The  distance  would  be  between  200  and  300  yards.  Old  Double,  accord¬ 
ing  to  Justice  Shallow,  would  have  “  carried  you  a  forehand  shaft  a  fourteen  and 
fourteen  and  half;”  that  is,  284  or  294  yards.  See  Hen.  IV.  Part  II.  act  3.  sc.  2. 


10  Bacon  111 


132 


NEW  ATLANTIS. 


“  My  lord  would  have  you  know,  that  it  is  not  of  pride  or 
greatness  that  he  cometh  not  aboard  your  ship  ;  but  for  that  in 
your  answer  you  declare  that  you  have  many  sick  amongst 
you,  he  was  warned  by  the  Conservator  of  Health  of  the  city 
that  he  should  keep  a  distance.”  We  bowed  ourselves  towards 
him,  and  answered,  “  We  were  his  humble  servants;  and  ac¬ 
counted  for  great  honour  and  singular  humanity  towards  us 
that  which  was  already  done ;  but  hoped  well  that  the  nature 
of  the  sickness  of  our  men  was  not  infectious.”  So  he  re¬ 
turned  ;  and  a  while  after  came  the  notary  to  us  aboard  our 
ship ;  holding  in  his  hand  a  fruit  of  that  country,  like  an  orange, 
but  of  colour  between  orange-tawney  and  scarlet,  which  cast  a 
most  excellent  odour.  He  used  it  (as  it  seemeth)  for  a  pre¬ 
servative  against  infection.  He  gave  us  our  oath  ;  “  By  the 
name  of  Jesus  and  his  merits and  after  told  us  that  the  next 
day  by  six  of  the  clock  in  the  morning  we  should  be  sent  to, 
and  brought  to  the  Strangers’  House,  (so  he  called  it,)  where  we 
should  be  accommodated  of  things  both  for  our  whole  and  for 
our  sick.  So  he  left  us ;  and  when  we 1  offered  him  some  pis- 
tolets,  he  smiling  said,  “  He  must  not  be  twice  paid  for  one 
labour meaning  (as  I  take  it)  that  he  had  salary  sufficient  of 
v  the  state  for  his  service.  For  (as  I  after  learned)  they  call  an 
officer  that  taketh  rewards,  twice  paid. 

The  next  morning  early,  there  came  to  us  the  same  officer 
that  came  to  us  at  first  with  his  cane,  and  told  U3,  “  He  came  to 
conduct  us  to  the  Strangers’  House;  and  that  he  had  prevented 
the  hour,  because  we  might  have  the  whole  day  before  us  for 
our  business.  “  For,”  said  he,  “  if  you  will  follow  my  advice, 
there  shall  first  go  with  me  some  few  of  you,  and  see  the  place, 
and  how  it  may  be  made  convenient  for  you ;  and  then  you 
may  send  for  your  sick,  and  the  rest  of  your  number  which  ye 
will  bring  on  land.”  We  thanked  him,  and  said,  ‘-'That  this  care 
which  he  took  of  desolate  strangers  God  would  reward.”  And 
so  six  of  us  went  on  land  with  him:  and  when  we  were  on 
land,  he  went  before  us,  and  turned  to  us,  and  said  2,  “  He 
was  but  our  servant,  and  our  guide.”  He  led  us  through  three 
fair  streets ;  and  all  the  way  we  went  there  were  gathered 
some  people  on  both  sides  standing  in  a.  row ;  but  in  so  civil  a 
fashion,  as  if  it  had  been  not  to  wonder  at  us 3  but  to  welcome 

So  ed.  1635.  Ed.  1629  has  he.  2  et  dixit ,  perhumand  certi,  fyc. 

ut  viderentur  non  tam  nd  otiosum  spectaculum  convenisse  quam  §*c. 


NEW  ATLANTIS. 


133 


us  ;  and  divers  of  them,  as  we  passed  by  them,  put  their  arms 
a  little  abroad  ;  which  is  their  gesture  when  they  bid  any  wel¬ 
come.  The  Strangers’  House  is  a  fair  and  spacious  house,  built 
of  brick,  of  somewhat  a  bluer  colour  than  our  brick  ;  and  with 
handsome  windows,  some  of  glass,  some  of  a  kind  of  cambric 
oiled.  He  brought  us  first  into  a  fair  parlour  above  stairs,  and 
then  asked  us,  “  What  number  of  persons  we  were  ?  And  how 
many  sick  ?  ”  We  answered,  “We  were  in  all  (sick  and  whole) 
one  and  fifty  persons,  whereof  our  sick  were  seventeen.”  He 
desired  us  to  have  patience  a  little,  and  to  stay  till  he  came 
back  to  us ;  which  was  about  an  hour  after  ;  and  then  he  led 
us  to  see  the  chambers  which  were  provided  for  us,  being 
in  number  nineteen :  they  having  cast  it  (as  it  seemeth)  that 
four  of  those  chambers,  which  were  better  than  the  rest,  might 
receive  four  of  the  principal  men  of  our  company,  and  lodge 
them  alone  by  themselves ;  and  the  other  fifteen  chambers  were 
to  lodge  us  two  and  two  together.  The  chambers  were  hand¬ 
some  and  cheerful  chambei'S,  and  furnished  civilly.  Then  he 
led  us  to  a  long  gallery,  like  a  dorture ',  where  he  showed  us  all 
along  the  one  side  (for  the  other  side  was  but  wall  and  window) 
seventeen  cells,  very  neat  ones,  having  partitions  of  cedar  wood. 
Which  gallery  and  cells,  being  in  all  forty,  (many  more  than  we 
needed,)  were  instituted  as  an  infirmary  for  sick  persons.  And 
he  told  us  withal,  that  as  any  of  our  sick  waxed  well,  he  might 
be  removed  from  his  cell  to  a  chamber;  for  which  purpose 
there  were  set  forth  ten  spare  chambers,  besides  the  number  we 
spake  of  before.  This  done,  he  brought  us  back  to  the  parlour, 
and  lifting  up  his  cane  a  little,  (as  they  do  when  they  give  any 
charge  or  command1 2,)  said  to  us,  “Ye  are  to  know  that  the 
custom  of  the  land  requireth,  that  after  this  day  and  to-morrow, 
(which  we  give  you  for  removing  of  your  people  from  your  ship,) 
you  are  to  keep  within  doors  for  three  days.  But  let  it  not 
trouble  you,  nor  do  not  think  yourselves  restrained,  but  rather 
left  to  your  rest  and  ease.  You  shall  want  nothing,  and  there 
are  six  of  our  people  appointed  to  attend  you,  for  any  business 
you  may  have  abroad.”  Wre  gave  him  thanks  with  all  affection 
and  respect,  and  said,  “  God  surely  is  manifested  in  this  land.’ 
We  offered  him  also  twenty  pistolets ;  but  he  smiled,  and  only 

1  Dormitory.  The  Latin  translation  has.  qualia  solent  esse  dormitoria  mcnachorum 

2  i.  e.t  any  charge  which  they  have  received  from  superior  authority  —  ( quod  in 
more  ilhs  erat  quoties  ministri  mandata  superiorum  referunt). 


134 


NEW  ATLANTIS. 


said ;  “  What  ?  twice  paid  !  ”  And  so  he  left  us.  Soon  after 
our  dinner  was  served  in ;  which  was  right  good  viands,  both 
for  bread  and  meat 1 :  better  than  any  collegiate  diet  that  I 
have  known  in  Europe.  We  had  also  drink  of  three  sorts,  all 
wholesome  and  good ;  wine  of  the  grape ;  a  drink  of  grain, 
such  as  is  with  us  our  ale,  but  more  clear ;  and  a  kind  of  cider 
made  of  a  fruit  of  that  country ;  a  wonderful  pleasing  and  re¬ 
freshing  drink.  Besides,  there  were  brought  in  to  us  great 
store  of  those  scarlet  oranges  for  our  sick ;  which  (they  said) 
were  an  assured  remedy  for  sickness  taken  at  sea.  There 
was  given  us  also  a  box  of  small  grey  or  whitish  pills,  which 
they  wished  our  sick  should  take,  one  of  the  pills  every  night 
before  sleep ;  which  (they  said)  would  hasten  their  recovery. 
The  next  day,  after  that  our  trouble  of  carriage  and  removing 
of  our  men  and  goods  out  of  our  ship  was  somewhat  settled  and 
quiet,  I  thought  good  to  call  our  company  together ;  and  when 
they  were  assembled  said  unto  them ;  “  My  dear  friends,  let 
us  know  ourselves,  and  how  it  standeth  with  us.  We  are  men 
cast  on  land,  as  Jonas  was  out  of  the  whale’s  belly,  when  we 
were  as  buried  in  the  deep :  and  now  we  are  on  land,  we  are 
but  between  death  and  life ;  for  we  are  beyond  both  the  old 
world  and  the  new  ;  and  whether  ever  we  shall  see  Europe, 
God  only  knoweth.  It  is  a  kind  of  miracle  hath  brought  us 
hither:  and  it  must  be  little  less  that  shall  bring  us  hence. 
Therefore  in  regard  of  our  deliverance  past,  and  our  danger 
present  and  to  come,  let  us  look  up  to  God,  and  every  man  re¬ 
form  his  own  ways.  Besides  we  are  come  here  amongst  a 
Christian  people,  full  of  piety  and  humanity  :  let  us  not  bring 
that  confusion  of  face  upon  ourselves,  as  to  show  our  vices  or 
unworthiness  before  them.  Yet  there  is  more.  For  they  have 
by  commandment  (though  in  form  of  courtesy)  cloistered  us 
within  these  walls  for  three  days:  who  knoweth  whether  it 
be  not  to  take  some  taste  of  our  manners  and  conditions? 
and  if  they  find  them  bad,  to  banish  us  straightways  ;  if  good, 
to  give  us  further  time.  For  these  men  that  they  have  given 
us  for  attendance  may  withal  have  an  eye  upon  us.  Therefore 
for  God’s  love,  and  as  we  love  the  w.eal  of  our  souls  and  bodies, 
let  us  so  behave  ourselves  as  we  may  be  at  peace  with  God,  and 
may  find  grace  in  the  eyes  of  this  people.”  Our  company  with 

1  The  translation  has  both  for  meat  and  drink ;  tarn  respectu  ciborum  quam  potus  ; 
and  In  the  next  line  but  one,  Potus  erat  trium  generum,  Sfc. 


NEW  ATLANTIS. 


135 


one  voice  thanked  me  for  my  good  admonition,  and  promised 
me  to  live  soberly  and  civilly,  and  without  giving  any  the  least 
occasion  of  offence.  So  we  spent  our  three  days  joyfully  and 
without  care,  in  expectation  what  would  be  done  with  us  when 
they  were  expired.  During  which  time,  we  had  every  hour 
joy  of  the  amendment  of  our  sick;  who  thought  themselves 
cast  into  some  divine  pool  of  healing,  they  mended  so  kindly 
and  so  fast. 

The  morrow  after  our  three  days  were  past,  there  came  to 
us  a  new  man  that  we  had  not  seen  before,  clothed  in  blue  as 
the  former  was,  save  that  his  turban  was  white,  with  a  small 
red  cross  on  the  top.  He  had  also  a  tippet  of  fine  linen.  At 
his  coming  in,  he  did  bend  to  us  a  little,  and  put  his  arms 
abroad.  We  of  our  parts  saluted  him  in  a  very  lowly  and  sub¬ 
missive  manner ;  as  looking  that  from  him  we  should  receive 
sentence  of  life  or  death.  He  desired  to  speak  with  some  few 
of  us :  whereupon  six  of  us  only  stayed,  and  the  rest  avoided 
the  room.  He  said,  “  I  am  by  office  governor  of  this  House  of 
Strangers,  and  by  vocation  I  am  a  Christian  priest;  and  there¬ 
fore  am  come  to  you  to  offer  you  my  service,  both  as -strangers 
and  chiefly  as  Christians.  Some  things  I  may  tell  you,  which 
I  think  you  will  not  be  unwilling  to  hear.  The  state  hath 
given  you  licence  to  stay  on  land  for  the  space  of  six  weeks : 
and  let  it  not  trouble  you  if  your  occasions  ask  further  time, 
for  the  law  in  this  point  is  not  precise ;  and  I  do  not  doubt  but 
myself  shall  be  able  to  obtain  for  you  such  further  time  as  may 
be  convenient.  Ye  shall  also  understand,  that  the  Strangers’ 
House  is  at  this  time  rich,  and  much  aforehand ;  for  it  hath  laid 
up  revenue  these  thirty-seven  years ;  for  so  long  it  is  since  any 
stranger  arrived  in  this  part :  and  therefore  take  ye  no  care  ; 
the  state  will  defray  you  all  the  time  you  stay ;  neither  shall 
you  stay  one  day  the  less  for  that.  As  for  any  merchandise  ye 
have  brought,  ye  shall  be  well  used,  and  have  your  return 
either  in  merchandise  or  in  gold  and  silver :  for  to  us  it  is  all 
one.  And  if  you  have  any  other  request  to  make,  hide  it  not. 
For  ye  shall  find  we  will  not  make  your  countenance  to  fall  by 
the  answer  ye  shall  receive.  Only  this  I  must  tell  you,  that 
none  of  you  must  go  above  a  karan  ”  (that  is  with  them  a  mile 
and  an  half)  “from  the  walls  of  the  city,  without  especial  leave.’ 
We  answered,  after  we  had  looked  awhile  one  upon  another’ 
admiring  this  gracious  and  parent-like  usage ;  “  That  we  could 


136 


NEW  ATLANTIS. 


not  tell  what  to  say:  for  we  wanted  words  to  express  our 
thanks ;  and  his  noble  free  offers  left  us  nothing  to  ask.  It 
seemed  to  us  that  we  had  before  us  a  picture  of  our  salvation 
in  heaven ;  for  we  that  were  awhile  since  in  the  jaws  of  death, 
were  now  brought  into  a  place  where  we  found  nothing  but 
consolations.  For  the  commandment  laid  upon  us,  we  would 
not  fail  to  obey  it,  though  it  was  impossible  hut  our  hearts 
should  be  inflamed  to  tread  further  upon  this  happy  and  holy 
ground.”  We  added  ;  “  That  our  tongues  should  first  cleave  to 
tiie  roofs  of  our  mouths,  ere  we  should  forget  either  his  re¬ 
verend  person  or  this  whole  nation  in  our  prayers.”  We  also 
most  humbly  besought  him  to  accept  of  us  as  his  true  servants, 
by  as  just  a  right  as  ever  men  on  earth  were  bounden ;  laying 
and  presenting  both  our  persons  and  all  we  had  at  his  feet. 
He  said ;  “  He  was  a  priest,  and  looked  for  a  priest’s  reward : 
which  was  our  brotherly  love  and  the  good  of  our  souls  and 
bodies.”  So  he  went  from  us,  not  without  tears  of  tenderness 
in  his  eyes ;  and  left  us  also  confused  with  joy  and  kindness, 
saying  amongst  ourselves,  “  That  we  were  come  into  a  land  of 
angels,  which  did  appear  to  us  daily  and  prevent  us  with  com¬ 
forts,  which  we  thought  not  of,  much  less  expected.” 

The  next  day,  about  ten  of  the  clock,  the  governor  came  to  us 
again,  and  after  salutations  said  familiarly,  “  That  he  was  come 
to  visit  us”:  and  called  for  a  chair,  and  sat  him  down  :  and  we, 
being  some  ten  of  us,  (the  rest  were  of  the  meaner  sort,  or  else 
gone  abroad,)  sat  down  with  him.  And  when  we  were  set,  he 
began  thus :  “  We  of  this  island  of  Bensalem,”  (for  so  they  call 
it  in  their  language,)  “have  this;  that  by  means  of  our  solitary 
situation,  and  of  the  laws  of  secrecy  which  we  have  for  our 
travellers,  and  our  rare  admission  of  strangers,  we  know  well 
most  part  of  the  habitable  world,  and  are  ourselves  unknown. 
Therefore  because  he  that  knoweth  least  is  fittest  to  ask  ques¬ 
tions,  it  is  more  reason,  for  the  entertainment  of  the  time,  that 
ye  ask  me  questions,  than  that  I  ask  you.”  We  answered; 
“  That  we  humbly  thanked  him  that  he  would  give  us  leave  so 
to  do  :  and  that  we  conceived  by  the  taste  we  had  already,  that 
there  was  no  worldly  thing  on  earth  more  worthy  to  be  known 
than  the  state  of  that  happy  land.  But  above  all,”  (we  said,) 
“  since  that  we  were  met  from  the  several  ends  of  the  world, 
and  hoped  assuredly  that  we  should  meet  one  day  in  the  king¬ 
dom  of  heaven,  (for  that  we  were  both  parts  Christians,)  we 


NEW  ATLANTIS. 


137 


desired  to  know  (in  respect  that  land  was  so  remote,  and  so 
divided  by  vast  and  unknown  seas,  from  the  land  where  our 
Saviour  walked  on  earth,)  who  was  the  apostle  of  that  nation, 
and  how  it  was  converted  to  the  faith?”  It  appeared  in  his 
face  that  he  took  great  contentment  in  this  our  question :  he 
said,  “Ye  knit  my  heart  to  you,  by  asking  this  question  in  the 
first  place ;  for  it  sheweth  that  you  first  seek  the  kingdom  of 
heaven ;  and  I  shall  gladly  and  briefly  satisfy  your  demand. 

“  About  twenty  years  after  the  ascension  of  our  Saviour,  it 
came  to  pass  that  there  was  seen  by  the  people  of  Renfusa, 
(a  city  upon  the  eastern  coast  of  our  island,)  within  night,  (the 
night  was  cloudy  and  calm,)  as  it  might  be  some  mile  into  the 
sea,  a  great  pillar  of  light ;  not  sharp,  but  in  form  of  a  column 
or  cylinder,  rising  from  the  sea  a  great  way  up  towards  heaven : 
and  on  the  top  of  it  was  seen  a  large  cross  of  light,  more  bright 
and  resplendent  than  the  body  of  the  pillar.  Upon  which  so 
strange  a  spectacle,  the  people  of  the  city  gathered  apace  toge¬ 
ther  upon  the  sands,  to  wonder;  and  so  after  put  themselves 
into  a  number  of  small  boats,  to  go  nearer  to  this  marvellous 
sight.  But  when  the  boats  were  come  within  about  sixty  yards 
of  the  pillar,  they  found  themselves  all  bound,  and  could  go  no 
further ;  yet  so  as  they  might  move  to  go  about,  but  might 
not  approach  nearer :  so  as  the  boats  stood  all  as  in  a  theatre,  be¬ 
holding  this  light  as  an  heavenly  sign.1  It  so  fell  out,  that  there 
was  in  one  of  the  boats  one  of  the  wise  men  of  the  society  of 
Salomon’s  House;  which  house  or  college  (my  good  brethren)  is 
the  very  eye  of  this  kingdom ;  who  having  awhile  attentively 
and  devoutly  viewed  and  contemplated  this  pillar  and  cross, 
fell  down  upon  his  face ;  and  then  raised  himself  upon  his 
knees,  and  lifting  up  his  hands  to  heaven,  made  his  prayers  in 
this  manner : 

«  ‘  Lord  God  of  heaven  and  earth,  thou  hast  vouchsafed  of 
thy  grace  to  those  of  our  order,  to  know  thy  works  of  creation, 
and  the  secrets  of  them ;  and  to  discern  (as  far  as  appertaineth 
to  the  generations  of  men)  between  divine  miracles,  works  of 
nature,  works  of  art,  and  impostures  and  illusions  of  all  sorts.2 
I  do  here  acknowledge  and  testify  before  this  people,  that  the 
thing  which  we  now  see  before  our  eyes  is  thy  Finger  and  a 
true  Miracle ;  and  forasmuch  as  we  learn  in  our  books  that 

1  tanquam  scenam  ccele$temy  in  the  translation. 

2  iUusioncs  dcemonum.  cum  impost  uri 8  omnimodis. 


138 


NEW  ATLANTIS. 


thou  never  workest  miracles  but  to  a  divine  and  excellent  end, 
(for  the  laws  of  nature  are  thine  own  laws,  and  thou  exceedest 
them  not  but  upon  great  cause,)  we  most  humbly  beseech  thee 
to  prosper  this  great  sign,  and  to  give  us  the  interpretation  and 
use  of  it  in  mercy ;  which  thou  dost  in  some  part  secretly  pro¬ 
mise  by  sending  it  unto  us.’ 

“When  he  had  made  his  prayer,  he  presently  found  the 
boat  he  was  in  moveable  and  unbound;  whereas  all  the  rest 
remained  still  fast ;  and  taking  that  for  an  assurance  of  leave 
to  approach,  he  caused  the  boat  to  be  softly  and  with  silence 
rowed  towards  the  pillar.  But  ere  he  came  near  it,  the  pillar 
and  cross  of  light  brake  up,  and  cast  itself  abroad,  as  it  were, 
into  a  firmament  of  many  stars ;  which  also  vanished  soon 
after,  and  there  was  nothing  left  to  be  seen  but  a  small  ark  or 
chest  of  cedar,  dry,  and  not  wet  at  all  with  water,  though  it 
swam.  And  in  the  fore-end  of  it,  which  was  towards  him, 
grew  a  small  green  branch  of  palm  ;  and  when  the  wise  man 
had  taken  it  with  all  reverence  into  his  boat,  it  opened  of  itself, 
and  there  were  found  in  it  a  Book  and  a  Letter  ;  both  written 
in  fine  parchment,  and  wrapped  in  sindons  of  linen.  The  Book 
contained  all  the  canonical  books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa¬ 
ment,  according  as  you  have  them,  (for  we  know  well  what  the 
Churches  with. you  receive);  and  the  Apocalypse  itself  *,  and 
some  other  books  of  the  New  Testament  which  were  not  at  that 
time  written,  were  nevertheless  in  the  Book.  And  for  the 
Letter,  it  was  in  these  words : 

“  ‘  I  Bartholomew,  a  servant  of  the  Highest,  and  Apostle  of 
Jesus  Christ,  was  warned  by  an  angel  that  appeared  to  me  in 
a  vision  of  glory,  that  I  should  commit  this  ark  to  the  floods  of 
the  sea.  Therefore  I  do  testify  &nd  declare  unto  that  people 
where  God  shall  ordain  this  ark  to  come  to  land,  that  in  the 
same  day  is  come  unto  them  salvation  and  peace  and  good¬ 
will,  from  the  Father,  and  from  the  Lord  Jesus.* 

“  There  was  also  in  both  these  writings,  as  well  the  Book  as 
the  Letter,  wrought  a  great  miracle,  conform  to  that  of  the 
Apostles  in  the  original  Gift  of  Tongues.  For  there  being  at 
that  time  in  this  land  Hebrews,  Persians,  and  Indians,  besides 
the  natives,  ev^ry  one  read  upon  the  Book  and  Letter,  as  if 


1  The  original  has  a  semicolon  after  “itself,”  which  would  seem  to  connect  this 
clause  with  the  last.  But  the  translation  ( Apocalypsis  ipsa')  shows  that  it  was  meant 
to  be  the  beginning  of  a  new  sentence. 


NEW  ATLANTIS. 


139 


they  had  been  written  in  his  own  language.  And  thus  was  this 
land  saved  from  infidelity  (as  the  remain  of  the  old  world  was 
from  water)  by  an  ark,  through  the  apostolical  and  miraculous 
evangelism  of  St.  Bartholomew.”  And  here  he  paused,  and  a 
messenger  came,  and  called  him  from  us.  So  this  was  all  that 
passed  in  that  conference. 

The  next  day,  the  same  governor  came  again  to  us  im¬ 
mediately  after  dinner,  and  excused  himself,  saying,  “  That  the 
day  before  he  was  called  from  us  somewhat  abruptly,  but  now 
he  would  make  us  amends,  and  spend  time  with  us,  if  we  held 
his  company  and  conference  agreeable.”  We  answered,  “  That 
we  held  it  so  agreeable  and  pleasing  to  us,  as  we  forgot  both 
dangers  past  and  fears  to  come,  for  the  time  we  heard  him 
speak ;  and  that  we  thought  an  hour  spent  with  him,  was 
worth  years  of  our  former  life.”  He  bowed  himself  a  little  to 
us,  and  after  we  were  set  again,  he  said;  .“Well,  the  questions 
are  on  your  part.”  One  of  our  number  said,  after  a  little 
pause  ;  “  That  there  was  a  matter  we  were  no  less  desirous  to 
know,  than  fearful  to  ask,  lest  we  might  presume  too  far.  But 
encouraged  by  his  rare  humanity  towards  us,  (that  could  scarce 
think  ourselves  strangers,  being  his  vowed  and  professed  ser¬ 
vants,)  we  would  take  the  hardiness  to  propound  it:  humbly 
beseeching  him,  if  he  thought  it  not  fit  to  be  answered,  that  he 
would  pardon  it,  though  he  rejected  it.”  We  said  ;  “We  well 
observed  those  his  words,  which  he  formerly  spake,  that  this 
happy  island  where  we  now  stood  was  known  to  few,  and  yet 
knew  most  of  the  nations  of  the  world';  which  we  found  to  be 
true,  considering  they  had  the  languages  of  Europe,  and  knew 
much  of  our  state  and  business ;  and  yet  we  in  Europe  (not¬ 
withstanding  all  the  remote  discoveries  and  navigations  of  this 
last  age,)  never  heard  any  of  the  least  inkling  or  glimpse  of  this 
island.  This  we  found  wonderful  strange  ;  for  that  all  nations 
have  inter-knowledge1  one  of  another  either  by  voyage  into 
foreign  parts,  or  by  strangers  that  come  to  them :  and  though 
the  traveller  into  a  foreign  country  doth  commonly  know  more 
by  the  eye,  than  he  that  stayeth  at  home  can  by  relation  of  the 
traveller ;  yet  both  ways  suffice  to  make  a  mutual  knowledge, 
in  some  degree,  on  both  parts.  But  for  this  island,  we  never 
heard  tell  of  any  ship  of  theirs  that  had  been  seen  to  arrive 


1  enterknowledge  in  the  original. 


140 


NEW  ATLANTIS. 


upon  any  shore  of  Europe  ;  no,  nor  of  either  the  East  or  West 
Indies  ;  nor  yet  of  any  ship  of  any  other  part  of  the  world  that 
had  made  return  from  them.  And  yet  the  marvel  rested  not 
in  this.  For  the  situation  of  it  (as  his  lordship  said)  in  the 
secret  conclave  of  such  a  vast  sea  might  cause  it.  But  then 
that  they  should  have  knowledge  of  the  languages,  books, 
affairs,  of  those  that  lie  such  a  distance  from  them,  it  was  a 
thins  we  could  not  tell  what  to  make  of;  for  that  it  seemed 
to  us  a  condition  and  propriety  of  divine  powers  and  beings,  to 
be  hidden  and  unseen  to  others,  and  yet  to  have  others  open 
and  as  in  a  light  to  them.”  At  this  speech  the  governor  gave 
a  gracious  smile,  and  said ;  “  That  we  did  well  to  ask  pardon 
for  this  question  we  now  asked ;  for  that  it  imported  as  if  we 
thought  this  land  a  land  of  magicians,  that  sent  forth  spirits  of 
the  air  into  all  parts,  to  bring  them  news  and  intelligence  of 
other  countries.”  It  was  answered  by  us  all,  in  all  possible 
humbleness,  but  yet  with  a  countenance  taking  knowledge 
that  we  knew  that  he  spake  it  but  merrily,  “  That  we  were 
apt  enough  to  think  there  was  somewhat  supernatural  in  this 
island ;  but  yet  rather  as  angelical  than  magical.  But  to  let  his 
lordship  know  truly  what  it  was  that  made  us  tender  and 
doubtful  to  ask  this  question,  it  was  not  any  such  conceit,  but 
because  we  remembered  he  had  given  a  touch  in  his  former 
speech,  that  this  land  had  laws  of  secrecy  touching  strangers.” 
To  this  he  said ;  “  You  remember  it  aright ;  and  therefore  in 
that  I  shall  say  to  you  I  must  reserve  some  particulars,  which 
it  is  not  lawful  for  me  to  reveal ;  but  there  will  be  enough  left 
to  give  you  satisfaction. 

“  You  shall  understand  (that  which  perhaps  you  will  scarce 
think  credible)  that  about  three  thousand  years  ago,  or  some¬ 
what  more,  the  navigation  of  the  world,  (specially  for  remote 
voyages,)  was  greater  than  at  this  day.  Do  not  think  with 
yourselves  that  I  know  not  how  much  it  is  increased  with  you 
within  these  six-score  years :  I  know  it  well :  and  yet  I  say 
greater  then  than  now ;  whether  it  was,  that  the  example  of 
the  ark,  that  saved  the  remnant  of  men  from  the  universal 
deluge,  gave  men  confidence  to  adventure  upon  the  waters ;  or 
what  it  was ;  but  such  is  the  truth.  The  Phoenicians,  and 
especially  the  Tyrians,  had  great  fleets.  So  had  the  Car¬ 
thaginians,  their  colony,  which  is  yet  further  west.  Toward 
the  east,  the  shipping  of  Egypt  and  of  Palestina  was  likewise 


NEW  ATLANTIS. 


141 


great.  China  also,  and  the  great  Atlantis  (that  you  call 
America),  which  have  now  but  junks  and  canoes  *,  abounded 
then  in  tall  ships.  This  island  (as  appeareth  by  faithful  regis¬ 
ters  of  those  times)  had  then  fifteen  hundred  strong  ships,  of 
great  content.  Of  all  this  there  is  with  you  sparing  memory, 
or  none ;  but  we  have  large  knowledge  thereof. 

“  At  that  time,  this  land  was  known  and  frequented  by  the 
ships  and  vessels  of  all  the  nations  before  named.  And  (as  it 
cometh  to  pass)  they  had  many  times  men  of  other  countries, 
that  were  no  sailors,  that  came  with  them ;  as  Persians,  Chal¬ 
deans,  Arabians;  so  as  almost  all  nations  of  might  and  fame 
resorted  hither ;  of  whom  we  have  some  stirps  and  little  tribes 
with  us  at  this  day.  And  for  our  own  ships,  they  went  sundry 
voyages,  as  well  to  your  Straits,  which  you  call  the  Pillars  of 
Hercules 2,  as  to  other  parts  in  the  Atlantic  and  Mediterrane 
Seas;  as  to  Paguin3(which  is  the  same  with  Cambaline4)  and 
Quinzy 8,  upon  the  Oriental  Seas,  as  far  as  to  the  borders  of 
the  East  Tartary. 

“  At  the  same  time,  and  an  age  after,  or  more,  the  inhabi¬ 
tants  of  the  great  Atlantis  did  flourish.6  For  though  the 
narration  and  description  which  is  made  by  a  great  man  with 
you,  that  the  descendants  of  Neptune  planted  there ;  and  of 
the  magnificent  temple,  palace,  city,  and  hill ;  and  the  mani¬ 
fold  streams  of  goodly  navigable  rivers,  (which,  as  so  many 
chains,  environed  the  same  site  and  temple) ;  and  the  several 
degrees  of  ascent  whereby  men  did  climb  up  to  the  same,  as 


1  Canoa's  in  the  original. 

*  Hercules  is  called  by  Edrisi  Dhoulcarnain.  He  says  he  lived  In  the  time  of 
Abraham,  and.  has  been  confounded  with  Iscander  Dhoulcarnain,  or  Alexander  the 
two-horned.  That  the  limits  beyond  which  it  is  impossible  to  pass  were  set  up  by 
Dhoulcarnain  gives  the  obvious  explanation  of  the  passage  in  Chaucer’s  Troilus  and 
Cressida  :  — 

“  I  am  tyl  God  me  bettre  mynde  sende, 

At  Dulcarnon,  right  at  my  wytte’s  end,” 

“  qui  interpretes  mire  torsit.” — ft.  L.  E. 

3  Peking.  It  seems  as  if  Bacon  supposed  that  Peking  was  a  sea-port.  —  R.  L.  E. 
[The  translation  adds  civitatem  in  China  antiquissimam.'] 

*  Cambalu  is  the  reading  of  the  common  text  of  Marco  Polo.  The  word  is  pro¬ 
perly  Khambalik.  It  is  the  Tartar  name  for  Peking.  —  R.  L.  E.  [It  is  Cambalu  in 
the  translation  ;  and  in  the  English  Bacon  probably  wrote  Cambalue.  —  J.  A.] 

5  The  Quinsai  of  Marco  Tolo,  now  Hangchowfoo.  —  R.  L.  E. 

6  See  Plato,  Critias,  p.  113.,  and  Timseus,  p.  25.  Everything  relating  to  the  Story 
of  Atlantis  has  been  collected  by  Humboldt,  Examen  critique  de  FHistoire  de  la  Geo¬ 
graphic,  See. ,  i.  p.  167.  Compare  Martin,  Evades  sur  le  Timee;  and  see  Gesenius, 
Monvmenta  Phoenicia,  for  an  account  of  a  spurious  Phoenician  inscription,  purporting 
to  give  the  history  of  the  destruction  of  Atlantis.  It  may  be  a  question  whether  there 
be  not  some  affinity  between  Atlantis  and  Homer’s  Phaeacia.  —  R.  L.  E. 


142 


NEW  ATLANTIS. 


if  it  had  been  a  scala  cceli;  be  all  poetical  and  fabulous:  yet 
so  much  is  true,  that  the  said  country  of  Atlantis,  as  well 
that  of  Peru,  then  called  Coya,  as  that  of  Mexico,  then  named 
Tyrambel,  were  mighty  and  proud  kingdoms  in  arms,  ship¬ 
ping,  and  riches  :  so  mighty,  as  at  one  time  (or  at  least  within 
the  space  of  ten  years)  they  both  made  two  great  expeditions  ; 
they  of  Tyrambel  through  the  Atlantic  to  the  Mediterrane 
Sea ;  and  they  of  Coya  through  the  South  Sea  upon  this  our 
island.  And  for  the  former  of  these,  which  was  into  Europe, 
the  same  author  amongst  you  (as  it  seemeth)  had  some  relation 
from  the  Egyptian  priest  whom  he  citeth.  For  assuredly  such 
a  thing  there  was.  But  whether  it  were  the  ancient  Athenians 
that  had  the  glory  of  the  repulse  and  resistance  of  those  forces, 
I  can  say  nothing :  but  certain  it  is,  there  never  came  back 
either  ship  or  man  from  that  voyage.  Neither  had  the  other 
voyage  of  those  of  Coya  upon  us  had  better  fortune,  if  they 
had  not  met  with  enemies  of  greater  clemency.  For  the  king 
of  this  island  (by  name  Altabin)  a  wise  man  and  a  great  war¬ 
rior,  knowing  well  both  his  own  strength  and  that  of  his 
enemies,  handled  the  matter  so,  as  he  cut  off  their  land-forces 
from  their  ships  ;  and  entoiled  both  their  navy  and  their  camp 
with  a  greater  power  than  theirs,  both  by  sea  and  land ;  and 
compelled  them  to  render  themselves  without  striking  stroke : 
and  after  they  were  at  his  mercy,  contenting  himself  only  with 
their  oath  that  they  should  no  more  bdar  arms  against  him, 
dismissed  them  all  in  safety.  But  the  Divine  Revenge  overtook 
not  long  after  those  proud  enterprises.  For  within  less  than 
the  space  of  one  hundred  years,  the  great  Atlantis  was  utterly 
lost  and  destroyed :  not  by  a  great  earthquake,  as  your  man 
saith,  (for  that  whole  tract  is  little  subject  to  earthquakes,) 
but  by  a  particular  deluge  or  inundation;  those  countries 
having,  at  this  day,  far  greater  rivers  and  far  higher  moun¬ 
tains  to  pour  down  waters,  than  any  part  of  the  old  world. 
But  it  is  true  that  the  same  inundation  was  not  deep ;  not 
past  forty  foot,  in  most  places,  from  the  ground:  so  that 
although  it  destroyed  man  and  beast  generally,  yet  some  few 
wild  inhabitants  of  the  wood  1  escaped.  Birds  also  were  saved 
by  flying  to  the  high  trees  and  woods.  For  as  for  men,  al¬ 
though  they  had  buildings  in  many  places  higher  than  the 


1  The  translation  says,  of  the  mountains  :  silvestres  halttatores  quidam  montium. 


NEW  ATLANTIS. 


143 


depth  of  the  water,  yet  that  inundation,  though  it  were  shallow, 
had  a  long  continuance ;  whereby  they  of  the  vale  that  were 
not  drowned,  perished  for  want  of  food  and  other  things  neces¬ 
sary.  So  as  marvel  you  not  at  the  thin  population  of  Ame¬ 
rica,  nor  at  the  rudeness  and  ignorance  of  the  people ;  for  you 
must  account  your  inhabitants  of  America  as  a  young  people  ; 
younger  a  thousand  years,  at  the  least,  than  the  rest  of  the 
world ;  for  that  there  was  so  much  time  between  the  universal 
flood  and  their  particular  inundation.  For  the  poor  remnant  of 
human  seed  which  remained  in  their  mountains  peopled  the 
country  again  slowly,  by  little  and  little ;  and  being  simple 
and  savage  people,  (not  like  Noah  and  his  sons,  which  was  the 
chief  family  of  the  earth,)  they  were  not  able  to  leave  letters, 
arts,  and  civility  to  their  posterity  ;  and  having  likewise  in 
their  mountainous  habitations  been  used  (in  respect  of  the 
extreme  cold  of  those  regions)  to  clothe  themselves  with  the 
skins  of  tigers,  bears,  and  great  hairy  goats,  that  they  have  in 
those  parts ;  when  after  they  came  down  into  the  valley,  and 
found  the  intolerable  heats  which  are  there,  and  knew  no  means 
of  lighter  apparel,  they  were  forced  to  begin  the  custom  of 
going  naked,  which  continueth  at  this  day.  Only  they  take 
great  pride  and  delight  in  the  feathers  of  birds,  and  this  alsc 
they  took  from  those  their  ancestors  of  the  mountains,  whc 
were  invited  unto  it  by  the  infinite  flights  of  birds  that  came 
up  to  the  high  grounds,  while  the  waters  stood  below.  So  you 
see,  by  this  main  accident  of  time,  we  lost  our  traffic  with  the 
Americans,  with  whom  of  all  others,  in  regard  they  lay  nearest 
to  us,  we  had  most  commerce.  As  for  the  other  parts  of  the 
world,  it  is  most  manifest  that  in  the  ages  following  (whether 
it  were  in  respect  of  wars,  or  by  a  natural  revolution  of  time,) 
navigation  did  every  where  greatly  decay ;  and  specially  far 
voyages  (the  rather  by  the  use  of  galleys1,  and  such  vessels  as 
could  hardly  brook  the  ocean,)  were  altogether  left  and  omitted. 
So  then,  that  part  of  intercourse 2  which  could  be  from  other 
nations  to  sail  to  us,  you  see  how  it  hath  long  since  ceased ; 
except  it  were  by  some  rare  accident,  as  this  of  yours.  But 
now  of  the  cessation  of  that  other  part  of  intercourse,  which 
might  be  by  our  sailing  to  other  nations,  I  must  yield  you 
some  other  cause.  For  I  cannot  say  (if  I  shall  say  truly,)  but 


1  propterea  quod  triremes  .  .  ,  in  usum  venire  caperunt. 

2  entercourse  in  orig. 


144 


NEW  ATLANTIS. 


our  shipping,  for  number,  strength,  mariners,  pilots,  and  all 
things  that  appertain  to  navigation,  is  as  great  as  ever :  and 
therefore  why  we  should  sit  at  home,  I  shall  now  give  you  an 
account  by  itself :  and  it  will  draw  nearer  to  give  you  satis¬ 
faction  to  your  principal  question. 

« There  reigned  in  this  island,  about  nineteen  hundred 
years  ago,  a  King,  whose  memory  of  all  others  we  most  adore ; 
not  superstitiously,  but  as  a  divine  instrument,  though  a  mortal 
man ;  his  name  was  Solamona :  and  we  esteem  him  as  the  law¬ 
giver  of  our  nation.  This  king  had  a  large  heart,  inscrutable 
for  good ;  and  was  wholly  bent  to  make  his  kingdom  and  people 
happy.  He  therefore,  taking  into  consideration  how  sufficient 
and  substantive  this  land  was  to  maintain  itself  without  any  aid 
at  all  of  the  foreigner;  being  five  thousand  six  hundred  miles  in 
circuit,  and  of  rare  fertility  of  soil  in  the  greatest  part  thereof ; 
and  finding  also  the  shipping  of  this  country  might  be  plen¬ 
tifully  set  on  work,  both  by  fishing  and  by  transportations 
from  port  to  port,  and  likewise  by  sailing  unto  some  small 
islands  that  are  not  far  from  us,  and  are  under  the  crown  and 
laws  of  this  state ;  and  recalling  into  his  memory  the  happy 
and  flourishing  estate  wherein  this  land  then  was,  so  as  it 
might  be  a  thousand  ways  altered  to  the  worse,  but  scarce  any 
one  way  to  the  better ;  thought  nothing  wanted  to  his  noble 
and  heroical  intentions,  but  only  (as  far  as  human  foresight 
might  reach)  to  give  perpetuity  to  that  which  was  in  his  time 
so  happily  established.  Therefore  amongst  his  other  funda¬ 
mental  laws  of  this  kingdom,  he  did  ordain  the  interdicts  and 
prohibitions  which  we  have  touching  entrance  of  strangers ; 
which  at  that  time  (though  it  was  after  the  calamity  of  Ame¬ 
rica)  was  frequent;  doubting  novelties,  and  commixture  of 
manners.  It  is  true,  the  like  law  against  the  admission  of 
strangers  without  licence  is  an  ancient  law  in  the  kingdom  of 
China,  and  yet  continued  in  use.  But  there  it  is  a  poor  thing ; 
and  hath  made  them  a  curious,  ignorant,  fearful,  foolish  nation. 
But  our  lawgiver  made  his  law  of  another  temper.  For  first, 
he  hath  preserved  all  points  of  humanity,  in  taking  order  and 
making  provision  for  the  relief  of  strangers  distressed ;  whereof 
you  have  tasted.”  At  which  speech  (as  reason  was)  we  all  rose 
up,  and  bowed  ourselves.  He  went  on.  “  That  king  also,  still 
desiring  to  join  humanity  and  policy  together ;  and  thinking  it 
against  humanity  to  detain  strangers  here  against  their  wills, 


NEW  ATLANTIS. 


145 


and  against  policy  that  they  should  return  and  discover  their 
knowledge  of  this  estate,  he  took  this  course :  he  did  ordain 
that  of  the  strangers  that  should  be  permitted  to  land,  as  many 
(at  all  times)  might  depart  as  would ;  but  as  many  as  would 
6tay  should  have  very  good  conditions  and  means  to  live  from 
the  state.  Wherein  he  saw  so  far,  that  now  in  so  many  ages 
since  the  prohibition,  we  have  memory  not  of  one  ship  that 
ever  returned;  and  but  of  thirteen  persons  only,  at  several 
times,  that  chose  to  return  m  our  bottoms.  WTiat  those  few 
that  returned  may  have  reported  abroad  I  know  not.  But  you 
must,  think,  whatsoever  they  have  said  could  be  taken  where 
they  eame  but  for  a  dream.  Now  for  our  travelling  from 
hence  into  parts  abroad,  our  Lawgiver  thought  fit  altogether  to 
restrain  it.  So  is  it  not  in  China.  For  the  Chineses  sail  where 
they  will  or  can  ;  which  sheweth  that  their  law  of  keeping  out 
strangers  is  a  law  of  pusillanimity  and  fear.  But  this  restraint 
of  ours  hath  one  only  exception,  which  is  admirable ;  preserving 
the  good  which  cometh  by  communicating  with  strangers,  and 
avoiding  the  hurt ;  and  I  will  now  open  it  to  you.  And  here 
I  shall  seem  a  little  to  digress,  but  you  will  by  and  by  find  it 
pertinent.  Ye  shall  understand  (my  dear  friends)  that  amongst 
the  excellent  acts  of  that  king,  one  above  all  hath  the  pre¬ 
eminence.  It  was  the  erection  and  institution  of  an  Order  or 
Society  which  we  call  Salomon's  House ;  the  noblest  foundation 
(as  we  think)  that  ever  was  upon  the  earth  ;  and  the  lanthorn 
of  this  kingdom.  It  is  dedicated  to  the  study  of  the  Works 
and  Creatures  of  God.  Some  think  it  beareth  the  founder’s 
name  a  little  corrupted,  as  if  it  should  be  Solamona’s  House. 
But  the  records  write  it  as  it  is  spoken.  So  as  I  take  it  to  be 
denominate  of  the  Kins  of  the  Hebrews,  which  is  famous  with 
you,  and  no  stranger  to  us.  For  we  have  some  parts  of  his 
works  which  with  you  are  lost;  namely,  that  Natural  History 
which  he  wrote,  of  all  plants,  from  the  cedar  of  Libanus  to 
the  moss  that  groweth  out  of  the  wall,  and  of  all  things  that 
have  life  and  motion.  This  maketh  me  think  that  our  king, 
finding  himself  to  symbolize  in  many  things  with  that  king  of 
the  Hebrews  (which  lived  many  years  before  him),  honoured 
him  with  the  title  of  this  foundation.1  And  I  am  the  rather 


1  Bacon  in  speaking  of  this  king  who  symbolizes  with  Solomon  seems  to  allude 
to  James  I.  —  R.  L.  E.  [If  the  New  Atlantis  had  been  written  in  the  earlier  part 
of  James’s  reign,  Bacon  might  have  been  suspected  perhaps  of  some  such  allusion.  He 


146 


NEW  ATLANTIS. 


induced  to  be  of  this  opinion,  for  that  I  find  in  ancient  records 
this  Order  or  Society  is  sometimes  called  Salomon’s  House 
and  sometimes  the  College  of  the  Six  Days  Works;  whereby 
I  am  satisfied  that  our  excellent  king  had  learned  from 
the  Hebrews  that  God  had  created  the  world  and  all  that 
therein  is  within  six  days;  and  therefore  he  instituting  that 
House  for  the  finding  out  of  the  true  nature  of  all  things1, 
(whereby  God  might  have  the  more  glory  in  the  workman¬ 
ship  of  them,  and  men  the  more  fruit  in  the  use  of  them,) 
did  give  it  also  that  second  name.  But  now  to  come  to  our 
present  purpose.  When  the  king  had  forbidden  to  all  his 
people  navigation  into  any  part  that  was  not  under  his  crown, 
he  made  nevertheless  this  ordinance  ;  That  every  twelve  years 
there  should  be  set  forth  out  of  this  kingdom  two  ships,  ap¬ 
pointed  to  several  voyages  ;  That  in  either  of  these  ships  there 
should  be  a  mission  of  three  of  the  Fellows  or  Brethren  of  Salo¬ 
mon’s  House  ;  whose  errand  was  only  to  give  us  knowledge  of 
the  affairs  and  state  of  those  countries  to  which  they  were 
designed,  and  especially  of  the  sciences,  arts,  manufactures,  and 
inventions  of  all  the  world ;  and  withal  to  bring  unto  us  books, 
instruments,  and  patterns  in  every  kind  ;  That  the  ships,  after 
they  had  landed  the  brethren,  should  return ;  and  that  the  bre¬ 
thren  should  stay  abroad  till  the  new  mission.  These  ships  are 
not  otherwise  fraught,  than  with  store  of  victuals,  and  good 
quantity  of  treasure  to  remain  with  the  brethren,  for  the  buying 
of  such  things  and  rewarding  of  such  persons  as  they  should 
think  fit.  Now  for  me  to  tell  you  how  the  vulgar  sort  of  ma¬ 
riners  are  contained  from  being  discovered  at  land ;  and  how 
they  that  must  be  put  on  shore  for  any  time,  colour  themselves 
under  the  names  of  other  nations ;  and  to  what  places  these 
voyages  have  been  designed ;  and  what  places  of  rendez-vous 
are  appointed  for  the  new  missions ;  and  the  like  circumstances 
of  the  practique  ;  I  may  not  do  it :  neither  is  it  much  to  your 
desire.  But  thus  you  see  we  maintain  a  trade,  not  for  gold, 
silver,  or  jewels  ;  nor  for  silks  ;  nor  for  spices ;  nor  any  other 

might  have  hoped  to  encourage  James  to  justify  the  parallel  by  going  and  doing  like¬ 
wise.  But  since  James  had  now  reigned  above  20  years  without  doing  or  attempt¬ 
ing  to  do  anything  for  the  furtherance  of  Natural  Philosophy  ;  without  showing  any 
interest  in  it  or  any  taste  or  capacity  for  it ;  I  cannot  understand  what  the  allusion 
can  be  or  where  the  resemblance.  Nor  does  it  seem  necessary  to  suppose  anything 
of  the  kind  in  order  to  explain  why  a  model-king  for  wisdom  and  knowledge  should 
be  likened  to  Solomon _ J.  S.] 

1  ad  inquisitionem  et  inventionem  natural  vertB  et  interioris  rerum  omnium , 


NEW  ATLANTIS. 


147 


commodity  of  matter ;  but  only  for  God’s  first  creature,  which 
was  Light:  to  have  light  (1  say)  of  the  growth  of  all  parts  of 
the  world.”  1  And  when  he  had  said  this,  he  was  silent ;  and  so 
were  we  all.  For  indeed  we  were  all  astonished  to  hear  so 
strange  things  so  probably  told.  And  he,  perceiving  that  we 
were  willing  to  say  somewhat  but  had  it  not  ready,  in  great 
courtesy  took  us  off,  and  descended  to  ask  us  questions  of  our 
voyage  and  fortunes  ;  and  in  the  end  concluded,  that  we  might 
do  well  to  think  with  ourselves  what  time  of  stay  we  would 
demand  of  the  state  ;  and  bade  us  not  to  scant  ourselves ;  for 
he  would  procure  such  time  as  we  desired.  Whereupon  we  all 
rose  up,  and  presented  ourselves  to  kiss  the  skirt  of  his  tippet ; 
but  he  would  not  suffer  us  ;  and  so  took  his  leave.  But  when 
it  came  once  amongst  our  people  that  the  state  used  to  offer 
conditions  to  strangers  that  would  stay,  we  had  work  enough 
to  get  any  of  our  men  to  look  to  our  ship,  and  to  keep  them 
from  going  presently  to  the  governor  to  crave  conditions.  But 
with  much  ado  we  refrained  them,  till  we  might  agree  what 
course  to  take. 

We  took  ourselves  now  for  free  men,  seeing  there  was  no 
danger  of  our  utter  perdition ;  and  lived  most  joyfully,  going 
abroad  and  seeing  what  was  to  be  seen  in  the  city  and  places 
adjacent  within  our  tedder ;  and  obtaining  acquaintance  with 
many  of  the  city,  not  of  the  meanest  quality  ;  at  whose  hands 
we  found  such  humanity,  and  such  a  freedom  and  desire  to  take 
strangers  as  it  were  into  their  bosom,  as  was  enough  to  make  us 
forget  all  that  was  dear  to  us  in  our  own  countries :  and  conti¬ 
nually  we  met  with  many  things  right  worthy  of  observation 
and  relation ;  as  indeed,  if  there  be  a  mirror  in  the  world 
worthy  to  hold  men’s  eyes,  it  is  that  country.  One  day  there 
were  two  of  our  company  bidden  to  a  Feast  of  the  Family,  as 
they  call  it.  A  most  natural,  pious,  and  reverend  custom  it  is, 
shewing  that  nation  to  be  compounded  of  all  goodness.  This 
is  the  manner  of  it.  It  is  granted  to  any  man  that  shall  live 
to  see  thirty  persons  descended  of  his  body  alive  together,  and 
all  above  three  years  old,  to  make  this  feast ;  which  is  done  at 
the  cost  of  the  state.  The  Father  of  the  Family,  whom  they 
call  the  Tirsan,  two  days  before  the  feast,  taketh  to  him  three 
of  such  friends  as  he  liketh  to  choose  ;  and  is  assisted  also  by 

1  t.  in  whatever  parts  of  the  world  it  is  to  be  found.  Luce,  inquam ,  in  qua- 
cunque  tandem  terra  regione  prorumpente  et  germinante. 


11  Bacon  III 


148 


NEW  ATLANTIS. 


the  governor  of  the  city  or  place  where  the  feast  Is  celebrated; 
and  all  the  persons  of  the  family,  of  both  sexes,  are  summoned 
to  attend  him.  These  two  days  the  Tirsan  sitteth  in  consulta¬ 
tion  concerning  the  good  estate  of  the  family.  There,  if  there 
be  any  discord  or  suits  between  any  of  the  family,  they  are 
compounded  and  appeased.  There,  if  any  of  the  family  be 
distressed  or  decayed,  order  is  taken  for  their  relief  and  com¬ 
petent  means  to  live.  There,  if  any  be  subject  to  vice,  or 
take  ill  courses,  they  are  reproved  and  censured.  So  likewise 
direction  is  given  touching  marriages,  and  the  courses  of  life 
which  any  of  them  should  take,  with  divers  other  the  like 
orders  and  advices.  The  governor  assisteth,  to  the  end  to  put 
in  execution  by  his  public  authority  the  decrees  and  orders  of 
the  Tirsan,  if  they  should  be  disobeyed ;  though  that  seldom 
needeth  ;  such  reverence  and  obedience  they  give  to  the  order  of 
nature.  The  Tirsan  doth  also  then  ever  choose  one  man  from 
amongst  his  sons,  to  live  in  house  with  him :  who  is  called 
ever  after  the  Son  of  the  Vine.  The  reason  will  hereafter 
appear.  On  the  feast-day,  the  Father  or  Tirsan  cometh  forth 
after  divine  service  into  a  large  room  where  the  feast  is  cele¬ 
brated  ;  which  room  hath  an  half-pace 1  at  the  upper  end. 
Against  the  wall,  in  the  middle  of  the  half-pace,  is  a  chair 
placed  for  him,  with  a  table  and  carpet  before  it.  Over  the 
chair  is  a  state 2,  made  round  or  oval,  and  it  is  of  ivy ;  an  ivy 
somewhat  whiter  than  ours,  like  the  leaf  of  a  silver  asp,  but 
more  shining ;  for  it  is  green  all  winter.  And  the  state  is 
curiously  wrought  with  silver  and  silk  of  divers  colours, 
broiding  or  binding  in  the  ivy ;  and  is  ever  of  the  work  of 
some  of  the  daughters  of  the  family ;  and  veiled  over  at  the 
top  with  a  fine  net  of  silk  and  silver.  But  the  substance  of 
it  is  true  ivy ;  whereof,  after  it  is  taken  down,  the  friends  of 
the  family  are  desirous  to  have  some  leaf  or  sprig  to  keep. 
The  Tirsan  cometh  forth  with  all  his  generation  or  lineage3, 
the  males  before  him,  and  the  females  following  him ;  and  if 
there  be  a  mother  from  whose  body  the  whole  lineage  is  de¬ 
scended,  there  is  a  traverse  placed  in  a  loft  above  on  the  right 

1  Half-pace  or  dais,  the  part  raised  by  a  low  step  above  the  rest  of  the  floo- _ 

RL.  E. 

1  «.  a  canopy,  conopeum. 

*  linage  in  the  original;  which  seems  to  be  the  proper  form  of  the  word.  :-t  e 
may  have  been  introduced  originally  as  a  direction  for  the  lengthening  of  the  first 
syllable ;  and  then  the  resemblance  of  the  word  to  such  words  as  lineal  may  have 
suggested  the  modern  pronunciation. 


NEW  ATLANTIS. 


149 


hand  of  the  chair,  with  a  privy  door,  and  a  carved  window  of 
glass,  leaded  with  gold  and  blue  ;  where  she  sitteth,  but  is  not 
seen.  When  the  Tirsan  is  come  forth,  he  sitteth  down  in  the 
chair ;  and  all  the  lineage  place  themselves  against  the  wall, 
both  at  his  back  and  upon  the  return  of  the  half-pace1,  in  order 
of  their  years  without  difference  of  sex ;  and  stand  upon  their 
feet.  When  he  is  set ;  the  room  being  always  full  of  company, 
but  well  kept  and  without  disorder ;  after  some  pause  there 
cometh  in  from  the  lower  end  of  the  room  a  Taratan  (which  is 
as  much  as  an  herald)  and  on  either  side  of  him  two  young 
lads ;  whereof  one  carrieth  a  scroll  of  their  shining  yellow 
parchment ;  and  the  other  a  cluster  of  grapes  of  gold,  with 
a  long  foot  or  stalk.  The  herald  and  children  are  clothed 
with  mantles  of  sea-water  green  sattin ;  but  the  herald’s 
mantle  is  streamed  with  gold,  and  hath  a  train.  Then  the 
herald  with  three  curtesies,  or  rather  inclinations,  cometh 
up  as  far  as  the  half-pace ;  and  there  first  taketh  into  his 
hand  the  scroll.  This  scroll  is  the  King’s  Charter,  containing 
gift  of  revenew,  and  many  privileges,  exemptions,  and  points 
of  honour,  granted  to  the  Father  of  the  Family;  and  is  ever 
styled  and  directed,  To  such  an  one  our  well-beloved  friend 
and  creditor :  which  is  a  title  proper  only  to  this  case.  For 
they  say  the  king  is  debtor  to  no  man,  but  for  propagation 
of  his  subjects.  The  seal  set  to  the  king’s  charter  is  the 
king’s  image,  imbossed  or  moulded  in  gold ;  and  though  such 
charters  be  expedited  of  course,  and  as  of  right,  yet  they 
are  varied  by  discretion,  according  to  the  number  and  dignity 
of  the  family.  This  charter  the  herald  readeth  aloud ;  and 
while  it  is  read,  the  father  or  Tirsan  standeth  up,  supported  by 
two  of  his  sons,  such  as  he  chooseth.  Then  the  herald 
mounteth  the  half-pace,  and  delivereth  the  charter  into  his 
hand :  and  with  that  there  is  an  acclamation  by  all  that  are 
present  in  their  language,  which  is  thus  much :  Happy  are 
the  people  of  Bensalem.  Then  the  herald  taketh  into  his  hand 
from  the  other  child  the  cluster  of  grapes,  which  is  of  gold, 
both  the  stalk  and  the  grapes.  But  the  grapes  are  daintily 
enamelled ;  and  if  the  males  of  the  family  be  the  greater  num¬ 
ber,  the  grapes  are  enamelled  purple,  with  a  little  sun  set  on  the 
top ;  if  the  females,  then  they  are  enamelled  into  a  greenish 


1  juxta  parietem ,  tam  a  tergo  quam  a  lateribus  aula,  super  gradum  ascenslis*. 


150 


NEW  ATLANTIS. 


yellow,  with  a  crescent  on  the  top.  The  grapes  are  in  number 
as  many  as  there  are  descendants  of  the  family.  This  golden 
cluster  the  herald  delivereth  also  to  the  Tirsan  ;  who  presently 
delivereth  it  over  to  that  son  that  he  had  formerly  chosen  to 
he  in  house  with  him :  who  beareth  it  before  his  father  as  an 
ensign  of  honour  when  he  goeth  in  public,  ever  after ;  and  is 
thereupon  called  the  Son  of  the  Vine.  After  this  ceremony 
ended,  the  father  or  Tirsan  retireth ;  and  after  some  time 
cometh  forth  again  to  dinner,  where  he  sitteth  alone  under  the 
state,  as  before ;  and  none  of  his  descendants  sit  with  him,  of 
what  degree  or  dignity  soever,  except  he  hap  to  be  of  Salomon’s 
House.  He  is  served  only  by  his  own  children,  such  as  are 
male ;  who  perform  unto  him  all  service  of  the  table  upon  the 
knee ;  and  the  women  only  stand  about  him,  leaning  against 
the  wall.  The  room  below  the  half-pace  hath  tables  on  the 
sides  for  the  guests  that  are  bidden ;  who  are  served  with  great 
and  comely  order ;  and  towards  the  end  of  dinner  (which  in 
the  greatest  feasts  with  them  lasteth  never  above  an  hour  and 
an  half)  there  is  an  hymn  sung,  varied  according  to  the  inven¬ 
tion  of  him  that  composeth  it,  (for  they  have  excellent  poesy,) 
but  the  subject  of  it  is  (always)  the  praises  of  Adam  and 
Noah  and  Abraham ;  whereof  the  former  two  peopled  the 
world,  and  the  last  was  the  Father  of  the  Faithful :  concluding 
ever  with  a  thanksgiving  for  the  nativity  of  our  Saviour,  in 
whose  birth  the  births  of  all  are  only  blessed.  Dinner  being 
done,  the  Tirsan  retireth  again ;  and  having  withdrawn  himself 
alone  into  a  place  where  he  maketh  some  private  prayers,  he 
cometh  forth  the  third  time,  to  give  the  blessing ;  with  all  his 
descendants,  who  stand  about  him  as  at  the  first.  Then  he 
calleth  them  forth  by  one  and  by  one,  by  name,  as  he  pleaseth, 
though  seldom  the  order  of  age  be  inverted.  The  person  that 
is  called  (the  table  being  before  removed)  kneeleth  down  be¬ 
fore  the  chair,  and  the  father  layeth  his  hand  upon  his  head, 
or  her  head,  and  giveth  the  blessing  in  these  words :  Son  of 
Bensalem,  (or  Daughter  of  Behsalem,)  thy  father  saith  it ;  the 
man  by  whom  thou  hast  breath  and  life  speaketh  the  word; 
The  blessing  of  the  everlasting  Father,  the  Prince  of  Peace, 
and  the  Holy  Dove  be  upon  thee,  and  make  the  days  of  thy 
pilgrimage  good  and  many.  This  he  saith  to  every  of  them; 
and  that  done,  if  there  be  any  of  his  sons  of  eminent  merit  and 
virtue,  (so  they  be  not  above  two,)  he  calleth  for  them  again  ; 


NEW  ATLANTIS. 


151 


and  eaith,  laying  his  arm  over  their  shoulders,  they  standing ; 
Sons,  it  is  well  ye  are  born,  give  God  the  praise,  and  persevere 
to  the  end.  And  withal  delivereth  to  either  of  them  a  jewel, 
made  in  the  figure  of  an  ear  of  wheat,  which  they  ever  after 
wear  in  the  front  of  their  turban  or  hat.  This  done,  they  fall 
to  music  and  dances,  and  other  recreations,  after  their  man¬ 
ner,  for  the  rest  of  the  day.  This  is  the  full  order  of  that 
feast. 

By  that  time  six  or  seven  days  were  spent,  I  was  fallen  into 
strait  acquaintance  with  a  merchant  of  that  city,  whose  name 
was  Joabin.  He  was  a  Jew,  and  circumcised:  for  they  have 
some  few  stirps  of  Jews  yet  remaining  among  them,  whom 
they  leave  to  their  own  religion.  Which  they  may  the  better 
do,  because  they  are  of  a  far  differing  disposition  from  the 
Jews  in  other  parts.  For  whereas  they  hate  the  name  of 
Christ,  and  have  a  secret  inbred  rancour  against  the  people 
amongst  whom  they  live :  these  (contrariwise)  give  unto  our 
Saviour  many  high  attributes,  and  love  the  nation  of  Bensa- 
lem  extremely.  Surely  this  man  of  whom  I  speak  would  ever 
acknowledge  that  Christ  was  born  of  a  Virgin,  and  that  he 
was  more  than  a  man  ;  and  he  would  tell  how  God  made  him 
ruler  of  the  Seraphims  which  guard  his  throne ;  and  they  call 
him  also  the  Milken  Way,  and  the  Eliah  of  the  Messiah  ;  and 
many  other  high  names ;  which  though  they  be  inferior  to  his 
divine  Majesty,  yet  they  are  far  from  the  language  of  other 
Jews.  And  for  the  country  of  Bensalem,  this  man  would  make 
no  end  of  commending  it :  being  desirous,  by  tradition  among  the 
Jews  there,  to  have  it  believed  that  the  people  thereof  were  of 
the  generations  of  Abraham,  by  another  son,  whom  they  call 
Nachoran;  and  that  Moses  by  a  secret  cabala  ordained  the 
laws  of  Bensalem  which  they  now  use ;  and  that  when  the 
Messiah  should  come,  and  sit  in  his  throne  at  Hierusalem,  the 
king  of  Bensalem  should  sit  at  his  feet,  whereas  other  kings 
should  keep  a  great  distance.  But  yet  setting  aside  these  Jewish 
dreams,  the  man  was  a  wise  man,  and  learned,  and  of  great 
policy,  and  excellently  seen  in  the  laws  and  customs  of  that 
nation.  Amongst  other  discourses,  one  day  I  told  him  I  was 
much  affected  with  the  relation  I  had  from  some  of  the  company, 
of  their  custom  in  holding  the  Feast  of  the  Family;  for  that 
(methought)  I  had  never  heard  of  a  solemnity  wherein  nature 
did  so  much  preside.  And  because  propagation  of  families 


152 


NEW  ATLANTIS. 


proceedeth  from  the  nuptial  copulation,  I  desired  to  know  of 
him  what  laws  and  customs  they  had  concerning  marriage ; 
and  whether  they  kept  marriage  well ;  and  whether  they  were 
tied  to  one  wife  ?  For  that  where  population  is  so  much 
affected,  and  such  as  with  them  it  seemed  to  be,  there  is 
commonly  permission  of  plurality  of  wives.  To  this  he  said, 
“  You  have  reason  for  to  commend  that  excellent  institution 
of  the  Feast  of  the  Family.  And  indeed  we  have  experience, 
that  those  families  that  are  partakers  of  the  blessing  of  that 
feast  dc  flourish  and  prosper  ever  after  in  an  extraordinary 
manner.  But  hear  me  now,  and  I  will  tell  you  what  I  know. 
You  shall  understand  that  there  is  not  under  the  heavens  so 
chaste  a  nation  as  this  of  Bensalem  ;  nor  so  free  from  all  pol¬ 
lution  or  foulness.  It  is  the  virgin  of  the  world.  I  remember 
I  have  read  in  one  of  your  European  books,  of  an  holy  her¬ 
mit  amongst  you  that  desired  to  see  the  Spirit  of  Fornication ; 
and  there  appeared  to  him  a  little  foul  ugly  .Ethiop.1  But  if 
he  had  desired  to  see  the  Spirit  of  Chastity  of  Bensalem,  it 
would  have  appeared  to  him  in  the  likeness  of  a  fair  beautiful 
Cherubin.  For  there  is  nothing  amongst  mortal  men  more 
fair  and  admirable,  than  the  chaste  minds  of  this  people. 
Know  therefore,  that  with  them  there  are  no  stews,  no  dissolute 
houses,  no  courtesans,  nor  any  thing  of  that  kind.  Nay  they 
wonder  (with  detestation)  at  you  in  Europe,  which  permit 
such  things.  They  say  ye  have  put  marriage  out  of  office : 
for  marriage  is  ordained  a  remedy  for  unlawful  concupiscence  ; 
and  natural  concupiscence  seemeth  as  a  spur  to  marriage.  But 
when  men  have  at  hand  a  remedy  more  agreeable  to  their 
corrupt  will,  marriage  is  almost  expulsed.  And  therefore 
there  are  with  you  seen  infinite  men  that  marry  not,  but  chuse 
rather  a  libertine  and  impure  single  life,  than  to  be  yoked  in 
marriage ;  and  many  that  do  marry,  marry  late,  when  the 
prime  and  strength  of  their  years  is  past.  And  when  they  do 
marry,  what  is  marriage  to  them  but  a  very  bargain ;  wherein 
is  sought  alliance,  or  portion,  or  reputation,  with  some  desire 
(almost  indifferent)  of  issue;  and  not  the  faithful  nuptial 
union  of  man  and  wife,  that  was  first  instituted.  Neither  is  it 
possible  that  those  that  have  cast  away  so  basely  so  much 
of  their  strength,  should  greatly  esteem  children,  (being  of 

1  The  Klein  Melster  of  La  Motte  Fouque’s  Sintram. — R.  L.  E. 


NEW  ATLANTIS. 


153 


the  same  matter  ',)  as  chaste  men  do.  So  likewise  during 
marriage,  is  the  case  much  amended,  as  it  ought  to  be  if  those 
things  were  tolerated  only  for  necessity  ?  No,  but  they  remain 
still  as  a  very  affront  to  marriage.  The  haunting  of  those  dis¬ 
solute  places,  or  resort  to  courtesans,  are  no  more  punished  in 
married  men  than  in  bachelors.  And  the  depraved  custom  of 
change,  and  the  delight  in  meretricious  embracements,  (where 
sin  is  turned  into  art,) a  maketh  marriage  a  dull  thing,  and  a 
kind  of  imposition  or  tax.  They  hear  you  defend  these  things, 
as  done  to  avoid  greater  evils  ;  as  advoutries,  deflouring  of 
virgins,  unnatural  lust,  and  the  like.  But  they  say  this  is 
a  preposterous  wisdom ;  and  they  call  it  Lot’s  offer,  who  to 
save  his  guests  from  abusing,  offered  his  daughters :  nay  they 
say  farther  that  there  is  little  gained  in  this ;  for  that  the 
same  vices  and  appetites  do  still  remain  and  abound ;  un¬ 
lawful  lust  being  like  a  furnace,  that  if  you  stop  the  flames 
altogether,  it  will  quench  ;  but  if  you  give  it  any  vent,  it 
will  rage.  As  for  masculine  love,  they  have  no  touch  of 
it3;  and  yet  there  are  not  so  faithful  and  inviolate  friend¬ 
ships  in  the  world  again  as  are  there  ;  and  to  speak  generally, 
(as  I  said  before,)  I  have  not  read  of  any  such  chastity  in  any 
people  as  theirs.  And  their  usual  saying  is.  That  whosoever 
is  unchaste  cannot  reverence  himself;  and  they  say,  That  the 
reverence  of  a  man's  self  is,  next  religion,  the  chiefest  bridle  of 
all  vices."  And  when  he  had  said  this,  the  good  Jew  paused 
a  little;  whereupon  I,  far  more  willing  to  hear  him  speak 
on  than  to  speak  myself,  yet  thinking  it  decent  that  upon  his 
pause  of  speech  I  should  not  be  altogether  silent,  said  only 
this  ;  “  That  I  would  say  to  him,  as  the  widow  of  Sarepta  said 
to  Elias  ;  that  he  was  come  to  bring  to  memory  our  sins ;  and 
that  I  confess  the  righteousness  of  Bensalem  was  greater  than 
the  righteousness  of  Europe.”  At  which  speech  he  bowed  his 
head,  and  went  on  in  this  manner  :  “  They  have  also  many  wise 
and  excellent  laws  touching  marriage.  They  allow  no  polygamy. 
They  have  ordained  that  none  do  intermarry  or  contract,  until 
a  month  be  passed  from  their  first  interview.  Marriage  with¬ 
out  consent  of  parents  they  do  not  make  void,  but  they  mulct 

1  liberi  ( part  nostri  altera). 

1  Non  v’  era  giunto  ancor  Sardanapalo 
A  mostrar  cio  ch’  in  camera  si  puote. 

Dante,  Paradise,  xiv. —  R.L.E. 


*  istos  ne  fando  quidem  norunt. 


154 


NEW  ATLANTIS. 


it  in  the  inheritors :  for  the  children  of  such  marriages  are 
not  admitted  to  inherit  above  a  third  part  of  their  parents’ 
inheritance.  I  have  read  in  a  book  of  one  of  your  men,  of  a 
Feigned  Commonwealth,  where  the  married  couple  are  per¬ 
mitted,  before  they  contract,  to  see  one  another  naked.1  This 
they  dislike ;  for  they  think  it  a  scorn  to  give  a  refusal  after 
so  familiar  knowledge  :  but  because  of  many  hidden  defects  in 
men  and  women’s  bodies2,  they  have  a  more  civil  way;  for 
they  have  near  every  town  a  couple  of  pools,  (which  they  call 
Adam  and  Eve's  pools,')  where  it  is  permitted  to  one  of  the 
friends  of  the  man,  and  another  of  the  friends  of  the  woman,  to 
see  them  severally  bathe  naked.” 

And  as  we  were  thus  in  conference,  there  came  one  that 
seemed  to  be  a  messenger,  in  a  rich  huke3,  that  spake  with  the 
Jew :  whereupon  he  turned  to  me  and  said ;  “  You  will  pardon 
me,  for  I  am  commanded  away  in  haste.”  The  next  morning 
he  came  to  me  again,  joyful  as  it  seemed,  and  said,  “  There  is 
word  come  to  the  governor  of  the  city,  that  one  of  the  Fathers 
of  Salomon’s  House  will  be  here  this  day  seven-night :  we  have 
seen  none  of  them  this  dozen  years.  His  coming  is  in  sh.te  ; 
but  the  cause  of  his  coming  is  secret.  I  will  provide  you  and 
your  fellows  of  a  good  standing  to  see  his  entry.”  I  thanked 
him,  and  told  him,  “  I  was  most  glad  of  the  news.”  The 
day  being  come,  he  made  his  entry.  He  was  a  man  of  middle 
stature  and  age,  comely  of  person,  and  had  an  aspect  as  if  he 
pitied  men.  He  was  clothed  in  a  robe  of  fine  black  cloth, 
with  wide  sleeves  and  a  cape.  His  under  garment  was  of 
excellent  white  linen  down  to  the  foot,  girt  with  a  girdle  of 
the  same ;  and  a  sindon  or  tippet  of  the  same  about  his  neck. 
He  had  gloves  that  were  curious,  and  set  with  stone ;  and  shoes 
of  peach-coloured  velvet.  His  neck  was  bare  to  the  shoulders. 
His  hat  was  like  a  helmet,  or  Spanish  Montera ;  and  his  locks 
curled  below  it  decently:  they  were  of  colour  brown.  His 
beard  was  cut  round,  and  of  the  same  colour  with  his  hair,  some¬ 
what  lighter.4  He  was  carried  in  a  rich  chariot  without  wheels, 
litter-wise ;  with  two  horses  at  either  end,  richly  trapped  in  blue 
velvet  embroidered ;  and  two  footmen  on  each  side  in  the  like 
attire.  The  chariot  was  all  of  cedar,  gilt,  and  adorned  with 

1  See  More’s  Utopia,  book  ii.  —  R.  L.  E . 

2  The  translation  adds  qui  matrimonium  postea  infelix  reddere  possint . 

8  indutus  tunica  picta  et  inauruta. 

4  The  words  “  somewhat  lighter  ”  are  omitted  in  the  translation. 


NEW  ATLANTIS. 


155 


crystal ;  save  that  the  fore-end  had  pannels  of  sapphires,  set  in 
borders  of  gold,  and  the  hinder-end  the  like  of  emeralds  1  of  the 
Peru  colour.  There  was  also  a  sun  of  gold,  radiant,  upon  the 
top,  in  the  midst 2 ;  and  on  the  top  before,  a  small  cherub  of  gold, 
with  wings  displayed.  The  chariot  was  covered  with  cloth  of 
gold  tissued  upon  blue.  He  had  before  him  fifty  attendants, 
young  men  all,  in  white  sattin  loose  coats  to  the  mid-leg;  and 
stockings  of  white  silk ;  and  shoes  of  blue  velvet ;  and  hats  of 
blue  velvet ;  with  fine  plumes  of  divers  colours,  set  round  like 
hat-bands.  Next  before  the  chariot  went  two  men,  bare-headed, 
in  linen  garments  down  to  the  foot,  girt,  and  shoes  of  blue 
velvet ;  who  carried  the  one  a  crosier,  the  other  a  pastoral  staff 
like  a  sheep-hook;  neither  of  them  of  metal,  but  the  crosier  of 
balm-wood,  the  pastoral  staff  of  cedar.  Horsemen  he  had  none, 
neither  before  nor  behind  his  chariot:  as  it  seemeth,  to  avoid 
all  tumult  and  trouble.  Behind  his  chariot  went  all  the  officers 
and  principals  of  the  Companies  of  the  City.  He  sat  alone, 
upon  cushions  of  a  kind  of  excellent  plush,  blue ;  and  under  his 
foot  curious  carpets  of  silk  of  divers  colours,  like  the  Persian, 
but  far  finer.  He  held  up  his  bare  hand  as  he  went,  as  blessing 
the  people,  but  in  silence.  The  street  was  wonderfully  well 
kept 3  :  so  that  there  was  never  any  army  had  their  men  stand 
in  better  battle-array,  than  the  people  stood.  The  windows 
likewise  were  not  crowded,  but  every  one  stood  in  them  as  if 
they  had  been  placed.  When  the  shew  was  past,  the  J ew  said 
to  me  ;  “  I  shall  not  be  able  to  attend  you 4  as  I  would,  in  re¬ 
gard  of  some  charge  the  city  hath  laid  upon  me,  for  the  enter¬ 
taining  of  this  great  person.”  Three  days  after,  the  Jew  came 
to  me  again,  and  said;  “Ye  are  happy  men;  for  the  Father  of 
Salomon’s  House  taketh  knowledge  of  your  being  here,  and 
commanded  me  to  tell  you  that  he  will  admit  all  your  company 
to  his  presence,  and  have  private  conference  with  one  of  you 
that  ye  shall  choose :  and  for  this  hath  appointed  the  next  day 
after  to-morrow.  And  because  he  meaneth  to  give  you  his 
blessing,  he  hath  appointed  it  in  the  forenoon.”  We  came  at 
our  day  and  hour,  and  I  was  chosen  by  my  fellows  for  the 
private  access.  We  found  him  in  a  fair  chamber,  richly  hanged, 

1  emerauds  in  orig. 

8  Etiam  in  medio  verticis  cathedrdy  sol  eraty  ex  auro  radians.  The  English  in  the 
original  has  a  comma  after  “  gold,”  and  no  stop  after  “  radiant ;  ”  a  misprint  probably, 

8  Platea  ita  erant  ordinatd  7it  via  ampla  pater ety  nullibi  interclusa. 

4  Per  aliquot  jam  dies  detinebor ,  quo  minus,  &fc. 


156 


NEW  ATLANTIS. 


and  carpeted  under  foot,  without  any  degrees  to  the  state.  He 
was  set  upon  a  low  throne  richly  adorned,  and  a  rich  cloth  of 
state  over  his  head,  of  blue  satin  embroidered.  He  was  alone, 
save  that  he  had  two  pages  of  honour,  on  either  hand  one,  finely 
attired  in  white.  His  under-garments  were  the  like  that  we 
saw  him  wear  in  the  chariot ;  but  instead  of  his  gown,  he  had 
on  him  a  mantle  with  a  cape,  of  the  same  fine  black,  fastened 
about  him.  When  we  came  in,  as  we  were  taught,  we  bowed 
low  at  our  first  entrance ;  and  when  we  were  come  near  his 
chair,  he  stood  up,  holding  forth  his  hand  ungloved,  and  in 
posture  of  blessing ;  and  we  every  one  of  us  stooped  down,  and 
kissed  the  hem  of  his  tippet.  That  done,  the  rest  departed, 
and  I  remained.  Then  he  warned  the  pages  forth  of  the  room, 
and  caused  me  to  sit  down  beside  him,  and  spake  to  me  thus  in 
the  Spanish  tongue : 

“  God  bless  thee,  my  son ;  I  will  give  thee  the  greatest  jewel 
I  have.  For  I  will  impart  unto  thee,  for  the  love  of  God  and 
men,  a  relation  of  the  true  6tate  of  Salomon’s  House.  Son,  to 
make  you  know  the  true  state  of  Salomon’s  House,  I  will  keep 
this  order.  First,  I  will  set  forth  unto  you  the  end  of  our 
foundation.  Secondly,  the  preparations  and  instruments  we 
have  for  our  works.  Thirdly,  the  several  employments  and 
functions  whereto  our  fellows  are  assigned.  And  fourthly, 
the  ordinances  and  rites  which  we  observe. 

“  The  End  of  our  Foundation  is  the  knowledge  of  Causes, 
and  secret  motions  of  things  1 ;  and  the  enlarging  of  the  bounds 
of  Human  Empire,  to  the  effecting  of  all  things  possible. 

“  The  Preparations  and  Instruments  are  these.  We  have 
large  and  deep  caves  of  several  depths :  the  deepest  are  sunk 
six  hundred  fathom ;  and  some  of  them  are  digged  and  made 
under  great  hills  and  mountains :  so  that  if  you  reckon  together 
the  depth  of  the  hill  and  the  depth  of  the  cave,  they  are 
(some  of  them)  above  three  miles  deep.  For  we  find  that  the 
depth  of  a  hill,  and  the  depth  of  a  cave  from  the  flat,  is  the 
same  thing;  both  remote  alike  from  the  sun  and  heaven’s 
beams,  and  from  the  open  air.  These  caves  we  call  the  Lower 
Region.  And  we  use  them  for  all  coagulations,  indurations, 
refrigerations,  and  conservations  of  bodies.  We  use  them  like- 


1  et  motuum,  ac  virtutum  interiorum  in  Natura. 


NEW.  ATLANTIS. 


157 


wise  for  the  imitation  of  natural  mines;  and  the  producing 
also  of  new  artificial  metals,  by  compositions  and  materials 
which  we  use1,  and  lay  there  for  many  years.  We  use  them 
also  sometimes,  (which  may  seem  strange,)  for  curing  of  some 
diseases,  and  for  prolongation  of  life  in  some  hermits  that 
choose  to  live  there,  well  accommodated  of  all  things  necessary  ; 
and  indeed  live  very  long ;  by  whom  also  we  learn  many  things. 

“We  have  burials  in  several  earths 2,  where  we  put  divers 
cements,  as  the  Chineses  do  their  porcellain.  But  we  have 
them  in  greater  variety,  and  some  of  them  more  fine.  We 
have  also  great  variety  of  composts,  and  soils 3,  for  the  making 
of  the  earth  fruitful. 

“We  have  high  towers;  the  highest  about  half  a  mile  in 
height ;  and  some  of  them  likewise  set  upon  high  mountains ; 
so  that  the  vantage  of  the  hill  with  the  tower  is  in  the  highest 
of  them  three  miles  at  least.  And  these  places  we  call  the 
Upper  Region:  accounting  the  air  between  the  high  places 
and  the  low,  as  a  Middle  Region.  We  use  these  towers,  ac¬ 
cording  to  their  several  heights  and  situations,  for  insolation, 
refrigeration,  conservation  ;  and  for  the  view  of  divers  meteors; 
as  winds,  rain,  snow,  hail ;  and  some  of  the  fiery  meteors  also. 
And  upon  them,  in  some  places,  are  dwellings  of  hermits,  whom 
we  visit  sometimes,  and  instruct  what  to  observe. 

“We  have  great  lakes  both  salt  and  fresh,  whereof  we  have 
use  for  the  fish  and  fowl.4  We  use  them  also  for  burials  of 
some  natural  bodies :  for  we  find  a  difference  in  things  buried 
in  earth  or  in  air  below  the  earth,  and  things  buried  in  water. 
We  have  also  pools,  of  which  some  do  strain  fresh  water  out  of 
salt;  and  others  by  art  do  turn  fresh  water  into  salt.  We  have 
also  some  rocks  in  the  midst  of  the  sea,  and  some  bays5  upon 
the  shore,  for  some  works  wherein  is  required  the  air  and 
vapour  of  the  sea.  We  have  likewise  violent  streams  ?.ud 
cataracts,  which  serve  us  for  many  motions6:  and  likewise 
engines  for  multiplying  and  enforcing  of  winds,  to  set  also  on 
going  divers  motions.7 

«  We  have  also  a  number  of  artificial  wells  and  fountains. 


1  qucB  ibi  praparamus. 

2  Hubemua  etiam  alias  sepulturas  corporum  naturalium  et  materiarum ;  non  in  con - 
cavo  aliquo ,  sed  in  ipsa  terra  contigva,  ubi  coniplura  camenta  condimus,  fyc. 

3  stercorationum  et  Jimorum  varietatem  magnam ,  item  congestionum  et  massarum 

aliarumf  $*c.  . 

4  aves  item  pahtstres  et  aquaticas ,  omnis  generis.  5  loca  quadam  apnea. 

c  motuum  violentorum.  7  quee  ventos  excipiant.  mvhipHcent ,  et  roborent. 


158 


NEW  ATLANTIS. 


made  in  imitation  of  the  natural  sources  and  baths ;  as  tincted 
upon  vitriol,  sulphur,  steel,  brass,  lead,  nitre,  and  other  minerals. 
And  again  we  have  little  wells  for  infusions  of  many  things, 
where  the  waters  take  the  virtue  1  quicker  and  better  than  in 
vessels  or  basons.  And  amongst  them  we  have  a  water  which 
we  call  Water  of  Paradise,  being,  by  that  we  do  to  it,  made 
very  sovereign  for  health,  and  prolongation  of  life. 

“We  have  also  great  and  spacious  houses,  where  we  imitate 
and  demonstrate 2  meteors ;  as  snow,  hail,  rain,  some  artificial 
rains  of  bodies  and  not  of  water,  thunders,  lightnings 3 ;  also 
generations  of  bodies  in  air ;  as  frogs,  flie3,  and  divers  others. 

“We  have  also  certain  chambers,  which  we  call  Chambers 
of  Health,  where  we  qualify  the  air  as  we  think  good  and 
proper  for  the  cure  of  divers  diseases,  and  preservation  of 
health.4 

“We  have  also  fair  and  large  baths,  of  several  mixtures,  for 
the  cure  of  diseases,  and  the  restoring  of  man’s  body  from 
arefaction :  and  others  for  the  confirming  of  it  in  strength  of 
sinews,  vital  parts,  and  the  very  juice  and  substance  of  the 
body. 

“We  have  also  large  and  various  orchards  and  gardens, 
wherein  we  do  not  so  much  respect  beauty,  as  variety  of 
ground  and  soil,  proper  for  divers  trees  and  herbs :  and  some 
very  spacious,  where  trees  and  berries  are  set  whereof  we 
make  divers  kinds  of  drinks,  besides  the  vineyards.  In  these 
we  practise  likewise  all  conclusions  of  grafting  and  inoculating, 
as  well  of  wild-trees  as  fruit-trees,  which  produceth  many  ef¬ 
fects.  And  we  make  (by  art)  in  the  same  orchards  and  gar¬ 
dens,  trees  and  flowers  to  come  earlier  or  later  than  their 
seasons ;  and  to  come  up  and  bear  more  speedily  than  by  their 
natural  course  they  do.  We  make  them  also  by  art  greater 
much  than  their  nature ;  and  their  fruit  greater  and  sweeter 
and  of  differing  taste,  smell,  colour,  and  figure,  from  their 
nature.  And  many  of  them  we  so  order,  as  they  become  of 
medicinal  use. 

“We  have  also  means  to  make  divers  plants  rise  by  mix¬ 
tures  of  earths  without  seeds ;  and  likewise  to  make  divers  new 

1  ubi  aqua  ( currens  scilicet)  virtutem  corporum  melius  et  vivacius>  §*c. 

2  i.  e.  exhibit;  in  quibus  imitamenta  et  repreesentationes  meteor orum  exhibemus. 

3  The  translation  adds  coruscationum. 

A  This  experiment  has  been  tried,  especially  by  Dr.  Beddoes  of  Clifton,  but  without 
any  marked  result.  Some  relief  has  been  obtained  in  cases  of  phthisis  by  inhaling  oxy¬ 
genated  air.  —  R.  L.  E. 


NEW  ATLANTIS. 


159 


plants,  differing  from  the  vulgar ;  and  to  make  one  tree  or 
plant  turn  into  another. 

“  We  have  also  parks  and  inclosures  of  all  sorts  of  beasts 
and  birds,  which  we  use  not  only  for  view  or  rareness,  but 
likewise  for  dissections  and  trials ;  that  thereby  we  may  take 
light  what  may  be  wrought  upon  the  body  of  man.  Wherein 
we  find  many  strange  effects ;  as  continuing  life  in  them,  though 
divers  parts,  which  you  account  vital,  be  perished  and  taken 
forth ;  resuscitating  of  some  that  seem  dead  in  appearance ;  and 
the  like.  We  try  also  all  poisons  and  other  medicines  upon 
them,  as  well  of  chirurgery  as  physic.1  By  art  likewise,  we  make 
them  greater  or  taller  than  their  kind  is;  and  contrariwise 
dwarf  them,  and  stay  their  growth :  we  make  them  more  fruit¬ 
ful  and  bearing'  than  their  kind  is;  and  contrariwise  barren 
and  not  generative.  Also  we  make  them  differ  in  colour, 
shape,  activity,  many  ways.  We  find  means  to  make  commix¬ 
tures  and 'copulations  of  different  kinds  ;  which  have  produced 
many  new  kinds,  and  them  not  barren,  as  the  general  opinion 
is.  We  make  a  number  of  kinds  of  serpents,  worms,  flies, 
fishes,  of  putrefaction ;  whereof  some  are  advanced  (in  effect)  to 
be  perfect  creatures,  like  beasts  or  birds ;  and  have  sexes,  and 
do  propagate.  Neither  do  we  this  by  chance,  but  we  know 
beforehand  of  what  matter  and  commixture  what  kind  of  those 
creatures  will  arise.2 

“We  have  also  particular  pools,  where  we  make  trials  upon 
fishes,  as  we  have  said  before  of  beasts  and  birds. 

“We  have  also  places  for  breed  and  generation  of  those  kinds 
of  worms  and  flies  which  are  of  special  use ;  such  as  are  with 
you  your  silk-worms  and  bees. 

“  I  will  not  hold  you  long  with  recounting  of  our  brew- 
houses,  bake-houses,  and  kitchens,  where  are  made  divers 
drinks,  breads,  and  meats,  rare  and  of  special  effects.  Wines 
we  have  of  grapes ;  and  drinks  of  other  juice  of  fruits,  of 
grains,  and  of  roots3:  and  of  mixtures  with  honey,  sugar, 
manna,  and  fruits  dried  and  decocted.  Also  of  the  tears  or 

1  The  translation  adds  ut  corpori  humano  melius  caeeamus, 

*  This  passage  is  quoted  with  great  approbation  by  Geoffroi  St.  Hilaire  at  the  end 
of  a  memoir  on  the  results  of  artificial  incubation  read  before  the  Academy  of  Sciences 
in  1 826,  and  published  in  the  Annales  du  Museum  for  that  year.  It  may  be  said  that 
he  was  the  first  by  whom  the  scientific  importance  of  monstrosities  was  fully  appre¬ 
ciated,  and  in  answer  to  the  objections  which  were  made  to  the  study  of  Teratology 
on  the  ground  of  its  inutility,  he  invokes  the  authority  of  Bacon.  —  R.  L.  E. 

3  decuctionibus  granorum  et  radicum . 


160 


NEW  ATLANTIS. 


woundings  of  trees,  and  of  the  pulp  of  canes.  And  these 
drinks  are  of  several  ages,  some  to  the  age  or  last  of  forty 
years.  We  have  drinks  also  brewed  with  several  herbs,  and 
roots,  and  spices  ;  yea  with  several  fleshes,  and  white  meats  1 ; 
whereof  some  of  the  drinks  are  such,  as  they  are  in  effect 
meat  and  drink  both  2 :  so  that  divers,  especially  in  age,  do 
desire  to  live  with  them,  with  little  or  no  meat  or  bread. 
And  above  all,  we  strive  to  have  drinks  of  extreme  thin 
parts,  to  insinuate  into  the  body,  and  yet  without  all  biting, 
sharpness,  or  fretting;  insomuch  as  some  of  them  put  upon 
the  back  of  your  hand  will,  with  a  little  stay,  pass  through 
to  the  palm,  and  yet  taste  mild  to  the  mouth.  We  have 
also  waters  which  we  ripen  in  that  fashion,  as  they  become 
nourishing ;  so  that  they  are  indeed  excellent  drink ;  and  many 
will  use  no  other.  Breads  we  have  of  several  grains,  roots, 
and  kernels :  yea  and  some  of  flesh  and  fish  dried ;  with 
divers  kinds  of  leavenings  and  seasonings :  so  that  some  do 
extremely  move  appetites ;  some  do  nourish  so,  as  divers  do 
live  of  them,  without  any  other  meat ;  who  live  very  long. 
So  for  meats,  we  have  some  of  them  so  beaten  and  made 
tender  and  mortified,  yet  without  all  corrupting,  as  a  weak 
heat  of  the  stomach  will  turn  them  into  good  chylus,  as  well 
as  a  strong  heat  would  meat  otherwise  prepared.  We  have 
some  meats  also  and  breads  and  drinks,  which  taken  by  men 
enable  them  to  fast  long  after  ;  and  some  other,  that  used  make 
the  very  flesh  of  men’s  bodies  sensibly  more  hard  and  tough, 
and  their  strength  far  greater  than  otherwise  it  would  be. 

“We  have  dispensatories,  or  shops  of  medicines.  Wherein 
you  may  easily  think,  if  we  have  such  variety  of  plants  and  living 
creatures  more  than  you  have  in  Europe,  (for  we  know  what 
you  have,)  the  simples,  drugs,  and  ingredients  of  medicines, 
must  likewise  be  in  so  much  the  greater  variety.  We  have 
them  likewise  of  divers  ages,  and  long  fermentations.  And  for 
their  preparations  3,  we  have  not  only  all  manner  of  exquisite 
distillations  and  separations,  and  especially  by  gentle  heats  and 
percolations  through  divers  strainers,  yea  and  substances 4 ;  but 

*  quin  et  odditis  quandoque  camibus,  ovis,  lacticiniis ,  et  aliis  esculentis . 

s  Chocolate,  which  however  was  well  known  in  Bacon’s  time,  seems  to  fulfil  this 
description.  It  long  since  gave  rise  to  a  doubt  whether  drinking  it  amounted  to 
breaking  fast.  See  the  treatise  of  the  Jesuit  Hurtado,  “  Utrum  potio  chocolatica 
frangat  jcjunium  Ecclesise.” —  It.  L.  E. 

3  medicmarum  praeparatinnes. 

4  per  diversa  lintea,  lanea,  liyna,  imd  et  substantias  solidiorts. 


NEW  ATLANTIS. 


161 


also  exact  forms  of  composition,  whereby  they  incorporate 
almost,  as  they  were  natural  simples. 

“We  have  also  divers  mechanical  arts,  which  you  have  not ; 
and  stuffs  made  by  them ;  as  papers,  linen,  silks,  tissues ;  dainty 
works  of  feathers  of  wonderful  lustre ;  excellent  dyes,  and 
many  others  ;  and  shops  likewise  *,  as  well  for  such  as  are  not 
brought  into  vulgar  use  amongst  us  as  for  those  that  are.  For 
you  must  know  that  of  the  things  before  recited,  many  of  them 
are  grown  into  use  throughout  the  kingdom  ;  but  yet  if  they 
did  flow  from  our  invention,  we  have  of  them  also  for  patterns 
and  principals.'1 2 

“We  have  also  furnaces  of  great  diversities,  and  that  keep 
great  diversity  of  heats ;  fierce  and  quick ;  strong  and  constant; 
soft  and  mild  ;  blown,  quiet ;  dry,  moist ;  and  the  like.  But 
above  all,  we  have  heats  in  imitation  of  the  sun’s  and  heavenly 
bodies’  heats,  that  pass  divers  inequalities  and  (as  it  were)  orbs, 
progresses,  and  returns,  whereby  we  produce  admirable  effects. 
Besides,  we  have  heats 3  of  dungs,  and  of  bellies  and  maws  of 
living  creatures,  and  of  their  bloods  and  bodies ;  and  of  hays 
and  herbs  laid  up  moist ;  of  lime  unquenched ;  and  such  like. 
Instruments  also  which  generate  heat  only  by  motion.4 *  And 
farther,  places  for  strong  insolations ;  and  again,  places  under 
the  earth,  which  by  nature  or  art  yield  heat.  These  divers 
heats  we  use,  as  the  nature  of  the  operation  which  we  intend 
requireth. 

“We  have  also  perspective-houses,  where  we  make  demonstra¬ 
tions  of  all  lights  and  radiations;  and  of  all  colours;  and  out 
of  things  uncoloured  and  transparent,  we  can  represent  unto 
you  all  several  colours ;  not  in  rain-bows  as  it  is  in  gems 
and  prisms,  but  of  themselves  single.6  We  represent  also  all 
multiplications  of  light,  which  we  carry  to  great  distance,  and 
make  so  sharp  as  to  discern  small  points  and  lines ;  also  all 
colorations  of  light :  all  delusions  and  deceits  of  the  sight,  in 
figures,  magnitudes,  motions,  colours :  all  demonstrations  of 
shadows.7  We  find  also  divers  means,  yet  unknown  to  you. 


1  officinas  etiam  aliquarum  artium  prcedictarum. 

2  eorum  quandoque  exemplaria ,  tanquam  primigenia ,  et  optime  elaborata ,  in  Domo 
nostra  retinemus. 

8  imitationes  caloris. 

4  Bacon  seems  to  refer  to  the  result  of  his  investigation  into  the  form  of  heat,  namely 

that  heat  is  a  kind  of  motion.  —  R.  L .  E. 

6  non  in  forma  iridum  gliscentes.  6  sed  per  se  simplices  et  constantes . 

7  umbrarum  et  imaginum  in  aere  volitantium. 


162 


NEW  ATLANTIS. 


of  producing  of  light  originally  from  divers  bodies.  "We  pro¬ 
cure  means  of  seeing  objects  afar  off ;  as  in  the  heaven  and 
remote  places  ;  and  represent  things  near  as  afar  off,  and  things 
afar  off  as  near;  making  feigned  distances.  We  have  also 
helps  for  the  sight,  far  above  spectacles  and  glasses  in  use.1 
We  have  also  glasses  and  means2  to  see  small  and  minute  bodies 
perfectly  and  distinctly ;  as  the  shapes  and  colours  of  small 
flies  and  worms,  grains  and  flaws  in  gems,  which  cannot  other¬ 
wise  be  seen ;  observations  in  urine  3  and  blood,  not  otherwise 
to  be  seen.4 5  We  make  artificial  rain-bows,  halos,  and  circles 
about  light.6  We  represent  also  all  manner  of  reflexions, 
refractions,  and  multiplications  of  visual  beams  of  objects. 

“We  have  also  precious  stones  of  all  kinds,  many  of  them 
of  great  beauty,  and  to  you  unknown  ;  crystals  likewise  ;  and 
glasses  of  divers  kinds ;  and  amongst  them  some  of  metals  vi- 
trificated,  and  other  materials  besides  those  of  which  you  make 
glass.  Also  a  number  of  fossils,  and  imperfect  minerals,  which 
you  have  not.  Likewise  loadstones  of  prodigious  virtue ;  and 
other  rare  stones,  both  natural  and  artificial. 

“We  have  also  sound-houses,  where  we  practise  and  de¬ 
monstrate  all  sounds,  and  their  generation.  We  have  harmo¬ 
nies  which  you  have  not,  of  quarter-sounds,  and  lesser  slides  of 
sounds.6  Divers  instruments  of  music  likewise  to  you  unknown, 
some  sweeter  than  any  you  have ;  together  with  bells  and  rings 
that  are  dainty  and  sweet.  W e  represent  small  sounds  as  great 
and  deep ;  likewise  great  sounds  extenuate  and  sharp ;  we  make 
divers  tremblings  and  warblings  of  sounds,  which  in  their 
original  are  entire.  We  represent  and  imitate  all  articulate 
sounds  and  letters,  and  the  voices  and  notes  of  beasts  and 
birds.  We  have  certain  helps  which  set  to  the  ear  do  further 
the  hearing  greatly.  We  have  also  divers  strange  and  artificial 

1  qua  bisoculis  vestris  et  speculis,  vsu  longe  prastant.  2  artijicia. 

8  It  has  been  proposed  to  facilitate  the  examination  of  diabetic  urine  by  an  appara¬ 

tus  in  which  the  amount  of  sugar  present  in  it  is  to  be  measured  by  its  effect  on  the 
plane  of  polarisation  of  polarised  light  transmitted  through  it. — R.  L.  E. 

4  Nothing  that  has  been  accomplished  with  the  microscope  would  have  interested 
Bacon  more  than  the  discoveries  of  Schleiden  and  Schwann,  because  nothing  has 
brought  us  so  near  the  latens  processus  by  which  the  tissues  of  organic  life  are  formed. 
It  is  remarkable  that  when  Schleiden  had  as  he  conceived  destroyed  the  aualogy  be¬ 
tween  the  developments  of  vegetable  and  animal  life,  by  showing  that  all  vegetable 
tissues  are  developed  by  cells,  Schwann  should  have  re-established  it  more  clearly  than 
before  by  showing  that  this  is  true  of  all  animal  tissues  also. —  R.  L.  E. 

5  haloneSf  circulos ,  vibrationes  et  trepidationes  luminis. 

6  miscentes  non  tantum  Beta  illud  acutum  et  molLe ,  ut  vos ,  sed  quadrantes  sonorum ; 
et  sonus  tremulos  uliquos  dulcisshnos. 


NEW  ATLANTIS. 


163 


echos,  reflecting  the  voice  many  times,  and  as  it  were  tossing  it : 
and  some  that  give  back  the  voice  louder  than  it  came ;  some 
shriller,  and  some  deeper;  yea,  some  rendering  the  voice  dif¬ 
fering  in  the  letters  or  articulate  sound  from  that  they  receive. 
We  have  also  means  to  convey  Bounds  in  trunks  and  pipes,  in 
strange  lines  and  distances.1 

“We  have  also  perfume-houses;  wherewith  we  join  also 
practices  of  taste.  We  multiply  smells,  which  may  seem 
strange.  We  imitate  smells,  making  all  smells  to  breathe  out 
of  other  mixtures  than  those  that  give  them.2  We  make  divers 
imitations  of  taste  likewise,  so  that  they  will  deceive  any  man’s 
taste.  And  in  this  house  we  contain  also  a  confiture-house ; 
where  we  make  all  sweet-meats,  dry  and  moist 3,  and  divers 
pleasant  wines,  milks,  broths,  and  sallets,  far  in  greater  variety 
than  you  have. 

“We  have  also  engine-houses,  where  are  prepared  engines 
and  instruments  for  all  sorts  of  motions.  There  we  imitate  and 
practise  to  make  swifter  motions  than  any  you  have,  either  out 
of  your  muskets  or  any  engine  that  you  have ;  and  to  make 
them  and  multiply  them  more  easily,  and  with  small  force 4,  by 
wheels  and  other  means :  and  to  make  them  stronger,  and  more 
violent  than  yours  are ;  exceeding  your  greatest  cannons  and 
basilisks.  We  represent  also  ordnance  and  instruments  of  war, 
and  engines  of  all  kinds :  and  likewise  new  mixtures  and  com¬ 
positions  of  gun-powder,  wildfires  burning  in  water,  and  un¬ 
quenchable.  Also  fire-works  of  all  variety  both  for  pleasure 
and  use.  We  imitate  also  flights  of  birds  ;  we  have  some  de¬ 
grees  of  flying  in  the  air5;  we  have  ships  and  boats  for  going 
under  water6,  and  brooking  of  seas;  also  swimming-girdles  and 

1  [ad  magnam  distantiam,  et  in  lineis  tortuosi ».]  Tills  is  now  done  very  effectively 
by  means  of  gutta  percha  tubing.  —  R.  L.  E. 

2  This  power  of  imitating  smells  is  one  of  the  recent  achievements  of  chemistry. 
From  fusil  oil,  a  product  of  the  distillation  of  spirits  from  potatoes,  itself  exceedingly 
offensive,  may  be  got  oil  of  apples,  oil  of  pears,  oil  of  grapes,  and  oil  of  cognac.  The 
oil  of  pine-apples  and  that  of  bitter  almonds  enable  confectioners  to  Imitate  perfectly 
the  scent  and  flavour  of  pine-apples  and  bitter  almonds  respectively,  and  both,  like  the 
perfumes  already  mentioned,  are  got  from  very  offensive  substances.  —  R.  L.  E. 

‘  The  translation  adds  imd  et  condimus  ea  cum  rebus  aliis  dulcibus ,  gratissimis, 
prccter  saccharum  et  mel. 

4  motus  reddere  faciliores  et  intentiores ,  eos  multiplicando  per  rotas  et  alios  modos. 

*  gradus  quosdum  habemus  et  commoditates  vectura  per  aerem  instar  animalium 
alatorum. 

•  A  boat  for  going  under  water  was  one  of  Drebbel’s  inventions  exhibited  in  1620. 
Bacon  in  the  De  Augmentis  refers  to  another  namely,  Drebbel’s  method  of  producing 
cold.  —  R.  L.  E. 


12  Bacon  III 


164 


NEW  ATLANTIS. 


supporters.  We  have  divers  curious  clocks,  and  other  like 
motions  of  return1,  and  some  perpetual  motions.  We  imitate 
also  motions  of  living  creatures,  by  images  of  men,  beasts, 
birds,  fishes,  and  serpents.  We  have  also  a  great  number  of 
other  various 2  motions,  strange  for  equality,  fineness,  and  sub- 
tilty. 

“We  have  also  a  mathematical  house,  where  are  represented 
all  instruments,  as  well  of  geometry  as  astronomy,  exquisitely 
made. 

“We  have  also  houses  of  deceits  of  the  senses;  where 
we  represent  all  manner  of  feats  of  juggling,  false  apparitions, 
impostures,  and  illusions  ;  and  their  fallacies.  And  surely  you 
will  easily  believe  that  we  that  have  so  many  things  truly 
natural  which  induce  admiration,  could  in  a  world  of  particulars 
deceive  the  senses,  if  we  would  disguise  those  things  and  labour 
to  make  them  seem  more  miraculous.  But  we  do  hate  all  im¬ 
postures  and  lies :  insomuch  as  we  have  severely  forbidden  it  to 
all  our  fellows,  under  pain  of  ignominy  and  fines,  that  they  do 
not  shew  any  natural  work  or  thing,  adorned  or  swelling3 ;  but 
only  pure  as  it  is,  and  without  all  affectation  of  strangeness. 

“  These  are  (my  son)  the  riches  of  Salomon’s  House. 

“  For  the  several  employments  and  offices  of  our  fellows ;  we 
have  twelve  that  sail  into  foreign  countries,  under  the  names  of 
other  nations,  (for  our  own  we  conceal ;)  who  bring  us  the  books, 
and  abstracts,  and  patterns  of  experiments  of  all  other  parts.4 
These  we  call  Merchants  of  Light. 

“We  have  three  that  collect  the  experiments  which  are  in  all 
books.  These  we  call  Depredators. 

“We  have  three  that  collect  the  experiments  of  all  mecha¬ 
nical  arts ;  and  also  of  liberal  sciences ;  and  also  of  practices 
which  are  not  brought  into  arts.  These  we  call  Mystery-men.5 

“We  have  three  that  try  new  experiments,  such  as  them¬ 
selves  think  good.  These  we  call  Pioners  or  Miners. 

“We  have  three  that  draw  the  experiments  of  the  former 
four  into  titles  and  tables,  to  give  the  better  light  for  the 

1  et  alios  motus  aeris  et  aquarum,  in  or  hem  et  per  vices  revertentes. 

*  The  word  “  various,"  which  seems  to  be  redundant,  is  omitted  in  the  translation. 

8  artijicioso  apparatu  ementitum. 

4  qui  libros ,  et  materias  et  exemplaria  experimentorum  ad  nos  perferunt . 

5  In  the  translation  they  are  called  Venatores,  hunters ;  a  name,  however,  which 
does  not  seem  to  distinguish  their  peculiar  office  so  accurately  as  “  mystery-men," 
that  is,  men  whose  business  was  to  inquire  after  mysteries,  i.  e.  crafts. 


NEW  ATLANTIS. 


165 


drawing  of  observations  and  axioms  out  of  them.  These  we 
call  Compilers.1 

“We  have  three  that  bend  themselves,  looking  into  the  ex¬ 
periments  of  their  fellows,  and  cast  about  how  to  draw  out  of 
them  things  of  use  and  practice  for  man’s  life,  and  knowledge2 
as  well  for  works  as  for  plain  demonstration  of  causes,  means 
of  natural  divinations,  and  the  easy  and  clear  discovery  of  the 
virtues  and  parts  of  bodies.3  These  we  call  Dowry-men  or 
Benefactors.4 

“  Then  after  divers  meetings  and  consults  of  our  whole  num¬ 
ber,  to  consider  of  the  former  labours  and  collections 5,  we  have 
three  that  take  care,  out  of  them,  to  direct  new  experiments, 
of  a  higher  light,  more  penetrating  into  nature  than  the  for¬ 
mer.  These  we  call  Lamps. 

“  We  have  three  others  that  do  execute  the  experiments  so 
directed,  and  report  them.  These  we  call  Inoculators. 

“  Lastly,  we  have  three  that  raise  the  former  discoveries  by 
experiments  into  greater  observations,  axioms,  and  aphorisms.6 
These  we  call  Interpreters  of  Nature. 

“  We  have  also,  as  you  must  think,  novices  and  apprentices, 
that  the  succession  of  the  former  employed  men  do  not  fail ; 
besides  a  great  number  of  servants  and  attendants,  men  and 
women.  And  this  we  do  also  :  we  have  consultations,  which  of 
the  inventions  and  experiences  which  we  have  discovered  shall 
be  published,  and  which  not :  and  take  all  an  oath  of  secrecy, 
for  the  concealing  of  those  which  we  think  fit  to  keep  secret : 
though  some  of  those  we  do  reveal  sometimes  to  the  state,  and 
some  not.7 

“  For  our  ordinances  and  rites :  we  have  two  very  long 
and  fair  galleries :  in  one  of  these  we  place  patterns  and  sam¬ 
ples  of  all  manner  of  the  more  rare  and  excellent  inventions : 
in  the  other  we  place  the  statua’s  of  all  principal  inventors. 
There  we  have  the  statua  of  your  Columbus,  that  discovered 

1  These  represent  the  formation  of  the  tables  comparentite,  absentia;  in  proximo, 
and  graduum.  See  Novum  Organum ,  ii.  §  11 — 13.  — R.  L.  E. 

For  “  compilers,”  the  translation  has  divisores,  distributors. 

2  necnon  quae  inserviant  scientiis,  non  solim  quoad  opera,  sed,  !fc, 

8  quae  sint  in  corporibus  singulis  partes  latentes,  quae  virfutes. 

4  These  represent  the  Vindemiatio  prima.  See  Nov.  Org.  ii.  §  20.  —  R.  L.  E. 

5  qui  labores  et  collectiones  priores  penitus  introspiciunt  et  quasi  ruminantur. 

6  The  translation  adds  that  this  was  only  done  after  consultation  with  the  whole 
body.  Quodfaciunt  non  nisi  consultations  et  colloquis  prius  kahilis  cum  snciis  uuioersis. 

7  Etsi  nonnulla  ex  iis,  cum  consensu,  interdum  Regi  aut  Senutui  revelcmus :  alia 
autem  omnino  intra  notitium  nostrum  cohihnnns. 


166 


NEW  ATLANTIS. 


the  West  Indies :  also  the  inventor  of  ships :  your  monk  that 
was  the  inventor  of  ordnance  and  of  gunpowder  :  the  inventor 
of  music :  the  inventor  of  letters :  the  inventor  of  printing  :  the 
inventor  of  observations  of  astronomy :  the  inventor  of  works 
in  metal :  the  inventor  of  glass :  the  inventor  of  silk  of  the 
worm :  the  inventor  of  wine :  the  inventor  of  corn  and  bread : 
the  inventor  of  sugars :  and  all  these  by  more  certain  tradition 
than  you  have.  Then  have  we  divers  inventors  of  our  own, 
of  excellent  works ;  which  since  you  have  not  seen,  it  were 
too  long  to  make  descriptions  of  them ;  and  besides,  in  the 
right  understanding  of  those  descriptions  you  might  easily  err. 
For  upon  every  invention  of  value,  we  erect  a  statua  to  the 
inventor,  and  give  him  a  liberal  and  honourable  reward.  These 
statua’s  are  some  of  brass ;  some  of  marble  and  touch-stone ; 
some  of  cedar  and  other  special  woods  gilt  and  adorned :  some 
of  iron ;  some  of  silver ;  some  of  gold. 

“  We  have  certain  hymns  and  services,  which  we  say  daily,  of 
laud  and  thanks  to  God  for  his  marvellous  works  :  and  forms 
of  prayers,  imploring  his  aid  and  blessing  for  the  illumination 
of  our  labours,  and  the  turning  of  them  into  good  and  holy  uses. 

“  Lastly,  we  have  circuits  or  visits  of  divers  principal  cities 
of  the  kingdom ;  where,  as  it  cometh  to  pass,  we  do  publish 
such  new  profitable  inventions  as  we  think  good.  And  we  do 
also  declare  natural  divinations  1  of  diseases,  plagues,  swarms 
of  hurtful  creatures,  scarcity,  tempests,  earthquakes,  great  in¬ 
undations,  comets,  temperature  of  the  year,  and  divers  other 
things ;  and  we  give  counsel  thereupon  what  the  people  shall 
do  for  the  prevention  and  remedy  of  them.” 

And  when  he  had  said  this,  he  stood  up ;  and  I,  as  I  had 
been  taught,  kneeled  down  ;  and  he  laid  his  right  hand  upon 
my  head,  and  said ;  “  God  bless  thee,  my  son,  and  God  bless 
this  relation  which  I  have  made.  I  give  thee  leave  to  publish 
it  for  the  good  of  other  nations  ;  for  we  here  are  in  God’s  bosom, 
a  land  unknown.”  And  so  he  left  me  ;  having  assigned  a  value 
of  about  two  thousand  ducats,  for  a  bounty  to  me  and  my 
fellows.  For  they  give  great  largesses  where  they  come  upon 
all  occasions. 

1  Prccdicimus  etiam  antequam  adveniant  (id  quod  ad  Naturales  Divinationes  pertinet) 

inorbos  epidemicos,  §-c. 


[the  rest  was  not  perfected.] 


167 


MAGNALIA  NATURAL, 

PR.ECIPUE  QUOAD  USUS  HUMANOS.' 


The  prolongation  of  life. 

The  restitution  of  youth  in  some  degree. 

The  retardation  of  age. 

The  curing  of  diseases  counted  incurable. 

The  mitigation  of  pain. 

More  easy  and  less  loathsome  purgings. 

The  increasing  of  strength  and  activity. 

The  increasing  of  ability  to  suffer  torture  or  pain. 

The  altering  of  complexions,  and  fatness  and  leanness. 

The  altering  of  statures. 

The  altering  of  features. 

The  increasing  and  exalting  of  the  intellectual  parts. 
Versions  of  bodies  into  other  bodies. 

Making  of  new  species. 

Transplanting  of  one  species  into  another. 

Instruments  of  destruction,  as  of  war  and  poison. 
Exhilaration  of  the  spirits,  and  putting  them  in  good  dis¬ 
position. 

Force  of  the  imagination,  either  upon  another  body,  or  upon 
the  body  itself. 

Acceleration  of  time  in  maturations. 

Acceleration  of  time  in  clarifications. 

•  This  paper  follows  the  New  Atlantis  in  the  original  edition,  and  concludes  the 
volume. 


168 


MAGNALIA  NATURAE. 


Acceleration  of  putrefaction. 

Acceleration  of  decoction. 

Acceleration  of  germination. 

Making  rich  composts  for  the  earth. 

Impressions  of  the  air,  and  raising  of  tempests. 

Great  alteration  ;  as  in  induration,  emollition,  &c. 

Turning  crude  and  watry  substances  into  oily  and  unctuous 
substances. 

Drawing  of  new  foods  out  of  substances  not  now  in  use. 
Making  new  threads  for  apparel ;  and  new  stuffs ;  such  as 
paper,  glass,  &c. 

Natural  divinations. 

Deceptions  of  the  senses. 

Greater  pleasures  of  the  senses. 

Artificial  minerals  and  cements. 


PHILOSOPHICAL  WORKS. 


PART  III. 

WORKS  ORIGINALLY  DESIGNED  FOR  PARTS  OF  THE  IN  ST  ATJRATIO 
MAGNA,  BUT  SUPERSEDED  OR  ABANDONED; 


ARRANGED 

ACCORDING  TO  THE  ORDER  IN  WHICH  THEY  WERE  WRITTEN. 


“  Because  you  were  wont  to  make  me  believe  you  took  liking  to  my  writings,  I  send  you  some 
of  this  vacation’s  fruits  ;  and  thus  much  more  of  my  mind  and  purpose.  I  hasten  not  to  publish  : 
perishing  I  would  prevent;  and  am  forced  to  respect  as  well  my  times  as  the  matter.  For  with 
me  it  is  thus,  and  I  think  with  all  men  in  my  case:  if  I  bind  myself  to  an  argument,  it  loadeth 
my  mind  ,  but  if  I  rid  myself  of  the  present  cogitation,  it  is  rather  a  recreation.  This  hath  put 
me  into  these  miscellanies,  which  1  purpose  to  suppress  il  God  give  me  leave  to  write  a  just  and 
perfect  volume  of  Philosophy,  which  1  go  on  with,  though  slowly.”  —  Letter  to  Bishop  Andrews 
upon  sending  him  the  “  CogitcUa  et  Visa.” 


171 


PREFACE, 


We  have  now  collected  all  of  Bacon’s  philosophical  works 
which  there  is  reason  to  believe  he  would  himself  have  cared  to 
preserve.  The  rest  contain  but  little  matter  of  which  the  sub¬ 
stance  may  not  be  found  in  one  part  or  another  of  the  preceding 
volumes,  reduced  to  the  shape  in  which  he  thought  it  would  be 
most  effective.  In  his  eyes,  those  which  follow  belonged  to  the 
part  of  the  race  which  was  past  and  was  not  to  be  looked  back 
upon;  for  the  end  which  he  was  pursuing  lay  still  far  before 
bim,  and  his  great  anxiety  was  to  bequeath  the  pursuit  to  a 
second  generation,  which  should  start  fresh  from  the  point 
where  he  was  obliged  to  leave  it. 

It  is  not  so  however  with  us.  In  our  eyes  the  interest 
which  attaches  to  his  labours  is  of  a  different  kind.  We  no 
longer  look  for  the  discovery  of  any  great  treasure  by  following 
in  that  direction.  His  peculiar  system  of  philosophy, — that  is 
to  say,  the  peculiar  method  of  investigation,  the  “  organum,” 
the  “formula,”  the  “clavis,”  the  “ars  ipsa  interpretandi  natu- 
ram,”  the  “  filum  Labyrinthi,”  or  by  whichever  of  its  many 
names  we  choose  to  call  that  artificial  process  by  which  alone 
he  believed  that  man  could  attain  a  knowledge  of  the  laws  and 
a  command  over  the  powers  of  nature, —  of  this  philosophy  we 
can  make  nothing.  If  we  have  not  tried  it,  it  is  because  we 
feel  confident  that  it  would  not  answer.  We  regard  it  as  a 
curious  piece  of  machinery,  very  subtle,  elaborate,  and  inge¬ 
nious,  but  not  worth  constructing,  because  all  the  work  it  could 
do  may  be  done  more  easily  another  way.  But  though  this,  the 
favourite  child  of  Bacon’s  genius  which  he  would  fain  have  made 
heir  of  all  he  had,  died  thus  in  the  cradle,  his  genius  itself  still 
lives  and  works  among  us;  whatever  brings  us  into  nearer 
communion  with  that  is  still  interesting,  and  it  is  as  a  product 
and  exponent  of  Bacon’s  own  mind  and  character  that  the  Ba¬ 
conian  philosophy,  properly  so  called,  retains  its  chief  value  for 
modern  men. 


172 


PREFACE. 


Viewed  in  this  light,  the  superseded  or  abandoned  pieces  which 
are  here  gathered  together  under  this  third  head  are  among  the 
most  interesting  of  the  whole  collection.  For  in  them  we  may- 
trace  more  than  can  be  traced  elsewhere  of  what  may  be  called 
the  personal  history  of  his  great  philosophical  scheme,  —  the 
practical  enterprise  in  which  it  engaged  him,  and  its  effect  on 
his  inner  and  outer  life.  We  cannot  indeed' trace  the  Idea 
back  to  its  great  dawn:  to  the  days  when,  in  the  fearless 
confidence  of  four  and  twenty,  he  wrote  Temporis  Partus 
Maximus  at  the  head  of  the  manuscript  in  which  it  was  first 
set  forth,  —  thinking  no  doubt  in  his  inexperience  that  Truth 
had  only  to  show  her  face  in  order  to  prevail.  Our  records  do 
not  go  so  far  back  as  that :  and  before  the  period  at  which  they 
begin  a  shadow  had  fallen  across  the  prospect.  The  presump¬ 
tuous  “  maximus  ”  has  been  silently  withdrawn  and  “  mascu- 
lus”  put  in  its  place.  Instead  of  that  overconfidence  in  the 
sympathy  of  his  generation  we  find  what  looks  like  an  over¬ 
apprehension  of  hostility.  And  it  is  in  deprecating  general 
objections;  in  answering,  mollifying,  conciliating,  or  contriving 
to  pass  by  prejudices ;  in  devising  prefaces,  apologies,  modes 
of  putting  his  case  and  selecting  his  audience  so  as  to  obtain 
a  dispassionate  hearing  for  it ;  that  we  find  him,  if  not  chiefly, 
yet  much  and  anxiously  employed. 

It  is  probably  to  the  experiences  and  discouragements  of 
this  part  of  his  career  that  we  owe  the  greater  part  of  the  first 
book  of  the  Novum  Organum ,  which  embodies  all  the  defensive 
measures  into  which  they  drove  him ;  but  though  the  result 
may  be  seen  there,  the  history  may  be  better  traced  in  these 
fragments.  It  is  in  them  that  we  can  best  see  how  early 
this  idea  of  recovering  to  Man  the  mastery  over  Nature  pre¬ 
sented  itself  to  him ;  presented  itself  not  as  a  vague  specu¬ 
lation  or  poetic  dream,  but  as  an  object  to  be  attempted; 
the  highest  at  which  a  man  could  aim,  yet  not  too  high 
for  man  to  aim  at ;  —  how  certain  he  felt  that  it  might  be 
accomplished  if  men  would  but  make  the  trial  fairly;  how 
clearly  he  saw  or  thought  he  saw  the  way  to  set  about  it ;  how 
vast  his  expectations  of  the  good  to  come ;  how  unshakable 
his  confidence  in  the  means  to  be  used ;  what  immense  intel¬ 
lectual  operations  that  confidence  gave  him  courage  to  enter 
upon  and  patience  to  proceed  with, —  deliberately,  alone,  year 
after  year,  and  decade  after  decade,  still  hoping  for  success  in 


PREFACE. 


173 


the  end,  —  delays,  distractions,  disappointments,  discourage¬ 
ments  internal  and  external,  notwithstanding.  They  serve 
moreover  to  remind  us  of  another  fact  which  it  is  not  unim¬ 
portant  to  remember,  and  which,  judging  from  the  events  of 
later  times,  we  are  too  apt  to  overlook  or  forget,  —  namely, 
how  little  authority  in  matters  of  this  kind  his  name  carried 
with  it  in  those  days.  “  A  fool  could  not  have  written  it,  and 
a  wise  man  would  not,”  is  said  to  have  been  the  criticism  of  a 
great  Oxford  scholar  upon  an  early  sketch  of  the  Instauratio. 
And  how  little  Bacon  could  trust  for  a  favourable  hearing  of 
his  case  to  his  personal  reputation  among  his  contemporaries 
during  the  first  fifty  years  of  his  life,  appears  from  his  hesita¬ 
tion,  uncertainty,  and  anxiety  as  to  the  form  in  which  he  should 
cast  it,  and  the  manner  in  which  he  should  bring  it  forward. 
For  we  find  among  these  fragments  not  merely  successive 
drafts  of  the  same  design,  (which  would  prove  nothing  more 
than  solicitude  to  do  the  work  well,)  but  also  experimental 
variations  of  the  design  itself,  in  which  the  same  matter  is 
dressed  up  in  different  disguises,  with  the  object  apparently  of 
keeping  the  author  out  of  sight ;  as  if  he  had  thought  that  a 
project  of  such  magnitude  would  be  entertained  less  favour¬ 
ably  if  associated  with  the  person  of  one  who  had  done 
nothing  as  yet  to  prove  any  peculiar  aptitude  for  scientific 
investigation,  or  to  entitle  him  to  speak  on  such  matters  with 
authority.  Thus  at  one  time  he  seems  to  have  thought  of 
bringing  his  work  out  under  a  fanciful  name,  probably  with 
some  fanciful  story  to  explain  it ;  as  we  see  in  the  mysterious 
title  “  Valerius  Terminus,  & c.  with  the  Annotations  of  Hermes 
Stella .”  At  another  he  presents  the  same  argument  in  a 
dramatic  form ;  as  in  the  Redargutio  Philosophiarum,  where 
great  part  of  what  became  afterwards  the  first  book  of  the 
Novum  Organum  is  given  as  a  report  of  a  speech  addressed 
to  an  assembly  of  philosophers  at  Paris.  At  another  he  tries 
to  disguise  himself  under  a  style  of  assumed  superiority,  quite 
unlike  his  natural  style ;  as  in  the  Temporis  Partus  Masculus, 
where  again  the  very  same  argument  (for  it  is  but  another 
version  of  the  Redargutio  Philosophiarum )  is  set  forth  in  a  spirit 
of  scornful  invective  poured  out  upon  all  the  popular  reputa¬ 
tions  in  the  annals  of  philosophy ;  —  a  spirit  not  only  alien 
from  all  his  own  tastes  and  habits  moral  and  intellectual,  but 
directly  at  variance  with  the  policy  which  he  was  actually 


174 


PREFACE. 


pursuing  in  this  very  matter ;  which  was  to  avoid  as  much 
as  possible  all  contradiction  and  collision,  and  to  treat  popular 
prejudices  of  all  kinds  with  the  greatest  courtesy  and  tender¬ 
ness  :  —  an  inconsistency  which  I  know  not  how  to  account 
for,  except  by  supposing  that  he  had  been  trying  experiments 
as  to  the  various  ways  in  which  popular  opinion  may  be  con¬ 
ciliated;  and  knowing  that  many  a  man  had  enjoyed  great 
authority  in  the  world  by  no  better  title  than  that  of  boldly 
assuming  it,  had  a  mind  to  try  how  he  could  act  that  part 
himself,  and  so  wrote  this  exercise  to  see  the  effect  of  it ;  and 
finding  the  effect  bad,  laid  it  by.  Another  thought  which  he 
had,  —  still  probably  with  the  same  view  of  avoiding  the  con¬ 
trast  between  the  lofty  pretensions  of  the  project  and  the 
small  reputation  of  the  author,  —  was  to  publish  it  in  a  distant 
place.  In  July,  1608,  remembering  that  a  prophet  is  not  with¬ 
out  honour  except  in  his  own  country,  he  was  considering  the 
expediency  of  beginning  to  print  in  France.1  And  about  the 
same  time  the  idea  of  shadowing  himself  under  the  darkness 
of  antiquity  seems  to  have  occurred  to  him :  for  I  am  much 
inclined  to  think  that  it  was  some  such  consideration  which 
induced  him  in  1609  to  bring  out  his  little  book  De  Sapientid 
Veterum  ;  where,  fancying  that  some  of  the  cardinal  principles 
of  his  own  philosophy  lay  hid  in  the  oldest  Greek  fables,  he 
took  advantage  of  the  circumstance  to  bring  them  forward 
under  the  sanction  of  that  ancient  prescription,  —  and  so  made 
those  fables  serve  partly  as  pioneers  to  prepare  his  way,  and 
partly  as  auxiliaries  to  enforce  his  authority. 

Altogether,  the  result  of  my  endeavours  to  arrange  and 
understand  these  experimental  essays  and  discarded  beginnings, 
is  a  conviction  that  Bacon  was  not  more  profoundly  convinced 
that  he  was  right,  than  uneasily  apprehensive  that  his  contempo¬ 
raries  would  never  think  him  so  ;  and  that  for  the  first  fifty  years 
of  his  life  his  chief  anxiety  was,  not  so  much  to  bring  his  work 
into  the  most  perfect  shape  according  to  his  own  conception, 
as  to  bring  it  before  the  world  in  a  manner  which  should  insure 
patient  and  attentive  listeners,  and  involve  least  risk  of  mis¬ 
carriage,  —  the  carrying  of  the  world  with  him  being  in  such 
an  enterprise  a  condition  essential  to  success.  And  this  I  have 
thought  the  more  worth  pointing  out,  because  the  course  of 


1  Coramcntarius  solutus. 


PREFACE. 


175 


proceeding  which  he  ultimately  resolved  on  tends  to  hide  it 
from  us.  For  his  final  resolution  was,  as  we  know,  to  discard 
all  fictions  and  disguises,  and  utter  his  own  thoughts  ia  his 
own  person  after  the  manner  which  was  most  natural  to  him. 
But  we  are  to  remember  that  before  he  came  to  that  determi¬ 
nation,  or  at  least  before  he  put  it  in  execution,  the  case  was 
materially  altered  and  the  principal  cause  of  embarrassment 
removed.  For  besides  that  he  had  then  been  four  years  Lord 
Chancellor,  the  great  reputation  which  he  had  acquired  in 
other  fields  —  in  the  House  of  Commons,  the  Courts  of  Law, 
and  the  Star-Chamber, —  coupled  with  the  well-known  fact 
that  his  favourite  pursuit  all  the  time  had  been  natural  philo¬ 
sophy,  concerning  which  he  had  long  had  a  great  work  in  pre¬ 
paration, — this  reputation  had  given  to  his  name  the  weight 
which  before  it  wanted  ;  insomuch  that  there  was  then  perhaps 
no  mouth  in  Europe  which  could  command  a  larger  audience, 
or  from  which  the  prophecy  of  a  new  intellectual  era  coming 
upon  the  earth  could  proceed  with  greater  authority,  than  that 
of  Francis  Bacon. 

Nevertheless,  when  I  say  that  these  pieces  are  chiefly  in¬ 
teresting  on  account  of  the  light  they  throw  on  Bacon’s  per¬ 
sonal  hopes,  fears,  and  struggles,  I  am  far  from  meaning  to 
underrate  their  intrinsic  and  independent  value.  Those  who  are 
most  perfectly  acquainted  with  the  works  by  which  they  were 
superseded  will  not  the  less  find  them  well  worth  the  studying. 
Many  of  them  are  in  form  and  composition  among  Bacon’s  most 
perfect  productions ;  and  if  in  successive  processes  of  digestion 
he  succeeded  in  sinking  the  thought  deeper  and  packing  the 
words  closer,  it  was  often  at  the  expense  of  many  natural  and 
original  graces.  What  they  have  gained  in  weight  and  solidity 
they  have  lost  sometimes  in  freshness,  freedom,  and  perspicuity ; 
and  it  will  generally  be  found  that  each  helps  to  throw  light 
on  the  other. 


J.  S. 


. 

. 


COGITATIONES 

DE 


SCIENTIA  HUMANA. 


■  ■■  . 


179 


PREFACE 


TO  THE 

COGITATIONES  DE  SCIENTIA  HUMANA. 


The  value  of  this  collection  would  be  much  increased  if  the 
dates  of  the  several  pieces  could  be  fixed,  or  even  the  order  of 
succession.  I  fear  however  that  it  is  impossible  to  do  this  with 
any  certainty.  I  have  arranged  them  in  the  order  in  which  it 
seems  to  me  most  probable  that  they  were  written,  but  the 
evidence  is  so  scanty  and  unsatisfactory  that  I  wish  every 
reader  to  consider  it  an  open  question  and  to  judge  for  himself 
upon  the  data  which  will  be  laid  before  him. 

This  which  I  place  first,  and  to  which  for  convenience  of 
reference  I  give  the  title  Cogitationes  de  Scientia  Humana,  is  a 
fragment,  or  rather  three  separate  fragments,  that  have  n  ju 
been  printed  before.  They  are  copied  from  a  manuscript 
which  came  to  the  British  Museum  among  the  papers  of 
Dr.  Birch,  who  appears  to  have  received  it  from  the  ex¬ 
ecutors  of  Mr.  John  Locker.  Locker  was  a  friend  of  Robert 
Stephens,  the  Historiographer  Royal;  was  employed  by  him 
to  see  through  the  press  his  second  collection  of  Bacon’s 
letters,  published  in  1734;  was  afterwards  engaged  in  pre¬ 
paring  an  edition  of  all  Bacon’s  works,  but  died  before  it 
was  completed ;  whereupon  the  task,  together  with  the  papers 
which  he  had  collected,  was  transferred  to  Dr.  Birch. 

Of  the  history  of  this  manuscript  I  have  not  been  able  to 
learn  anything  beyond  what  appears  upon  the  face  of  it.  It  is 
a  transcript  in  a  hand  of  the  18th  century,  afld  has  evidently 
been  made  from  a  mutilated  original ;  blank  spaces  having  been 
left  by  the  transcriber  in  several  parts,  such  as  would  occur  in 
the  copy,  not  of  an  unfinished  or  illegible  writing,  but  of  one 
worn  away  at  the  edges  of  the  outer  leaves.  The  leaves  of  the 


13  Bacon  III 


180 


PREFACE  TO  THE 


transcript  are  put  together  in  a  false  order,  and  are  not  num¬ 
bered;  which  makes  it  less  easy  to  guess  what  the  original 
consisted  of.  But  it  looks  as  if  there  had  been  three  separate 
papers,  each  wanting  a  leaf  or  two  at  the  beginning,  and  each 
containing  a  series  of  “  Cogitationes”  or  short  philosophical 
essays.  The  transcript  has  been  corrected  throughout  by 
Locker  himself  and  prepared  for  the  press  or  the  copyist ; 
some  passages  being  marked  for  omission,  and  some  to  stand, 
and  titles  being  added  to  the  latter.  It  seems  that  he  meant 
to  include  in  his  edition  of  Bacon’s  works  all  those  portions 
which  were  not  to  be  found  elsewhere  in  the  same  or  nearly 
the  same  words.  As  these  titles  do  not  appear  to  have  formed 
part  of  the  original,  I  have  omitted  them  here;  my  object  being 
to  print  Bacon’s  own  paper  as  Locker  received  it ;  which  I 
suppose  the  transcriber  to  have  copied  as  correctly  as  he  could. 

The  subjects  of  cogitation  are  various,  and  not  arranged  in 
any  logical  order.  I  find  interspersed  among  them  the  four 
fables.  Metis,  Soror  Gigantum,  Coelurn,  and  Proteus,  exactly  as 
they  are  printed  in  the  De  Sapientia  Veterum ;  and  the  fifth, 
sixth,  seventh,  and  tenth  of  the  Cogitationes  de  Rerum  Natura, 
exactly  as  they  are  given  by  Gruter;  except  a  few  verbal 
differences  which  I  have  pointed  out  where  they  occur.  In 
the  last  mentioned  (which  forms  the  seventh  article  of  the 
first  fragment),  the  passage  about  the  new  star  in  Cassiopeia 
appears  in  the  same  words  and  with  the  same  context  precisely ; 
and  therefore  the  reasons  which  I  have  given  for  presuming  that 
the  Cogitationes  de  Rerum  Natura  were  written  before  1605  are 
equally  applicable  to  this  fragment.  It  is  on  this  account  that 
I  place  it  first  in  the  series ;  not  that  some  of  the  other  pieces 
contained  in  this  part  may  not  have  been  written  earlier  than 
1605,  but  that  there  is  none  among  them  concerning  which  I 
have  such  good  grounds  for  concluding  that  it  cannot  have 
been  written  later. 

The  Cogitatio  in  which  this  passage  occurs  is  immediately 
followed  by  one  on  the  true  relation  between  natural  philo¬ 
sophy  and  natural  history ;  in  which  the  kind  of  natural  his¬ 
tory  on  which  a  sound  and  active  philosophy  may  be  built 
is  particularly  described.  If  we  could  be  sure  that  this  also 
was  written  before  1605,  the  fact  would  be  valuable;  as 
showing  that  this  part  of  the  design  was  no  after  thought, 
but  was  as  clearly  conceived,  and  its  essential  importance  as 


C0G1T ATIONES  DE  SCIENTIA  HUMANA. 


181 


fully  recognised,  in  1605  as  in  1620.  In  the  Parasceve  and 
in  the  admonition  prefixed  to  the  Historia  Ventorum  (monendi 
sunt  homines,  &c.),  the  impossibility  of  carrying  the  work  on 
without  such  a  collection  of  natural  history,  though  more 
fully  and  anxiously  insisted  upon,  is  not  more  distinctly  under¬ 
stood.  The  presumption  however  which  fixes  the  date  of  the 
preceding  Cogitatio  does  not  necessarily  hold  with  regard  to 
this,  because  it  may  no  doubt  have  been  added  afterwards;  and 
the  word  partitionem  at  the  end  of  the  paragraph  in  page  189 
may  seem  to  imply  that  it  was  meant  for  the  Partitiones  Scien- 
tiarum,  and  therefore  written  after  the  plan  of  the  Instauratio 
Magna  had  been  laid  out  in  its  ultimate  form. 

The  miscellaneous  character  of  these  meditations  makes  the 
loss  of  the  rest  of  less  consequence.  It  is  easy  to  strike  into 
the  argument  of  each,  and  to  refer  it  to  its  proper  place  in 
Bacon’s  philosophy.  It  may  be  convenient  however,  as  they 
are  for  the  most  part  without  explanatory  titles,  to  give  here 
a  list  of  the  several  pieces,  with  a  note  of  the  subjects  to  which 
they  refer. 


FIEST  FKAGHENT. 

1.  (Cog.  3.)  Of  the  limits  and  end  of  Knowledge :  the  same 

argument  which  is  handled  in  the  first  chapter  of  Vale¬ 
rius  Terminus,  and  the  opening  of  the  Advancement  of 
Learning.  (The  beginning  wanting.) 

2.  (Cog.  4.)  Of  the  Use  of  Knowledge. 

3.  (Cog.  5.)  The  fable  of  Metis. 

4.  (Cog.  6.)  The  fable  of  the  Sister  of  the  Giants. 

5.  (Cog.  7.)  The  fable  of  Coelum. 

6.  (Cog.  8.)  The  fable  of  Proteus. 

7.  (Cog.  9.)  Of  the  error  in  supposing  a  difference  in  point  of 

eternity  and  mutability  between  things  celestial  and  things 
sublunary. 

8.  (Cog.  10.)  Of  Natural  History  considered  as  the  groundwork 

of  Natural  Philosophy.  (Imperfect  at  the  end.) 

SECOND  FRAGMENT. 

1.  (Cog.  8.)  That  general  consent  affords  no  presumption  of 
truth  in  matters  intellectual. 


182 


PREFACE  TO  COGIT.  DE  SCIENTIA  HUMANA. 


2.  (Cog.  9.)  Of  the  error  of  supposing  that  conoersancy  with 

particulars  is  below  the  dignity  of  the  human  mind. 

3.  (Cog.  10.)  The  exposition  of  the  fable  of  Midas.  (Not  in¬ 

cluded  in  the  De  Sapientia  Veterum .) 

THIRD  FRAGMENT. 

1.  Of  wisdom  in  the  business  of  life.  (The  beginning  wanting.) 

2.  That  the  quantum  of  matter  is  always  the  same. 

3.  Of  the  sympathy  between  bodies  icith  sense  and  bodies  icithout. 

4.  Of  apparent  rest,  and  solidity  and  fluidity. 


The  notes  to  these  pieces,  and  the  explanatory  remarks 
within  brackets,  are  mine. 


J.  S. 


183 


COGITATIONES  DE  SCIENTIA  HUMANA, 


THE  FIRST  FRAGMENT.1 

•  •  .  .  a  Deo  defectionem  homini  insinuavit.2  Quod  vero 

ad  terminos  sobrietatis  attinet,  eos  demum  legitimos  et  veros 
esse  censemus,  qui  sensus  aditum  ad  divina  prohibeant ;  ut  jam 
dictum  est.  Si  enim  per  alas  sensus  male  conglutinatas  ad  Dei 
naturam,  vias,  voluntatem,  regimen,  et  reliqua  mysteria,  tan- 
quam  ex  propinquo  audacius  conspicienda,  superbo  volatu  effe- 
ramur,  praecipitium  certum  nos  manet.  Atque  hoc  est  quod 
per  fallaciam philosophic  et  gloria  oppressionem  cavere  jubemur. 
Quicquid  vero  non  est  Deus,  sed  pars  Universi  aut  Creatura, 
hujus  certe  contemplatio  et  scientia  obscuritate  saepius  et  diffi- 
cultate  removetur,  sed  nullo  edicto  separatur.  Certe  Scriptura, 
post  vicissitudines  rerum  et  temporum  commemoratas,  ad  ex¬ 
tremum  subjungit :  Cuncta  fecit  bona  in  tempore  suo,  et  mundum 
tradidit  disputationibus  eorum  ;  ut  tamen  non  inveniat  homo  quod 
operatus  est  Deus  ab  initio  usque  ad finem :  ubi  satis  aperte  signi- 
ficat,  tradi  certe  mundum  hominum  contemplationibus  et  con- 
troversiis,  et  infinitas  et  abditas  Naturae  operationes  posse  erui ; 
opus  autem  quod  operatus  est  Deus  ab  initio  usque  ad  finem, 
id  est  legem  Naturae  summariam,  quae  instar  puncti  verticalis 
Pyramidis  est,  in  quo  omnia  coeunt  in  unum ;  hoc  inquam,  non 
aliud  quicquam,  ab  Intellectu  humano  seponi.  Nam  ut  idem 
Author  affirmat,  Lucerna  Dei  est  spiraculum  hominis  quo  quceque 
interior a  pervestig at ;  et  rursus  ait,  Gloriam  Dei  esse  rem  celare, 
gloriam  Regis  autem  rem  investigare ;  non  aliter  ac  si  Divina 
Natura  innocent!  ac  benevolo  puerorum  ludo  delectaretur,  qui 
ideo  se  abscondunt  ut  inveniantur,  ac  animam  humanam  sibi 

1  Additional  MSS.  Brit.  Mus.  4258.  fo.  219. 

2  He  has  been  speaking,  probably,  of  the  nature  of  the  temptation  which  led  to  the 
fall  of  man  ;  viz.  the  promise  that  he  should  be  as  God,  knowing  good  and  evil. 


184 


C0GITAT10NES  DE  SCIENTIA  HUMANA. 


collusorem  in  hoc  ludo  pro  sua  in  homines  indulgentia  et  boni- 
tate  elegerit.  Itaque  Deum  Fidei,  mundum  sensus  et  scientias 
humanse,  vera  objocta  esse  ponimus.  Quod  vero  ad  artificium 
illud  attinet,  ut  ex  ignoratione  causarum  major  sit  manus  di- 
vinaj  recognitio  et  veneratio ;  hoc  nil  aliud  est  quam  Deo  per 
mendacium  gratificari  velle,  quo  ille  prorsus. nostro  non  eget. 
Etiam  et  illas  cogitationes  parum  pias  sunt,  si  quis  Dei  vicem 
timeat,  ne  religio  detrimentum  accipiat.  Nam  haec  rationem 
animalem  et  fidei  inopiam  sapiunt,  et  religionem  tacite  quo- 
dammodo  imposturas  insimulant  [ac]  si  periculum  ei  ab  inqui- 
sitione  veritatis  subsit.  Neque  metuat  quisquam  ut  Sensui 
Fides  magis  ex  diametro  opponi  possit  quam  per  ea  quae  nunc, 
virtute  afflatus  divini,  creduntur  ;  mundi  creationem  ex  nihilo ; 
Dei  incarnationem  ;  carnis  resurrectionem.  Atque  nobis  certe 
perfectissimum  est,  Naturalem  Philosophiam,  post  verbum  Dei, 
certissimam  superstitionis  medicinam,  eandem  (quod  mirum 
videri  possit)  probatissimum  fidei  alimentum  esse ;  quantoque 
altius  penetret,  tanto  fortius  animos  hominum  religione  per- 
fundere.  Nam  in  limine  philosophise,  in  causis  proximis 
moram  faciendo,  fortasse  animus  nonnihil  deprimitur,  et  sen- 
Sui  obnoxius  efficitur.  Sed  postquam  ascensus  factus  est,  et 
catena  causarum  ex  opere  divino  fabrefacta  in  conspectum 
venit,  erigitur  proculdubio  animus,  et  ad  religionem  prsepara- 
tur.  Itaque  existimamus  Scientiam  de  Natura  tanquam  fidis- 
simam  Religion!  ancillam  prsesto  esse,  cum  altera  voluntatem 
Dei,  altera  potestatem  manifestet.  Neque  erravit  qui  dixit 
Erratis  nescientes  scripturas  et  potestatem  Dei ;  informationem 
de  Yoluntate,  tanquam  Fidei  instrumentum,  et  meditationem 
de  Potestate,  tanquam  ejusdem  adminiculum,  conjungens. 
Yeruntamen  (quod  verum  rebus  humanis  presidium  est)  ad 
preces  confugimus,  et  Deum  supplice3  rogamus  ne  ex  resera- 
tione  viarum  sensus  et  accensione  majore  luminis  naturalis 
aliquid  incredulitatis  aut  noctis  animis  nostris  erga  divina 
mysteria  oboriatur ;  sed  potius  ut  ab  intellectu  a  phantasiis 
et  vanitate  puro  et  repurgato,  et  divinis  oraculis  nihilominus 
subdito  ac  prorsus  dedititio,  Fidei  dentur  quce  Fidei  smt. 

COGITATIO  4*“. 

Atque  cum  de  terminis  et  finibus  Philosophise  jam  dictum 
sit,  res  postulare  videtur  ut  de  usu  ejus  aliquid  addamus. 


THE  FIRST  FRAGMENT. 


185 


Omnis  enim  scientia  usu  prudenter  terminatur ;  atque  usui 
nomen  finis  vel  precipue  competit :  in  quo  altius  rem  repetere 
visum  est,  ut  fortius  quod  tantum  hominum  intersit  mentibus 
eorum  incutiamus.  In  Divina  Natura  radius  trinus  per  omnia 
splendet,  et  in  operibus  et  in  attributis.  Essentia  et  Creatio 
Materias  ad  Patrem ;  Essentia  et  Creatio  Formae  ad  Filium ; 
duratio  et  conservatio  Essentia;  ad  Spiritum  Sanctum  refertur, 
Neque  enim  ait  Scriptura  Dixit  Deus,  Jiat  Caelum  et  Terra , 
sed  Creavit  Deus  Caelum  et  Terram.  De  operibus  autem  sex 
dierum,  no  nait  Scriptura  Creavit  Deus  Lucem  et  quas  sequun- 
tur;  sed  Dixit  Deus,  fiat  Lux,  et  facta  est  Lux ;  et  per  omnia 
Creationem  precedit  Yerbum.  Similiter,  Potentia  Patri, 
Sapientia  Filio,  Charitas  Spiritui  Sancto  attribuitur ;  ut  et 
peccata  iisdem  attributis  respondeant ;  cum  peccata  ex  infir- 
mitate  contra  Patrem ;  peccata  ex  ignorantia  contra  Filium ; 
peccata  ex  malitia  contra  Spiritum  Sanctum  esse  dicantur. 
Etiam  origines  defectionis  eodem  spectant.  Nam  ex  appetitu 
potentiae  angeli  lapsi  sunt ;  ex  appetitu  scientia;  homines ; 
sed  Charitatis  non  est  excessus ;  neque  inducit  charitas  tenta- 
tionem,  neque  Spiritus  aut  homo  per  earn  unquam  in  peri- 
culum  venit.  Qui  enim  ex  plenitudine  charitatis  sibi  exitium 
et  anathema  imprecati  sunt,  ut  Paulus  et  Moses,  utcunque  in 
extasi  spiritus  eo  progressi,  tamen  offensionem  apud  Deum 
incurrisse  non  reperiuntur.  Itaque  Deus  proponitur  homi- 
nibus  ad  imitationem,  secundum  Charitatem,  non  secundum 
Potentiam  aut  Sapientiam.  Scriptum  enim  est,  Diligite 
inimicos  vestros  ut  sitis  filii  Patris  vestri  qui  in  Ccelis  est; 
qui  solem  suum  oriri  facit  super  bonos  et  malos,  et  pluit  super 
justos  et  injustos.  Angelus  autem  dixit  in  se,  Ascendam  et 
ero  similis  Altissimo  :  non  dixit  Deo,  sed  Altissimo.  Similiter 
Homo,  postquam  tentationem  hausisset,  efferebatur,  et  con- 
cupivit  ut  similis  esset  Deo;  non  simpliciter,  sed  in  hoc  ut 
sciret  Bonum  et  Malum.  Neuter  ad  similitudinem  charitatis 
divinae  se  excitabat ;  sed  Angelo  ministerii  Dominatio,  Creatures 
dominanti  Scientia,  desiderio  fuit.  Atque  haec  in  presenti 
adducimus,  ut  homines  tantis  oraculis  moniti  scientia;  veros 
fines  cogitent;  nec  earn  aut  animi  causa  petant,  aut  ut  alios 
despiciant,  aut  ad  commodum,  aut  ad  lucrum,  aut  ad  gloriam, 
aut  hujusmodi  inferiora.  Atque  hie  rursus,  ut  prius,  Deum 
precamur  ut  deposito  scientise  veneno,  a  serpentis  veneno 
jam  a  principio  infuso,  quo  animus  humanus  tumet,  nec  altum 


186 


COGITATIONES  DE  SC1ENTIA  HUMANA. 


sapiamus, 

colamus. 


nec  ultra  sobrium,  sed  Veritatem  iu  Cbarltate 


Cogitatio  5te. 


Narrant  poetse  antiqui  Jovem  cepisse  in  uxorem  Metin,  &c. 

[Here  follows  tbe  exposition  of  the  fable  Metis  sive  Con¬ 
silium,  for  which  see  De  Sapientid  Veterum,  §  xxx.] 


Cogitatio  6ta. 

Finxere  poetse  Gigantes  e  terra  procreatos,  &c. 

[Here  follows  the  exposition  of  the  fable  Soror  Gigantum 
sive  Fama;  for  which  see  De  Sap.  Vet.  §  x.] 


Cogitatio  7ma. 

Finxere  poetse  Ccelum  antiquissimum,  &c. 

[Here  follows  the  exposition  of  the  fable  Ccelum  sive  ori 
gines ;  for  which  see  De  Sap.  Vet.  §  xii.] 


Cogitatio  8a. 

Narrant  poetse  Proteuin,  &c. 

[Here  follows  the  exposition  of  the  fable  Proteus  sive 
Materia  ;  for  which  see  De  Sap.  Vet.  §  xiii.] 


Cogitatio  9a. 

De  dissimilitudine  ccelestium  et  sublunarium  quoad  ceternitatem 
et  mutabilitatem,  quod  non  sit  verificata. 

[See  Cogitationes  de  Rerum  Natura,  §  x.,  p.  32.  of  this  vo¬ 
lume.  These  five  Cogitationes  agree  exactly  with  the  copies 
elsewhere  given,  with  the  exception  of  a  very  few  verbal 
variations,  which  I  have  mentioned  in  the  notes.  With  regard 
to  the  last  it  is  to  be  observed  that,  though  it  follows  the  8th 
Cogitatio  without  any  break,  the  words  Cogitatio  9a.  are  not 
written  at  the  head  of  it,  as  in  all  the  preceding ;  but  Cog. 
10.  is  inserted  in  the  margin ;  from  which  I  infer  that  it 
was  not  numbered  in  the  original,  and  that  the  number  10 
was  inserted  afterwards  by  the  transcriber  in  reference  to  the 
Cogitationes  de  Rerum  Natura  where  it  stands  tenth  and  last. 
That  it  formed  part  of  the  present  series  however,  and 


THE  FIRST  FRAGMENT. 


187 


belonged  to  this  place,  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  it 
is  immediately  followed  by] 

COGITATIO  10“. 

Fundamenta  solida  Philosophise  Naturalis  purioris,  in  Natural! 
Historia  jaciuntur ;  eaque  copiosa  et  accurata.  Aliunde  petita 
philosophia  natat  et  ventosa  est  et  agitatur  et  se  confundit ; 
nec  ad  utilitates  humanas  et  partem  activam  ducit1  aut  pertingit. 
Atque  ut  distinctius  loquamur,  Historia  Naturalis  aut  non  satis 
investigata  aut  non  satis  inspecta  duo  vitia  et  veluti  morbos 
aut  corruptiones  Theoriarum  peperit.  In  altero  homines  ad 
Sophistae  potius,  in  altero  ad  Poetse  partes  accedunt.  Qui  enim 
ex  vulgaribus  observationibus  theorise  principiis  concinnatis, 
reliqua  in  ingenii  discursu  et  argumentatione  ponit,  is  quam- 
cunque  existimationem  aut  fortunam  Inventa  sua  sortiantur, 
tamen  revera  ex  veterum  Sophistarum  more  et  disciplina  phi- 
losophatur.  Qui  autem  ex  portione  Naturae  diligenter  et  ex¬ 
quisite  indagata  et  observata  tumidus  et  phantasiae  plenus 
alia  omnia  ad  ejus  exemplum  et  similitudinem  fieri  fingit  et 
somniat,  is  inter  Poetas  sane  est  conscribendus.  Itaque  pru- 
dens  et  acutum  erat  illud  Heracliti  dictum  cum  quereretur 
homines  Philosophiam  in  mundis  propriis  non  in  mundo  majore 
quaerere.  Naturalem  enim  Historiam  le viter  attingunt,  atque 
in  meditationibus  suis  in  immensum  expatiantur ;  neque  hasc 
prudenter  dividunt.  Atque  hujus  rei  exemplum,  praesertim 
morbi  illius  priori s,  in  Philosophia  Scholasticis  se  prodit ;  qui 
cum  ingenii  acumine  et  robore  pollerent,  et  otio  abundarent ; 
historiae  autem  aut  naturae  aut  temporum  parvam  partem 
nossent ;  nec  omnino  variam  doctrinam  hausissent ;  sed  medita- 
tiones  suas  intra  veluti  cellas  paucorum  authorum,  prsecipue 
Aristotelis  (qui  dictaturam  apud  eos  gerebat),  quemadmodum 
personas  intra  cellas  monasteriorum  et  collegiorum  clausissent; 
ferocitatem  autem  et  confidentiam  earn  quae  illos  qui  pauca 
norunt  sequi  solet  (ut  animalia  in  tenebris  educata)  acquisi- 
vissent ;  ex  materiae  quantitate  non  magna,  ingenii  vero  agita- 
tione  infinita,  telas  eas  doctrinal  confecerunt,  quae  (ut  illae  etiam 
aranearum)  tenuitate  fili  et  texturse  subtilitate  sunt  admirabiles, 
sed  substantia  et  virtute  fere  inutiles.  Longe  autem  magis 
mirandum  est  Aristotelem,  tantum  virum,  et  tanti  Regis  opi- 


1  durat  in  MS. 


188 


C0GITAT10NES  DE  SC1ENTIA  HUMANA. 


bus  innixum,  et  in  tanta  rerum  et  historic  varietate  versatum, 
quique  ipse  tam  accuratam  de  Animalibus  historiam  conscri- 
pserit,  atque  insuper  experimentis  cujusvis  generis  cogitatio- 
nem  impertierit,  (quod  ex  libris  ejus  Problematum  et  Parvis 
Naturalibus  manifestum  est),  quique  etiam1  sensui  justas  partes 
tribuerit ;  tamen  Philosophiam  suam  de  Natura  a  Rebus  omnino 
abstraxisse 2,  et  experientiae  desertorem  maximum  fuisse,  at¬ 
que  ea  tantis  laboribus  peperisse  quae  Dialecticae  potius  (ut- 
cunque  homines  distinguant  et  argutentur 3)  quam  Physicae  aut 
Metaphysicae  sint  accommodata.  Yerum  ille  ingenio  incitato 
et  imperioso,  atque  per  omnia  ipse  sibi  author  (cum  antiqui- 
tatem  despiceret,  experientiam  autem  in  servilem  modum  ad 
opinionum  suarum  fidem  traheret  et  quasi  captivam  circum- 
duceret),  meritoque  sane  galeam  Plutonis  (obscuritatem  scili¬ 
cet  quandam  artificiosam)  induens,  cum  tantas  turbas  conci- 
visset ;  denique  Dialecticam  suam,  utpote  artem  ab  eo  (ut  ipse 
licentius  nec  tamen  vere  gloriatur)  oriundam,  interponens,  et 
res  verbis  mancipans,  varietatem  doctrinao  et  scientiae  suae  usu 
ambitioso  et  callido  corrupit.  Nos  vero,  licet  propter  faculta- 
tis  nostrae  tenuitatem  statuam  Philosophiae  efformare  aut  eri- 
gere  non  possimus,  saltern  basin  ei  paremus,  atque  Historiae 
Naturalis  usum  et  dignitatem  hominibus  praecipue  commen- 
demus.  Neque  enim  inventio  prima  Philosophiae  tantum  ab 
ea  pendet,  sed  etiam  omnis  inventorum  amplificatio  et  correctio. 
Ut  enim  aquae  non  altius  ascendunf  quam  ex  quo  descenderunt, 
ita  doctrina  et  informatio  ab  aliquo  authore  veluti  cisterna 
quadam  derivata  non  facile  supra  ejusdem  authoris  inventa 
scandit  aut  insurgit.  Ipsi  rerum  fontes  petendi  sunt.  Quam- 
obrem  si  qua  nobis  fides  est  aut  judicium  in  his  rebus,  quas 
certe  summa  cum  cura  et  maximis  et  indefessis  animi  laboribus 
tractamus,  id  ante  omnia  consulimus  et  monemus,  ut  Historia 
Naturalis  diligens  et  seria  et  fida  procuretur  et  comparetur. 
Atque  habemus  sane  Historiam  Naturalem,  mole  amplam, 
genere  variam,  diligentia  etiam  curiosam ;  veruntamen  si  quis 
ex  ea  ipsa  fabulas  et  antiquitatis  mentionem  et  philologiam 
et  opiniones  et  similia  excerpat  ac  seponat,  quae  convivalibus 
potius  sermonibus  et  virorum  doctorum  noctibus  quam  institu¬ 
tion!  Philosophiae  sunt  accommodata,  ad  nil  magni  res  recidet. 
Neque  novum  est  invenire  diligentiam  simul  in  rebus  super- 
vacuis  curiosam  et  in  magis  necessariis  imparem.  Atque  hoc 

1  enim  in  MS.  s  abstraxisset  in  MS.  *  arguentur  in  MS. 


THE  FIRST  FRAGMENT. 


189 


minime  mirum  videri  debet,  Naturalem  Historiam  qua;  in  ma- 
nibus  habetur  1  non  earn  esse  quam  nos  animo  et  cogitatione 
metimur  et  concipimus,  cum  hoc  plerunque  fiat ,  ut  quod  fine 
id  fere  natura  et  genere  differat.  Natural! s  autem  Historia; 
inquisitio  ab  aliquibus  suscepta  est  ut  jucuuda  et  grata  pere- 
grinatio,  quae  et  cognitione  et  commemoratione  delectet. 
Aliis  doctrinae  variae  et  lectionis  multiplicis  fama  est  quaesita. 
Nobis  autem  longe  aliud  propositum  est.  Earn  enim  Natura¬ 
lem  Historiam  quaerimus  ex  qua  causae  naturales  potissimum 
informari  possint,  et  Philosophia  condi,  sensui  fida,  et  operibus 
testata.  Itaque  magna  cura  et  judicii  severitas  adbibenda  est 
ut  hujusmodi  Historia 2  sit  fide  certa,  observatione  definita 
non  vaga,  complexu  rerum  lata  et  copiosa.  Atque  ut  clarius 
et  melius  intelligatur  quid  tandem  desideremus 3  et  velimus, 
non  alia  magis  ratione  illud  declarari  posse  judicamus  quam 
si  Partitionem  Naturalis  Historia;  subjungamus  fini  ipsi  nostro 
consentaneam. 

Historia  [Naturalis 4,]  vel  Naturae  libera;  et  tamen  ordina- 
tae,  [vel  Na]turae  errantis  sive  expatiantis,  vel  Naturae  [arte] 
subactae  et  constrictae,  facinora  narrat.  Alia  enim  est  Naturae 
dispensatio  et  actio  cum  sponte  Suit ;  alia  cum  materia;  defe- 
ctibus  et  excessibus  et  pravitatibus  et  insolentiis  urgetur;  alia 
denique  cum  arte  et  ministerio  humano  premitur.  Itaque 
prima  narratio  est  ea  cui  Naturalis  Historiae  Communis  appel- 
latio  tribuitur ;  cujusmodi  est  Aristotelis,  Plinii,  Dioscoridis, 
Gesneri,  Agricola;,  reliquorum.  Secunda,  Historia  Mirabilium 
nuncupatur,  aut  simili  titulo  gaudet;  quam  etiam  Aristoteles 
ipse  non  contempsit,  alii  autem  ita  tractarunt  ut  eorum  vani- 
tatis  et  levitatis  nota  in  rem  ipsam  incurrat.  Tertia  est  Hi¬ 
storia  Mechanica  sive  Artium ;  cui  nemo  incubuit  aut  operam 
constantem  et  justam  impendit;  sed  alii  alias  artes,  neque 
tamen  multi  multas,  scripto  aliquo  fortasse  [tractarunt]  eoque 
ipso  obscuro  et  ignobili,  et  [quod]  apud  plerosque  lectores  sor- 
descit.  Atque  earum  partium  prima  rursus  in  quatuor  partes 
recte  dividitur;  Historiam  Coelestium;  Historiam  Meteororum  ; 
Historiam  Terrae  et  Maris;  et  Historiam  Specierum.  Histo¬ 
riam  Coelestium  simplicem  esse  cupimus;  suspensa  omnino  vi 
et  potestate  Theoriarum;  quaeque  solummodo  phenomena  ipsa 

1  haberr.ua  in  MS.  2  historia  in  MS.  3  desyderemns  in  MS. 

4  The  spaces  between  the  brackets  are  left  blank  in  the  manuscript.  The  words 
which  I  have  inserted  are  supplied  by  conjecture. 


190 


COG1TATIONES  DE  SCIENTIA  HUMANA. 


sincera,  nempe  astrorum  numerum,  magnitudinem,  situs,  fa¬ 
cies,  motus,  complectatur ;  non  omissa  rerum  vulgatissimarum 
mentione,  eaque  exacta;  addita  etiam  observatione  colorum, 
scintillationum,  positionum,  et  similium,  licet  ad  cursus  astro- 
rum  descriptionem  nil  faciant.  Non  enim  calculos  meditamur, 
sed  Philosophiam ;  earn  quae  scilicet  de  superiorum  non  motu 
tantum,  sed  substantia  quoque  et  potestate,  intellectual  huma- 
num  informare  possit.  Historia  vero  Meteororum  (ut  et  ipsa) 
ex  imperfecte  mistis  est.  Postquam  Aristoteles  1  principia  rei 
dedisset  (licet  diverso  ab  Historia  modo)  nulla  quae  mentione 
digna  est  continuatio  sequuta  est,  quae  tamen  huic  parti  vel 
maxime  a  ... 2  res  sit  ex  naturalibus  maxime  instabi[lis  et] 
quae  regionibus  et  temporibus  plurimum  [vari]etur.  Si  quid 
autem  in  Historia  Civili  et  annalibus  temporum,  de  meteoris, 
aliquibus  cometis,  terras  motibus,  tempestatibus,  et  hujusmodi, 
sparsim  inseritur,  illud  saepius  ejusmodi  est  ut  potius  calami- 
tatis  et  ominis  rei  quam  naturae  et  modi  meminerit.  Certe 
inter  Meteororum  Historiam  dignissima  commemoratio  fuisset 
de  Cometis,  utilissima  de  Ventis.  Nec  ea  spernenda  esset  quae 
est  de  pluviis  prodigiosis  vel  de  rebus  quae  ex  alto  decidunt,  si 
tides  constaret.  At  Historia  Terrae  et  Maris  ad  pauca  exten- 
ditur,  licet  ea  quae  ad  sphaeram  et  partium  terrae  cum  partibus 
coeli  configurationem  pertinent  recipiantur.  Neque  enim  ter¬ 
mini  Imperiorum,  urbes,  et  similia,  quae  Cosmographiam  im- 
plent,  Naturalis  Historiae  sunt;  cum  vicissitudines  manifestas 
patiantur  et  hominem  plane  spirent.  Terrae  figura,  maris  in- 
terpositio  et  occupatio,  minerarum  moles,  solum  ipsum  non 
feracitate  [sed]  substantia  distinctum,  fluvii,  la[cus,  si]nus, 
litora,  paludes,  aestus  maris,  gurgites  et  Euripi,  aquae  calidae 
et  varie  .  .  .  infectas 3  igne  exundantes,  et  reliqua  id  genus, 
hujusmodi  narrationi  debentur:  res  sane  vulgatae,  sed  conse- 
quentiae  earum  non  vulgatae.  Nam  maria  inter  Tropicos,  et 
magna  utrimque  a  Tropicis  distantia,  pervia  non  esse;  duas 
insulas  veteris  et  novi  orbis  versus  Boream  latas,  versus  Au- 
[strum  angustas]  efformari ;  Africam  et  inferiorem  Americam 
peninsulas  esse ;  Mediterraneum  mare  sinuum,  Caspium  [Va¬ 
cuum,  maximum  conspici;  et  similia;  si  per  se  accipias  oc- 
currunt,  sed  tamen  Philosophia  consuluntur  et  ad  multa  in- 


1  Arislotelia  in  MS. 

*  debetur,  cum  ?  The  top  of  the  d  being  worn  off,  it  would  look  like  a. 
8  So  in  MS.  The  blank  may  be  filled  with  per  rimoa. 


THE  FIRST  FRAGMENT. 


191 


formationem  praebent.  Rest.at  Historia  Specie  rum,  qiue  certe 
tam  diligenter  et  copiose  elaborata  et  exculta  ccrnitur,  ut  non 
tam  aucta  ea  quam  repurgata  opus  est.  Namque 1  multus 
Plinius  in  fabulis,  antiquitate,  et  censura  morum ;  Gesnerus 
autem  hiereditatem  historic  suae  ex  multis  partibus  Philologiae 
ex  paucis  Philosopbiae  .  .  .  Certe  si  qua  ex  parte  deficit 

Historia  Naturalis  Specierum,  ea  ipsa  est  qua3  [Hominem]  in- 
tuetur  et  refert.  Demptis  enim  c[ivilibus,]  parca  est  Hominis 
historia  naturalis  quas  eincera  est.  Reliqua  duo  Historic  Na¬ 
turalis  genera  hominibus  summae  curie  esse  debent.  Habet 
enim  historia  naturae  sponte  sua  fusie  contemplationem  amoe- 
nam,  sed  inquisitionem  vagam.  Historia  autem  Mirabilium 
homines  ad  operum  magnitudinem  invitat;  Historia  Artium 
etiam  deducit.  Itaque  quod  ad  prim[um  horum]  attinet,  fa- 
cessant  fabulae,  imposture,  levia.  Heteroclita  sive  Devia  na¬ 
turae  examinentur  tanquam  falsa,  referantur  et  describantur 
tanquam  vera;  id  est,  non  aucta  re  miraculi  causa,  sed  potius 
intra  modum.  Ante  omnia,  fabulae  et  mendacia  non  tantum 
rejiciantur,  sed  etiam  notentur.  Neque  enim  magis  utilem 
Historiae  Naturalis  de  Mirabilibus  partem  esse  censeo,  quam  si 
ea  quae  [apud  vulgus  opi]nionem  quandam  veritatis  obtinent, 
[sed  facto]  experimento  falsitatis  convincuntur,  nominatim 
damnentur  et  pro[scribantur.] 

[Here  the  blanks  left  by  the  transcriber  become  so  frequent 
that  it  is  impossible  to  follow  the  sense  further.  Only  it  may 
be  gathered  that,  after  remarking  that  “  as  things  now  are,  if 
an  untruth  in  nature  be  once  on  foot,  what  by  reason  of  the 
neglect  of  examination  and  countenance  of  antiquity,  and 
what  by  reason  of  the  use  of  the  opinion  in  similitudes  and 
ornaments  of  speech,  it  is  never  called  down,”— (I  quote  a 
passage  from  the  Advancement  of  Learning  with  which  it  is 
evident  that  the  next  sentence  in  this  manuscript  closely 
corresponded,)  —  Bacon  has  recourse  to  the  illustration  so 
happily  developed  in  the  118th  aphorism  of  the  first  book  of 
the  Novum  Organum,  comparing  the  mistakes  which  will  occur 
in  such  a  natural  history  as  he  meditates  to  the  misprints 
in  a  book ;  —  if  there  be  but  a  few,  you  can  correct  them 
by  the  sense  of  the  passage ;  if  many,  you  cannot  find  what 
the  sense  is:  so  it  is,  he  says,  with  Natural  History  and 


1  Nam  qua  in  MS. 


192 


COGITATIONES  DE  SCIENTIA  HUMANA. 


Philosophy.  “  Nam  si  paucas  vanitates  admisceantur,  eas  a 
causis  ipsis  inventis  reprobantur ;  sin  spissae,  ipsam  causarum 
inquisitionem  subvertunt.  Itaque  optimo  consilio  res  geretur, 
si  triplex  fidei  ordo  statuatur.  Unus  eorum  quae  damnantur ; 
alter  eorum  quae  certo  comperiuntur ;  tertius  eorum  quae 
fidei  sunt  [dubiae.]”  He  concludes  his  remarks  on  the  His- 
toria  Mirabilium  by  observing  that  it  is  useful  in  two  ways 
—  both  excellent :  “  the  one  ”  (again  I  quote  the  Advance¬ 
ment  of  Learning,  for  the  fragments  of  the  sentence  clearly 
show  that  it  was  to  the  same  effect,)  —  “the  one  to  correct 
the  partiality  of  axioms  and  opinions,  which  are  commonly 
framed  only  upon  common  and  familiar  examples ;  the  other 
because  from  the  wonders  of  nature  is  the  nearest  intelligence 
and  passage  towards  the  wonders  of  art ;  for  it  is  no  more  but 
by  following  and  as  it  were  hounding  nature  in  her  wan¬ 
derings,  to  be  able  to  lead  her  afterwards  to  the  same  place 
again.” 

He  then  proceeds  to  speak  of  the  Historia  Mechanica, — the 
third  and  last.  And  here,  the  blanks  being  fewer,  the  sense 
may  be  clearly  traced,  and  the  missing  words  probably  sup¬ 
plied.] 

Sequitur  et  superest  [Historia]  Naturalis  Mechanica,  sive 
Exper[ientiae]  qualem  artes  exhibent :  ut  agric[ultura],  Picto- 
ria  ',  Tinctoria,  Fabrilis.  Addo  [etiam' practicas]  omnes,  licet 
in  artem  non  coaluerint,  ut  [ve]nationum,  aucupiorum,  pisca- 
tionum.  N[eque  tamen]  excludo  mechanicam  partem  libera- 
lium  artium,  quas  vocant;  Musicse,  Perspectivse,  Medicinae. 
Hsec  autem  historia  licet  res  minus  solemnis  sit  et  honoris  et 


[And  here  the  manuscript  suddenly  stops  in  the  middle  of 
the  page ;  being  evidently  a  transcript  from  an  original  of 
which  the  outside  leaves  had.  been  torn  away,  and  the  others 
more  or  less  injured,  —  most  towards  the  end.] 


1  pinctura  in  MS, 


193 


COGITATIONES  DE  SCIENTIA  HUMANA. 


THE  SECOND  FRAGMENT. 

De  Scientiis  et  mente.  De  prcejudicio  consensus ,  quod 
infirmum  sit.1 

Consensus  in  doctrinis  receptis,  cujua  ea  est  potestas  ut  vim 
quandam  hominum  judiciis  faciat  et  contradietionem  omnem 
infamet,  recte  perpendenti  et  sanam  mentem  adducenti  tantum 
a  vera  et  solida  authoritate  abest  ut  praesumptionem  violentam 
inducat  in  contrarium.  Scientiarum  enim  status  certe  perpetuo 
est  democraticus,  qui  status  tempestas  et  insania  in  civilibus 
appellari  consuevit.  Neque  multo  melius  se  gerit  aut  probat 
in  intellectualibus.  Apud  populum  enim  doctrinae  contentiosae 
et  pugnaces,  aut  rursus  probabiles  et  speciosae,  plurimum 
vigent;  quales  videlicet  assensum  aut  illaqueant  aut  alliciunt. 
Itaque  pessimus  augur  veritatis,  studium  et  admiratio  populi. 
Si  quis  autem  haec  ita  fieri  concedat,  et  sit  firmior,  et  turbam 
professoriam  non  admodum  vereatur,  sed  cum  inter  eos  non 
paucos  ingenio  et  judicio  excellere  videat,  horum  suffragiis 
moveatur ;  sciat  se  ratione  fallaci  niti.  Dubium  enim  non  est, 
quin  per  singulas  aetates  maxima  ingenia  vim  passa  sint,  dum 
viri  captu  et  intellectu  non  vulgares,  nihilo  secius  existimationi 
suae  caventes,  temporis  et  multitudinis  judicio  se  submiserunt. 
Non  enim  apud  eosdem  est  pretium  scientiarum  et  possessio : 
sed  quae  viri  praestantes  proponunt  vulgus  aestimat.  Quod  si  cui 
adhuc  tamen  mirum  videatur  quod  tot  saeculis  nil  melius  his  qui- 
bus  utimur  inveniri  potuerit,  is  non  meminit  hoc  saepius  accidere 
temporibus  retroactis  potuisse,  ut  potiora  istis  caput  extulerint 
et  in  lucem  venerint ;  verum  cum  penes  populum  (ut  dictum 
est)  sit  judicium  et  delectus,  memoriam  eorum  interire  necesse 
est ;  adeo  ut  altiores  contemplationes  oriantur  aliquando,  sed 

1  Additional  MSS  4258.  fo.  214.  This  begins  at  the  top  of  a  page,  and  is  not  num¬ 
bered.  But  as  the  other  two  Cogitations  which  complete  this  fragment  are  numbered 
9  and  10,  I  conclude  that  this  was  in  fact  Cogitatio  8*,  the  first  seven  having  been  lost. 


194 


COGITATIONES  DE  SCIENTIA  HUMANA. 


fere  non  ita  multo  post  opinionum  vulgarium  ventis  agiten- 
tur 1  et  extinguantur.  Quare  non  dissimulanter  monendum  et 
praedicendum  est  (jne  quis  fortasse  de  expectatione  sua  decidat) 
veras  de  natura  opiniones  a  vulgaribus  in  immensum  removeri, 
et  fere  religionis  instar  duras  et  interdum  primo  aspectu  pro- 
digiosas  ad  hominum  sensus  et  captus  accedere  ;  ut  in  Demo- 
criti  opinione  de  Atomis  usu  venit,  quae  quia  paulo  interioris 
notae  erat,  lusu  excipiebatur.  Yerum  haec  ad  animos  bominum 
sanandos  qui  consensu  perstringuntur  pertinent. 

Cogitatio  9a. 

Insita  est  in  animis  hominum  a  natura  et  a  disciplina  opi¬ 
nio  et  aestimatio  tumida  et  damnosa,  quae  philosophiam  veram 
et  activam  veluti  exilio  mulctavit,  et  omni  aditu  prohibuit. 
Ea  est,  minui  majestatem  mentis  humanae  si  in  experimen- 
tis  et  rebus  particularibus,  sensui  objectis  et  in  materia  ter- 
minatis,  diu  et  multum  versetur;  praesertim  cum  hujusmodi 
res  ad  inquirendum  laboriosae,  ad  meditandum  ignobiles,  ad 
dicendum  asperae,  ad  practicam  illiberales,  numero  infinitae, 
et  subtilitate  pusillae,  videri  soleant 2 ;  adeo  ut  scientiarum 
gloriam  et  nomen  polluere  fere  existimentur.  Quin  eo  usque 
vanitas  ista,  et  mentis,  si  yerum  nomen  quaeratur,  alienatio 
et  excessus,  provecta  est,  ut  yeritas  yeluti  animae  humanae  in- 
digena,  sensus  autem  intellectum  excitare  non  informare,  ab 
aliquibus  assereretur.  Neque  errorem  istum  ab  iis  corrigi 
contigit  qui  sensui  debitas,  id  est  primas,  partes  tribuerunt ; 
verum  ex  his  quoque  plurimi  exemplo  et  facto  suo,  relicta 
omnino  historia  naturali  et  mundana  perambulatione,  omnia 
in  meditatione  et  ingenii  agitatione  posuerunt ;  et  sub  specioso 
speculationum  et  rationalium  titulo  hominum  mentes  ad  rerum 
evidentiam  nunquam  satis  applicatas  et  addictas,  inter  opacis- 
sima  et  inanissima  mentis  Idola  perpetuo  yolutare  docuerunt.3 
Verum  istud  rerum  particularium  repudium  et  divortium  omnia 
in  familia  humana  turbavit.  Neque  tantum  homines  monendi 
sunt  ut  experientiae  se  restituant  atque  intellectus  commen¬ 
ts  et  meditationum  simulacris  non  amplius  confidant,  verum 
ut  inter  experimenta  ipsa,  sive  instantias,  nee  res  exiles  tan- 
quam  leves,  nee  res  vulgatas  tanquam  superfluas,  nee  res  me- 
chanicas  tanquam  viles,  nec  res  turpes  tanquam  indignas,  neo 


agitantur  in  MS. 


2  soleiit  in  MS. 


3  docuerant  in  MS. 


THE  SECOND  FRAGMENT. 


195 


res  prater  naturam  tanquam  odiosas  aut  infaustas,  despiciant 
aut  rejiciant.  Sane  si  capitolium  aliquod  humanae  superbia 
condendum  et  dedicandum  esset,  non  nisi  auri  fortasse  et 
argenti  et  eboris  ramenta  et  hujusmodi  res  preciosas  ad  funda- 
menta  ejus  ingerere  per  pontifices  liceret.  Sed  cum  templum 
sanctum  ad  instar  mundi,  mundoque  ipsi  quantum  fieri  potest 
parallelum  et  concentricum,  fundandum  sit,  merito  exemplar 
per  omnia  sequi  oportet.  Nam  quod  essentia  dignum  est  id 
etiam  dignum  est  reprasentatione.  Scientia  autem  vera  nil 
aliud  est  quam  essentia  reprasentatio  sive  imago.  Atque 
certe  quemadmodum  e  certis  putridis  materiis  optimi  odores  se 
diffundunt,  ita  et  ab  instantiis  sordidis  (quibus  ut  ait  Plinius 
etiam  honos  prafandus  sit)  quandoque  eximia  lux  et  informatio 
exhibetur.  Eodem  modo  et  res  tenues  locupletes  sape  testes 
sunt.  Bulla  in  aquis  est  res  exilis  et  quasi  ludicra;  tamen 
haud  aliam  instantiam  reperias  qua  duarum  rerum  paulo 
obscuriorum  commodius  fidem  faciat.  Una  est  de  appetitu 
continuitatis  etiam  in  Liquidis ;  altera  quod  aer  non  magnopere 
feratur  sursum.  Etiam  nobile  illud  inventum  de  acu  nautica, 
qua  stellis  ipsis  est  stella  certior,  in  acubus  ferreis,  non  in 
virgis  aut  vectibus  ferreis,  se  conspiciendum  dedit.  Itaque 
postulanda  est  ab  hominibus  res  difficilis  sane,  et  a  natura 
humana  prorsus  aliena,  sed  imprimis  utilis.  Hac  est  ut 
eandem  diligentiam,  attentionem,  perspicaciam,  in  rebus  vul- 
garibus,  parvis,  et  obviis  contemplandis  et  examinandis  sibi 
imperent,  quam  in  rebus  novis  et  magnis  et  miris  curiositas 
humana  adhibere  solet:  ratio  enim  non  aliter  constat.  Neque 
enim  hoc  est  scire  aut  causam  reddere,  si  rara  ad  vulgata  re- 
ferantur  et  accommodentur ;  sed  ut  eorum  quae  raro  et  eorum 
quae  frequenter  accidunt,  causae  constantes  et  communes  inve- 
niantur. 

Cogitatio  10a. 

Fabula  de  servo  Midae  ad  libellos  famosos  pertinere  videtur. 
Narrant  enim  Midae  cubicularium  cum  animadvertisset  domi- 
num  suum  aures  habere  asininas,  id  nulli  mortalium  dicere 
ausum  fuisse;  sed  cum  futilitatem  naturalem  reprimere  non 
potuisset,  cum  ore  in  terrae  rimam  applicato  quod  viderat  re- 
tulisse ;  unde  arundines  editas  esse,  quae  levi  aura  motae  illud 
murmure  et  susurro  enuntiarent.  Sensus  est :  cum  regum  et 
procerum  defectus  et  vitia  ministris  interioribus  innotuerint, 


14  Bacon  III 


196 


COGITATIONES  DE  SCIENTIA  HUMANA. 


eos  vanitate  aulica  et  palatina  secreti  impatientes  esse,  nec  de- 
bito  silentio  ea  cohibere.  Ac  si  forte  verbis  abstineant,  tamen 
aliis  indiciis  ea  prodere,  quae  postea  in  calamos  ingeniorum 
malignorum  incidant;  qui  maxime  sub  inclinatione  temporis  ad 
turbas  et  rerum  tumorem  (tanquam  vento  flante)  invidiosis  et 
famosis  libellis  ea  spargunt  in  vulgus. 


[Here  the  manuscript  stops  before  the  bottom  of  the  page ; 
and  the  other  page  is  left  blank.] 


197 


COGITATIONES  DE  SCIENTIA  HUMANA. 


THE  THIRD  FRAGMENT. 

.  .  . '  hominum  actiones  sequee  et  indifferentes,  et  propterea 
vel  optime  [mo]rato  liberae  sunt.  Rebus  autem  agendis  et 
usui  singula,  et  interdum  quae  minima  videntur,  aut  prosunt 
aut  officiunt.  Adeo  ut  verba,  vultus,  oculi,  gestus,  joci,  sermo 
quotidianus,  ad  rem  faciant,  et  nil  fere  imperio  et  decreto  vacet. 
Etiam  virtutis  formae  magis  simplices  et  inter  se  consentien- 
tes  sunt.  Prudentia  autem  Civilis  innumeras  formas,  easque 
maxim e  inter  se  contrarias,  quae  rebus,  personis,  temporibus, 
conveniant,  desiderat.  Adeo  ut  mirum  minime  sit  si  fabula 
Protei  ad  viros  prudentes  transferatur ;  qui  ab  occasionibus 
constricti  in  omnes  formas  se  vertunt,  donee  liberi  ad  naturas 
suas  redeant.  Atque  sane  admirabilis  est  species  viri  vere 
politici,  in  quo  nil  absonum,  nil  neglectum,  nil  stupidum,  nil 
impotens,  reperire  liceat;  sed  qui  sibi,  caeteris,  rebus,  tempo¬ 
ribus,  debita  tribuens,  et  negotiorum  principia,  media,  clausulas, 
periodos,  distinguens,  singula  cum  delectu  faciat.  Perfectissimus 
autem  animi  status,  si  sanitas  affectuum  accedat  et  boni  fines. 
Qui  autem  ex  philosophise  disciplina  civilibus  rebus  abstinent, 
aut  in  iisdem  [se]  versantes  tam  multa  devitant  ut  actionum 
magnitudinem  destruant;  ii  omnino  similes  sunt  iis  qui  ut 
valetudinem  conservent  corporibus  suis  vix  utuntur,  et  maxi- 
mam  temporis  partem  eorum  curae  impendunt.  Itaque  ista, 
non  frui  ut  non  cupias,  non  cupere  ut  non  metuas,  qusedam  animi 
angustiae  sunt;  et  major  est  virtus  quae  6e  sustinet  quam  quae 
se  cohibet. 

1  Additional  MSS.  4258.  fo.  223.  This  fragment  begins  at  the  top  of  a  page, 
without  anything  to  show  how  much  is  missing.  It  is  evidently  the  conclusion  of 
a  Cogitatio  de  Prudentia.  civili ;  and  appears  to  commence  in  the  middle  of  a  discus¬ 
sion  concerning  the  difficulty  of  civil  as  compared  with  moral  wisdom. 


198 


COG1TATIONES  DE  SCIENT1A  HUMANA. 


De  Quanto  Materia  certo  et  quod 1  mutatio  fiat  absque  in- 
teritu. 

[See  Cogitationes  de  Rerum  Natura,  §  v.  This  is  not  numbered ; 
and  the  word  Cogitatio  has  been  written  in  the  margin  by  the 
transcriber,  as  if  it  had  not  been  in  the  original.] 

Cogitatio  7a. 

De  Consensu  Corporum  quae  sensu  praedita  sunt,  et  quae  sensu 

carent. 

[See  Cogitationes  de  Rerum  Natura,  §  vii.] 

Cogitatio  6®. 

De  Quiete  apparente  et  consistentia  et fiuore. 

[See  Cogitationes  de  Rerum  Natura,  §  vi. 

The  concluding  sentence  of  this  Cogitatio  is  not  found  in 
Grater’s  copy.  In  this  transcript  it  closes  a  paragraph  and 
comes  to  the  bottom  of  the  leaf ;  making  it  doubtful  whether 
the  original  ended  here  or  not.  It  is  to  be  observed  that  the 
numbers  of  the  last  two  Cogitationes  are  out  of  order,  and 
coincide  with  those  in  Gruter.  It  may  be  therefore  that  they 
were  not  in  the  original,  but  inserted  by  way  of  reference.] 


1  qua  in  MS. 


VALERIUS  TERMINUS. 


, 


201 


PREFACE 

10 

VALERIUS  TERMINUS. 

BY  ROBERT  LESLIE  ELLIS. 


The  following  fragments  of  a  great  work  on  the  Interpreta¬ 
tion  of  Nature  were  first  published  in  Stephens’s  Letters  and 
Remains  [1734].  They  consist  partly  of  detached  passages, 
and  partly  of  an  epitome  of  twelve  chapters  of  the  first  book 
of  the  proposed  work.  The  detached  passages  contain  the  first, 
sixth,  and  eighth  chapters,  and  portions  of  the  fourth,  fifth, 
seventh,  ninth,  tenth,  eleventh,  and  sixteenth.  The  epitome 
contains  an  account  of  the  contents  of  all  the  chapters  from 
the  twelfth  to  the  twenty -sixth  inclusive,  omitting  the  twen¬ 
tieth,  twenty-third,  and  twenty-fourth.  Thus  the  sixteenth 
chapter  is  mentioned  both  in  the  epitome  and  among  the  de¬ 
tached  passages,  and  we  are  thus  enabled  to  see  that  the  two 
portions  of  the  following  tract  belong  to  the  same  work,  as  it 
appears  from  both  that  the  sixteenth  chapter  was  to  treat  of 
the  doctrine  of  idola. 

It  is  impossible  to  ascertain  the  motive  which  determined  ( 
Bacon  to  give  to  the  supposed  author  the  name  of  Valerius 
Terminus,  or  to  his  commentator,  of  whose  annotations  we  have 
no  remains,  that  of  Hermes  Stella.  It  may  be  conjectured 
that  by  the  name  Terminus  he  intended  to  intimate  that  the 
new  philosophy  would  put  an  end  to  the  wandering  of  mankind 
injearch  of  truth,  that  it  would  be  the  terminus  ad  quem  in 
which  when  it  was  once  attained  the  mind  would  finally  ac¬ 
quiesce. 

Again,  the  obscurity  of  the  text  was  to  be  in  some  measure 
removed  by  the  annotations  of  Stella ;  not  however  wholly, 
for  Bacon  in  the  epitome  of  the  eighteenth  chapter  commends 


202 


PREFACE  TO 


the  manner  of  publishing  knowledge  “  whereby  it  shall  not  be 
to  the  capacity  nor  taste  of  all,  but  shall  as  it  were  single 
and  adopt  his  reader.”  Stella  was  therefore  to  throw  a  kind  of 
starlight  on  the  subject, "enough  to  prevent  the  student’s  losing 
his  way,  but  not  much  more. 

However  this  may  be,  the  tract  is  undoubtedly  obscure, 
partly  from  the  style  in  which  it  is  written,  and  partly  from  its 

1  being  only  a  fragment.  It  is  at  the  same  time  full  of  interest, 
inasmuch  as  it  is  the  earliest  type  of  the  Instauratio.  The  first 
book  of  the  work__ascrihed.  to.  Valerius  Terminus  would  have 
corresponded  to  the  De  Augmentis  and  to  the  first  book  of  the 
Novum  Organum,  the  plan  being  that  it  should  contain  what¬ 
ever  was  necessary  to  be  known  before  the  new  method  could 
be  stated.  In  the  second  book,  as  in  the  second  book  of  the 
Novum  Organum,  we  should  have  found  the  method  itself. 

The  Advancement  of  Learning,  which  was  developed  into  the 
De  Augmentis,  corresponds  to  the  first  ten  chapters  of  Valerius 
Terminus,  and  especially  to  the  first  and  tenth.  To  the  re¬ 
mainder  of  the  book  (a  few  chapters  are  clearly  wanted  afte 
the  last  mentioned  in  the  epitome)  corresponds  the  first  boo’ 
of  the  Novum  Organum.  The  tenth  chapter,  of  which  we  hav  i 
only  a  small  fragment,  is  entitled  “  The  Inventory,  or  an  Em  - 
meration  and  View  of  Inventions  already  discovered  and  i  a 
use ;  together  with  a  note  of  the  wants,  and  the  nature  of  tl  e 
supplies.”  It  therefore  corresponds  to  the  second  book  of  the 
Advancement,  and  to  the  last  eight  books  of  the  De  Augmentis, 

.  but  would  doubtless  have  been  a  mere  summary. 1  When 
Bacon  subsequently  determined  to  give  more  development  to 
this  part  of  the  subject,  he  was  naturally  led  to  make  a  break 
N  j  after  the  inventory,  and  thus  we  get  the  origin  of  the  separa¬ 
tion  between  the  De  Augmentis  and  the  Novum  Organum. 

The  most  important  portion  of  Valerius  Terminus  is  the 
eleventh  chapter,  which  contains  a  general  statement  of  the 
problem  to  be  solved.  It  corresponds  to  the  opening  axioms 
of  the  Becond  book  of  the  Novum  Organum,  but  differs  from 
them  in  containing  very  little  on  the  subject  of  forms.  What 
Bacon  afterwards  called  the  investigation  of  the  form  he  here 
calls  the  freeing  of  a  direction.  The  object  to  be  sought  for 
is,  he  says,  “  the  revealing  and  discovering  of  new  inventions 


1  See  my  note  at  the  end  of  this  Preface. — J.  S. 


VALERIUS  TERMINUS. 


203 


and  operations.” — “  This  to  be  done  without  the  errors  and 
conjectures  of  art,  or  the  length  or  difficulties  of  experience.” 

In  order  to  guide  men’s  travels,  a  full  direction  must  be  given 
to  them,  and  the  fulness  of  a  direction  consists  in  two  condi¬ 
tions,  certainty  and  liberty.  Certainty  is  when  the  direction  is 
infallible  ;  liberty  when  it  comprehends  all  possible  ways  and 
means.  Both  conditions  are  fulfilled  by  the  knowledge  of  the 
form,  to  which  the  doctrine  of  direction  entirely  corresponds. 
This  correspondency  Bacon  recognises  towards  the  end  of  the 
chapter,  but  in  illustrating  the  two  conditions  of  which  we 
have  been  speaking  he  does  not  use  the  word  form.  The 
notion  of  the  form  or  formal  cause  comes  into  his  system  only 
on  historical  grounds.  In  truth,  in  Valerius  Terminus  he  is 
disposed  to  illustrate  the  doctrine  of  direction  not  so  much  by  . 
that  of  the  formal  cause  as  by  two  rules  which  are  of  great 
importance  in  the  logical  system  of  Ramus.  “  The  two  com¬ 
mended  rules  by  him  set  down,”  that  is  by  Aristotle,  “  whereby 
the  axioms  of  sciences  are  precepted  to  be  made  convertible, 
and  which  the  latter  men  have  not  without  elegancy  surnamed, 
the  one  the  rule  of  truth  because  it  preventeth  deceipt ;  the 
other  the  rule  of  prudence  because  it  freeth  election ;  are  the 
same  thing  in  speculation  and  affirmation,  which  we  now  affirm.” 
And  then  follows  an  example,  of  which  Bacon  says  that  it 
“will  make  my  meaning  attained,  and  yet  percase  make  it 
thought  that  they  attained  it  not.”  In  this  example  the  effect 
to  be  produced  is  whiteness,  and  the  first  direction  given  is  to 
intermingle  air  and  water ;  of  this  direction  it  is  said  that  it 
is  certain,  but  very  particular  and  restrained,  and  he  then  goes 
on  to  free  it  by  leaving  out  the  unessential  conditions.  Of 
this  however  it  is  not  now  necessary  to  speak  at  length ;  but 
the  “  two  commended  rules”  may  require  some  illustration. 

In  many  passages  of  his  works  Peter  Ramus  condemnsi 
Aristotle  for  having  violated  three  rules  which  he  had  him¬ 
self  propounded.  To  these  rules  Ramus  gives  somewhat 
fanciful  names.  The  first  is  the  rule  of  truth,  the  second 
the  rule  of  justice,  and  the  third  the  rule  of  wisdom.  These 
three  rules  are  all  to  be  fulfilled  by  the  principles  of  every 
science  (axiomata  artium).  The  first  requires  the  proposition 
to  be  in  all  cases  true,  the  second  requires  its  subject  and 
predicate  to  be  essentially  connected  together,  and  the  third 
requires  the  converse  of  the  proposition  to  be  true  as  well  as 


204 


PREFACE  TO 


the  proposition  itself.  The  whole  of  this  theory,  to  which 
Ramus  and  the  Ramistas  seem  to  have  ascribed  much  import¬ 
ance,  is  founded  on  the  fourth  chapter  of  the  first  book  of 
the  Posterior  Analytics.  Aristotle  in  speaking  of  the  princi¬ 
ples  of  demonstration  explains  the  meaning  of  three  phrases, 
Kara  rravros,  de  omni;  KaOy  avro,  per  se  ;  and  KadoXov,  universa- 
liter.  When  the  predicate  can  be  affirmed  in  all  cases  and 
at  all  times  of  the  subject  of  a  proposition,  the  predication 
is  said  to  be  de  omni  or  Kara,  rravros.  Again,  whatever  is 
so  connected  with  the  essence  of  a  thing  as  to  be  involved  in 
its  definition  is  said  to  belong  to  it  per  se,  Kad’  avro,  and  the 
same  phrase  is  applicable  when  the  thing  itself  is  involved 
in  the  definition  of  that  which  we  refer  to  it.  Thus  a  line 
belongs  per  se  to  the  notion  of  a  triangle,  because  the  defini¬ 
tion  of  a  triangle  involves  the  conception  of  a  line,  and  odd 
and  even  belong  per  se  to  the  notion  of  number,  because  the 
definition  of  odd  or  even  introduces  the  notion  of  a  number 
divisible  or  not  divisible  into  equal  parts.1  Lastly,  that  which 
always  belongs  to  any  given  subject,  and  belongs  to  it  inas¬ 
much  as  it  is  that  which  it  is,  is  said  to  belong  to  it  KadoXov, 
universaliter.  Thus  to  have  angles  equal  to  two  right  angles 
does  not  belong  to  any  figure  taken  at  random,  it  is  not  true 
of  figure  Kara  rravros,  and  though  it  is  true  of  any  isosceles  tri¬ 
angle  yet  it  is  not  true  of  it  in  the  first  instance 2  nor  inas¬ 
much  as  it  is  isosceles.  But  it  is  true  of  a  triangle  in  all  cases 
and  because  it  is  a  triangle,  and  therefore  belongs  to  it  KadoXov, 
universaliter.  It  is  manifest  that  whenever  this  is  the  case  the 
proposition  is  convertible.  Thus  a  figure  having  angles  equal 
to  two  right  angles  is  a  triangle. 

Aristotle  is  not  laying  down  three  general  rules,  but  he  was 
understood  to  do  so  by  Ramus  —  whose  rules  of  truth,  justice, 
and  wisdom  respectively  correspond  to  the  three  phrases  of 
which  we  have  been  speaking. 

Bacon  adopting  two  of  these  rules,  (he  makes  no  allusion  to 
that  of  justice,)  compares  them  with  the  two  conditions  which 
a  direction  ought  to  fulfil.  If  it  be  certain,  the  effect  will 
follow  from  it  at  all  times  and  in  all  cases.  And  this  corre¬ 
sponds  to  the  rule  of  truth.  If  it  be  free,  then  whenever 

1  Aristotle  mentions  a  third  sense  of  Kara  iravris,  which  it  is  not  here  necessary  to 
mention. 

2  aAA’  oi)  irpurov,  aAAa  rb  rplyoivov  irptrepov. 


VALERIUS  TERMINUS. 


205 


the  effect  is  present  the  direction  must  have  been  complied  with. 
The  presence  of  either  implies  that  of  the  other.  And  this  is 
the  practical  application  of  the  rule  of  wisdom. 

I  have  thought  it  well  to  enter  into  this  explanation,  because 
it  shows  in  the  first  place  that  the  system  of  Peter  Ramus 
had  considerable  influence  on  Bacon’s  notions  of  logic,  and  in 
the  second  that  he  had  formed  a  complete  and  definite  con¬ 
ception  of  his  own  method  before  he  had  been  led  to  connect  it 
with  the  doctrine  of  forms. 

At  the  end  of  the  eleventh  chapter  Bacon  proposes  to  give 
three  cautions  whereby  we  may  ascertain  whether  what  seems 
to  be  a  direction  really  is  one.  The  general  principle  is  that 
the  direction  must  carry  you  a  degree  or  remove  nearer  to 
action,  operation,  or  light ;  else  it  is  but  an  abstract  or  varied 
notion.  The  first  of  the  three  particular  cautions  is  “  that 
the  nature  discovered  be  more  original  than  the  nature  sup¬ 
posed,  and  not  more  secondary  or  of  the  like  degree :  ”  a 
remark  which  taken  in  conjunction  with  the  illustrations  by 
which  it  is  followed,  serves  to  confirm  what  I  have  elsewhere 
endeavoured  to  show,  that  Bacon’s  idea  of  natural  philosophy 
was  the  explanation  of  the  secondary  qualities  of  bodies  by 
means  of  the  primary.  The  second  caution  is  so  obscurely 
expressed  that  I  can  only  conjecture  that  it  refers  to  the  neces¬ 
sity  of  studying  abstract  qualities  before  commencing  the  study 
of  concrete  bodies.  Composition  subaltern  and  composition 
absolute  are  placed  in  antithesis  to  each  other.  The  latter 
phrase  apparently  describes  the  synthesis  of  abstract  natures 
by  which  an  actual  ultimate  species  is  formed,  and  the  former 
[refers]  to  the  formatioff  of  a  class  of  objects  which  all  agree 
in  possessing  the  nature  which  is  the  subject  of  inquiry.  The 
fragment  breaks  off  before  the  delivery  of  this  second  cau¬ 
tion  is  completed,  and  we  therefore  know  nothing  of  the  third 
and  last. 


206 


NOTE  TO  PREFACE  TO 


NOTE. 


The  manuscript  from  which  Robert  Stephens  printed  these  frag¬ 
ments  was  found  among  some  loose  papers  placed  in  his  hands  by 
the  Earl  of  Oxford,  and  is  now  in  the  British  Museum ;  Harl. 
MSS.  6462.  It  is  a  thin  paper  volume  of  the  quarto  size,  written 
in  the  hand  of  one  of  Bacon’s  servants,  with  corrections,  erasures, 
and  interlineations  in  his  own. 

The  chapters  of  which  it  consists  are  both  imperfect  in  themselves 
(all  but  three), — some  breaking  off  abruptly,  others  being  little  more 
than  tables  of  contents,  —  and  imperfect  in  their  connexion  with  each 
other ;  so  much  so  as  to  suggest  the  idea  of  a  number  of  separate  papers 
loosely  put  together.  But  it  was  not  so  (and  the  fact  is  important) 
that  the  volume  itself  was  actually  made  up.  However  they  came 
together,  they  are  here  fairly  and  consecutively  copied  out.  Though 
it  be  a  collection  of  fragments  therefore,  it  is  such  a  collection  as 
Bacon  thought  worthy  not  only  of  being  preserved,  but  of  being 
transcribed  into  a  volume  ;  and  a  particular  account  of  it  will  not 
be  out  of  place. 

The  contents  of  the  manuscript  before  BacQn  touched  it  may  be 
thus  described. 

1.  A  titlepage,  on  which  is  written  “Valerius  Terminus  of 

the  Interpretation  of  Nature,  with  the  annotations  of 
Hermes  Stella.” 

2.  “Chapter  I.  Of  the  limits  and  end  of  knowledge;”  with  a 

running  title,  “  Of  the  Interpretation  of  Nature.” 

3.  “The  chapter  immediately  following  the  Inventory;  being 

the  11th  in  order.” 

4.  “  A  part  of  the  9th  chapter,  immediately  precedent  to  the  In¬ 

ventory,  and  inducing  the  same.” 

5.  “  The  Inventory,  or  an  enumeration  and  view  of  inventions 

already  discovered  and  in  use,  together  with  a  note  of  the 
wants  and  the  nature  of  the  supplies ;  being  the  10th  chap¬ 
ter,  and  this  a  fragment  only  of  the  same.” 

6.  Part  of  a  chapter,  not  numbered,  “Of  the  internal  and  pro¬ 

found  errors  and  superstitions  in  the  nature  of  the  mind,  and 
of  the  four  sorts  of  Idols  or  fictions  which  offer  themselves 
to  the  understanding  in  the  inquisition  of  knowledge.” 


VALERIUS  TERMINUS. 


207 


7.  “  Of  the  impediments  of  knowledge  ;  being  the  third  chapter, 

the  preface  only  of  it.” 

8.  “Of  the  impediments  which  have  been  in  the  times  and  in 

diversion  of  wits  ;  being  the  fourth  chapter.” 

9.  “  Of  the  impediments  of  knowledge  for  want  of  a  true  suc¬ 

cession  of  wits,  and  that  hitherto  the  length  of  one  man’s  life 
hath  been  the  greatest  measure  of  knowledge  ;  being  the  fifth 
chapter.” 

10.  “  That  the  pretended  succession  of  wits  hath  been  evil  placed, 

forasmuch  as  after  variety  of  sects  and  opinions  the  most 
popular  and  not  the  truest  prevaileth  and  weareth  out  the 
rest ;  being  the  sixth  chapter.” 

11.  “Of  the  impediments  of  knowledge  in  handling  it  by  parts, 

and  in  slipping  off  particular  sciences  from  the  root  and 
stock  of  universal  knowledge  ;  being  the  seventh  chapter.” 

12.  “That  the  end  and  scope  of  knowledge  hath  been  generally 

mistaken,  and  that  men  were  never  well  advised  what  it  was 
they  sought”  (part  of  a  chapter  not  numbered). 

13.  “An  abridgment  of  divers  chapters  of  the  first  book;” 

namely,  the  12th,  13th,  and  14th,  (over  which  is  a  running 
title  “  Of  active  knowledge  ;”)  and  (without  any  running  title) 
the  15th,  16th,  17th,  18th,  19th,  21st,  22nd,  25th,  and  26th. 
These  abridgments  have  no  headings ;  and  at  the  end  is 
written,  “  The  end  of  the  Abridgment  of  the  first  book  of  the 
Interpretation  of  Nature.” 


Such  was  the  arrangement  of  the  manuscript  as  the  transcriber 
left  it ;  which  I  have  thought  worth  preserving,  because  I  seem  to 
see  traces  in  it  of  two  separate  stages  in  the  developement  of  the 
work ;  the  order  of  the  chapters  as  they  are  transcribed  being  pro¬ 
bably  the  same  in  which  Bacon  wrote  them ;  and  the  numbers 
inserted  at  the  end  of  the  headings  indicating  the  order  in  which, 
when  he  placed  them  in  the  transcriber’s  hands,  it  was  his  inten¬ 
tion  to  arrange  them  ;  and  because  it  proves  at  any  rate  that  at 
that  time  the  design  of  the  whole  book  was  clearly  laid  out  in  his 
mind. 

There  is  nothing,  unfortunately,  to  fix  the  date  of  the  transcript, 
unless  it  be  implied  in  certain  astronomical  or  astrological  symbols 
written  on  the  blank  outside  of  the  volume ;  in  which  the  figures 
1603  occur.1  This  may  possibly  be  the  transcriber’s  note  of  the 


1  See  the  second  page  of  the  facsimile  at  the  beginning  of  this  volume.  The  writing 
in  the  original  is  on  the  outside  of  the  last  leaf,  which  is  in  fact  the  cover.  The  front 
cover,  if  there  ever  was  one,  is  lost.  The  ink  with  which  the  line  containing  the 
symbols  is  written  corresponds  with  that  in  the  body  of  the  MS. ;  and  the  line  itself 
is  placed  symmetrically  in  the  middle  of  the  page,  near  the  top.  The  two  lower 


208 


NOTE  TO  PREFACE  TO 


time  when  he  finished  his  work  ;  for  which  (but  for  one  circumstance 
which  I  shall  mention  presently)  I  should  think  the  year  1603  as 
likely  a  date  as  any ;  for  we  know  from  a  letter  of  Bacon’s,  dated 
3rd  July  1603,  that  he  had  at  that  time  resolved  “to  meddle  as 
little  as  possible  in  the  King’s  causes,”  and  to  “put  his  ambition 
wholly  upon  his  pen  ;  ”  and  we  know  from  the  Advancement  of 
Learning  that  in  1605  he  was  engaged  upon  a  work  entitled  “  The 
Interpretation  of  Nature :  ”  to  which  I  may  add  that  there  is  in  the 
Lambeth  Library  a  copy  of  a  letter  from  Bacon  to  Lord  Kinlosse, 
dated  25th  March,  1603,  and  written  in  the  same  hand  as  this 
manuscript. 

Bacon’s  corrections,  if  I  may  judge  from  the  character  of  the 
handwriting,  were  inserted  a  little  later ;  for  it  is  a  fact  that  about 
the  beginning  of  James’s  reign  his  writing  underwent  a  remarkable 


line9  are  apparently  by  another  hand,  probably  of  later  date,  certainly  in  ink  of  a  dif¬ 
ferent  colour,  and  paler.  The  word  “  Philosophy "  is  in  Bacon’s  own  hand,  written 
lightly  in  the  upper  comer  at  the  left,  and  is  no  doubt  merely  a  docket  inserted 
afterwards  when  he  was  sorting  his  papers.  What  connexion  there  was  between 
the  note  and  the  MS.  it  is  impossible  to  say.  But  it  is  evidently  a  careful  me¬ 
morandum  of  something,  set  down  by  somebody  when  the  MS.  was  at  hand ;  and 
so  many  of  the  characters  resemble  those  adopted  to  represent  the  planets  and 
the  signs  of  the  zodiac,  that  one  is  led  to  suspect  in  it  a  note  of  the  positions  of  the 
heavenly  bodies  at  the  time  of  some  remarkable  accident ;  —  perhaps  the  plague,  of 
which  30,5*  8  persons  died  in  London,  during  the  year  ending  22nd  December,  1603. 
The  period  of  the  commencement,  the  duration,  or  the  cessation  of  such  an  epidemic 
might  naturally  be  so  noted.  Now  three  of  the  characters  clearly  represent  respec¬ 
tively  Mercury,  Aquarius,  and  Sagittarius.  The  sign  for  Jupiter,  as  we  find  it  in  old 
books,  is  so  like  a  4,  that  the  first  figure  of  45  may  very  well  have  been  meant  for  it 
The  monogram  at  the  beginning  of  the  line  bears  a  near  resemblance  to  the  sign  of 
Capricorn  in  its  most  characteristic  feature.  And  the  mark  over  the  sign  of  Aquarius 
appears  to  be  an  abbreviation  of  that  which  usually  represents  the  Sun.  (The  blot 
between  1603  and  B  is  nothing  ;  being  only  meant  to  represent  a  figure  6  blotted  out 
with  the  finger  before  the  ink  was  dry.)  Suspecting  therefore  that  the  writing  con¬ 
tained  a  note  of  the  positions  of  Mercury  and  Jupiter  in  the  year  1603,  I  sent  a  copy 
to  a  scientific,  friend  and  asked  him  if  from  such  data  he  could  determine  the  month 
indicated.  He  found  upon  a  rough  calculation  (taking  account  of  mean  motions  only) 
that  Jupiter  did  enter  the  sign  of  Sagittarius  about  the  10th  of  August,  1603,  and 
continued  there  for  about  a  twelvemonth  ;  that  the  Sun  entered  Aquarius  about  the 
12th  or  13th  of  January,  1603-4  ;  and  that  Mercury  was  about  the  16th  or  17  th  of  the 
same  month  in  the  26th  or  27th  degree  of  Capricorn  :  —  coincidences  which  would 
have  been  almost  conclusive  as  to  the  date  indicated,  if  Capricorn  had  only  stood  where 
Aquarius  does,  and  vice  versa.  But  their  position  as  they  actually  stood  in  the  MS.  is 
la  formidable,  if  not  fatal,  objection  to  the  interpretation. 

According  to  another  opinion  with  which  I  have  been  favoured,  the  first  monogram 
Is  a  nota  bene ;  the  next  group  may  mean  Dies  Mercurii  (Wednesday)  26  th  January, 
1603 ;  and  the  rest  refers  to  something  not  connected  with  astronomy.  But  to  this 
also  there  is  a  serious  objection.  The  26th  of  January,  1603-4,  was  a  Friday;  and  it 
seems  to  me  very  improbable  that  any  Englishman  would  have  described  the  preceding 
January  as  belonging  to  the  year  1603.  Bacon  himself  invariably  dated  according  to 
the  civil  year,  and  the  occasional  use  of  the  historical  year  in  loose  memoranda  would 
have  involved  all  his  dates  in  confusion.  I  should  think  it  more  probable  that  the 
writer  (who  may  have  been  copying  a  kind  of  notation  with  which  he  was  not  fami¬ 
liar)  miscopied  the  sign  of  Venus  into  that  of  Mercury ;  in  which  case  it  would 
mean  Friday,  26th  January,  1603-4.  But  even  then  the  explanation  would  be  un¬ 
satisfactory,  as  leaving  so  much  unexplained.  Those  however  who  are  familiar  with 
old  MSS,  relating  to  such  subjects  may  probably  be  able  to  interpret  the  whole. 


VALERIUS  TERMINUS, 


209 


.change. .from  the  hurried  Saxon  hand  full  of  large  sweeping  curves 
andwith  letters  imperfectly  formed  and  connected,  which  he  wrote  in 
Elizabeth’s  time,  to  a  small,  neat,  light,  and  compact  one,  formed  more 
upon  the  Italian  model  which  was  then  coming  into  fashion.;-  and 
when  these  correcllons’were"  made  it  is  evident  that  this  new  cha¬ 
racter  had  become  natural  to  him  and  easy.  It  is  of  course  impos¬ 
sible  to  fix  the  precise  date  of  such  a  change, — the  more  so  because 
his  autographs  of  this  period  are  very  scarce,  — but  whenever  it  was 
that  he  corrected  this  manuscript,  it  is  evident  that  he  then  con¬ 
sidered  it  worthy  of  careful  revision.  He  has  not  merely  inserted 
a  sentence  here  and  there,  altered  the  numbers  of  the  chapters,  and 
added  words  to  the  headings  in  order  to  make  the  description  more 
exact ;  but  he  has  taken  the  trouble  to  add  the  running  title  wher¬ 
ever  it  was  wanting,  thus  writing  the  words  “  of  the  Interpretation 
of  Nature  ”  at  full  length  not  less  than  eighteen  times  over ;  and 
upon  the  blank  space  of  the  titlepage  he  has  written  out  a  complete 
table  of  contents. 1  In  short,  if  he  had  been  preparing  the  manu¬ 
script  for  the  press  or  for  a  fresh  transcript,  he  could  not  have  done 
it  more  completely  or  carefully, — only  that  he  has  given  no  direc¬ 
tions  for  altering  the  order  of  the  chapters  so  as  to  make  it  corre¬ 
spond  with  the  numbers.  And  hence  I  infer  that  up  to  the  time 
when  he  made  these  corrections,  this  was  the  form  of  the  great  work 
on  which  he  was  engaged  :  it  was  a  work  concerning  the  Interpreta¬ 
tion  of  Nature;  which  was  to  begin  where  the  Novum  Organum 
begins  ;  and  of  which  the  first  book  was  to  include  all  the  preliminary 
considerations  preparatory  to  the  exposition  of  the  formula. 

I  place  this  fragment  here  in  deference  to  Mr.  Ellis’s  decided 
opinion  that  it  was  written  before  the  Advancement  of  Learning. 
The  positive  ground  indeed  which  he  alleges  in  support  of  that 
conclusion  I  am  obliged  to  set  aside,  as  founded,  I  think,  upon  a 
misapprehension ;  and  the  supposition  that  no  part  of  it  was  writ¬ 
ten  later  involves  a  difficulty  which  I  cannot  yet  get  over  to  my 
own  satisfaction.  But  that  the  body  of  it  was  written  earlier  I  see 
no  reason  to  doubt ;  and  if  so,  this  is  its  proper  place. 

The  particular  point  on  which  I  venture  to  disagree  with  Mr.  Ellis 
I  have  stated  in  a  note  upon  his  preface  to  the  Novum  Organum, 
promising  at  the  same  time  a  fuller  explanation  of  the  grounds  of 
my  own  conclusion,  which  I  will  now  give. 

The  question  is,  whether  the  “  Inventory  ”  in  the  10th  chapter 
of  Valerius  Terminus  was  to  have  exhibited  a  general  survey  of  the 
state  of  knowledge  corresponding  with  that  which  fills  the  second 
book  of  the  Advancement  of  Learning.  I  think  not. 

1  See  the  facsimile.  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  there  was  an  interval  between 
the  writing  of  the  first  eleven  titles  and  the  last  two  j  during  which  the  Italian  cha¬ 
racter  had  become  more  familiar  to  him. 


210 


NOTE  TO  PREFACE  TO 


It  is  true  indeed  that  the  title  of  that  10th  chapter, — namely, 
“  The  Inventory,  or  an  enumeration  and  view  of  inventions 
already  discovered  and  in  use,  with  a  note  of  the  wants  and  the 
nature  of  the  supplies, — has  at  first  sight  a  considerable  resem¬ 
blance  to  the  description  of  the  contents  of  the  second  book  of  the 
Advancement  of  Learning ,  —  namely,  “  A  general  and  faithful  per¬ 
ambulation  of  learning,  with  an  inquiry  what  parts  thereof  lie 
fresh  and  waste,  and  not  improved  and  converted  by  the  indus¬ 
try  of  Man  ;  wherein  nevertheless  my  purpose  is 

at  this  time  to  note  only  omissions  and  deficiencies,  and  not  to 
make  any  redargutions  of  errors,”  and  so  on.  But  an  “enumera¬ 
tion  of  Inventions  ”  is  not  the  same  thing  as  “  a  perambulation  of 
Learning and  it  will  be  found  upon  closer  examination  that 
the  “  Inventory  ”  spoken  of  in  Valerius  Terminus  does  really  cor¬ 
respond  to  one,  and  one  only,  of  the  fifty-one  Desiderata  set  down 
at  the  end  of  the  De  Aug  mentis ;  viz.  that  Inventarium  opum  hu • 
manarum,  which  was  to  be  an  appendix  to  the  Magia  naturalis. 
See  De  Aug.  iii.  5.  This  will  appear  clearly  by  comparing  the 
descriptions  of  the  two. 

In  the  Advancement  of  Learning  Bacon  tells  us  that  there  are 
two  points  of  much  purpose  pertaining  to  the  department  of  Na¬ 
tural  Magic  :  the  first  of  which  is,  “  That  there  be  made  a  calendar 
resembling  an  Inventory  of  the  estate  of  man,  containing  all  the 
Inventions,  being  the  works  or  fruits  of  nature  or  art,  which  are  now 
extant  and  of  which  man  is  already  possessed ;  out  of  which  doth 
naturally  result  a  note  what  things  are  yet  held  impossible  or  not 
invented  ;  which  calendar  will  be  the  more  artificial  and  serviceable 
if  to  every  reputed  impossibility  you  add  'what  thing  is  extant 
which  cometh  the  nearest  in  degree  to  that  impossibility  :  to  the 
end  that  by  these  optatives  and  essentials  man’s  inquiry  may  be  the 
more  awake  in  deducing  direction  of  works  from  the  speculation  of 
causes.” 

The  Inventory  which  was  to  have  been  inserted  in  the  10th 
chapter  of  Valerius  Terminus  is  thus  introduced  : — “  The  plainest 
method  and  most  directly  pertinent  to  this  intention  will  be  to  make 
distribution  of  sciences,  arts,  inventions,  works,  and  their  portions, 
according  to  the  use  and  tribute  which  they  yield  and  render  to  the 
condition  of  man's  life ;  and  under  those  several  uses,  being  as  seve¬ 
ral  offices  of  provisions,  to  charge  and  tax  what  may  be  reasonably 
exacted  or  demanded,  ....  and  then  upon  those  charges  and 
taxations  to  distinguish  and  present  as  it  were  in  several  columns 
what  is  extant  and  already  found,  and  what  is  defective  and  fur¬ 
ther  to  be  provided.  Of  which  provisions  because  in  many  of  them, 
after  the  manner  of  slothful  and  faulty  accomptants,  it  will  be 
returned  by  way  of  excuse  that  no  such  are  to  be  had,  it  will  be  fit 


VALERIUS  TERMINUS. 


211 


to  give  some  light  of  the  nature  of  the  supplies ;  whereby  it  will 
evidently  appear  that  they  are  to  be  compassed  and  procured.”  And 
that  the  calendar  was  to  deal,  not  with  knowledge  in  general,  but 
only  with  arts  and  sciences  of  invention  in  its  more  restricted  sense 
—  the  pars  operativa  de  natura  (De  Aug.  iii.  5.) — appears  no  less 
clearly  from  the  opening  of  the  11th  chapter,  which  was  designed 
immediately  to  follow  the  “  Inventory.”  “  It  appeareth  then  what 
is  now  in  proposition,  not  by  general  circumlocution  but  by  par¬ 
ticular  note.  No  former  philosophy,”  &c.  &c.  “but  the  revealing 
and  discovering  of  new  inventions  and  operations,  ....  the 
nature  and  kinds  of  which  inventions  have  been  described  as  they 
could  be  discovered,”  &c.  If  further  evidence  were  required  of 
the  exact  resemblance  between  the  Inventory  of  Valerius  Terminus 
and  the  Inventarium  of  the  Advancement  and  the  De  Augmentis,  I 
might  quote  the  end  of  the  9th  chapter,  where  the  particular  ex¬ 
pressions  correspond,  if  possible,  more  closely  still.  But  I  presume 
that  the  passages  which  I  have  given  are  enough  ;  and  that  the 
opinion  which  I  have  elsewhere  expressed  as  to  the  origin  of  the 
Advancement  of  Learning,  —  namely,  that  the  writing  of  it  was  a 
by-thought  and  no  part  of  the  work  on  the  Interpretation  of  Nature 
as  originally  designed, — will  not  be  considered  inconsistent  with 
the  evidence  afforded  by  these  fragments. 

That  the  Valerius  Terminus  was  composed  before  the  Advance¬ 
ment,  though  a  conclusion  not  deducible  from  the  Inventory,  is 
nevertheless  probable :  but  to  suppose  that  it  was  so  composed  exactly 
in  its  present  form,  involves,  as  I  said,  a  difficulty  ;  which  I  will 
now  state.  The  point  is  interesting,  as  bearing  directly  upon  the 
developement  in  Bacon’s  mind  of  the  doctrine  of  Idols ;  concerning 
which  see  preface  to  Novum  Organum,  note  C.  But  I  have  to 
deal  with  it  here  merely  as  bearing  upon  the  probable  date  of  this 
fragment. 

In  treating  of  the  department  of  Logic,  UA-thfL, 

Bacon  notices  as  altogether  wanting  “  the  particular  elenches  or 
cautions  against  three  false  appearances  ”  or  fallacies  by  which  the 
mind  of  man  is  beset :  the  “  caution  ”  of  which,  he  says,  “  doth  ex¬ 
tremely  import  the  true  conduct  of  human  judgment.”  These  false 
appearances  he  describes,  though  he  does  not  give  their  names  • 
and  they  correspond  respectively  to  what  he  afterwards  called  the 
Idols  of  the  Tribe,  the  Cave,  and  the  Forum.  But  he  makes  no  men¬ 
tion  of  the  fourth  ;  namely,  the  Idols  of  the  Theatre.  Now  in  Vale¬ 
rius  Terminus  we  find  two  separate  passages  in  which  the  Idols  are 
mentioned  ;  and  in  both  all  four  are  enumerated,  and  all  by  name ; 
though  what  he  afterwards  called  Idols  of  the  Forum,  he  there  calls 
Idols  of  the  Palace  ;  and  it  seems  to  me  very  unlikely  that,  if  when 


15  Bacon  III 


212 


NOTE  TO  PREFACE  TO 


he  wrote  the  Advancement  he  had  already  formed  that  classification 
he  should  have  omitted  all  mention  of  the  Idols  of  the  Theatre  ; 
for  though  it  is  true  that  that  was  not  the  place  to  discuss  them, 
and  therefore  in  the  corresponding  passage  of  the  De  Augmentis  they 
are  noticed  as  to  be  passed  by  “  for  the  present,”  yet  they  are  noticed 
by  name,  and  in  all  Bacon’s  later  writings  the  confutation  of  them 
holds  a  very  prominent  place. 

To  me  the  most  probable  explanation  of  the  fact  is  this.  I  have 
already  shown  that  between  the  composition  and  the  transcription 
of  these  fragments  the  design  of  the  work  appears  to  have  undergone 
a  considerable  change  ;  the  order  of  the  chapters  being  entirely 
altered.  We  have  only  to  suppose  therefore  that  they  were  com¬ 
posed  before  the  Advancement  and  transcribed  after,  and  that  n 
preparing  them  for  the  transcriber  Bacon  made  the  same  kind  of 
alterations  in  the  originals  which  he  afterwards  made  upon  the 
transcript,  and  the  difficulty  disappears.  Nothing  would  be  easier 
than  to  correct  “  three  ”  into  “  four,”  and  insert  “  the  Idols  of  the 
Theatre  ”  at  the  end  of  the  sentence. 

And  this  reminds  me  (since  I  shall  have  so  much  to  do  with  these 
questions  of  date)  to  suggest  a  general  caution  with  regard  to  them 
all ;  namely,  that  in  the  case  of  fragments  like  these,  the  com¬ 
parison  of  isolated  passages  can  hardly  ever  be  relied  upon  for  evi¬ 
dence  of  the  date  or  order  of  composition,  or  of  the  progressive 
developement  of  the  writer’s  views  ;  and  for  this  simple  reason, —  we 
can  never  be  sure  that  the  passages  as  they  now  stand  formed  part 
of  the  original  writing.  The  copy  of  the  fragment  which  we  have 
may  be  (as  there  is  reason  to  believe  this  was)  a  transcript  from 
several  loose  papers,  written  at  different  periods  and  containing 
alterations  or  additions  made  from  time  to  time.  We  may  know 
perhaps  that  when  Bacon  published  the  Advancement  of  Learning 
he  was  ignorant  of  some  fact  with  which  he  afterwards  became 
acquainted  ;  we  may  find  in  one  of  these  fragments,  —  say  the  Tempo- 
ris  Partus  Masculus, —  a  passage  implying  acquaintance  with  that 
fact.  Does  it  follow  that  the  Temporis  Partus  Masculus  was  written 
after  the  Advancement  of  Learning  ?  No  ;  for  in  looking  over  the 
manuscript  long  after  it  was  written,  he  may  have  observed  and 
corrected  the  error.  And  we  cannot  conclude  that  he  at  the  same 
time  altered  the  whole  composition  so  as  to  bring  it  into  accordance 
with  the  views  he  then  held ;  for  that  might  be  too  long  a  work. 
He  may  have  inserted  a  particular  correction,  but  meant  to  rewrite 
the  whole  ;  and  if  so,  in  spite  of  the  later  date  indicated  by  that 
particular  passage,  the  body  of  the  work  would  still  represent  a 
stage  in  his  opinions  anterior  to  the  Advancement  of  Learning. 

I  have  felt  some  doubt  whether  in  printing  this  fragment,  I 
should  follow  the  example  of  Stephens,  who  gave  it  exactly  ashe  found 


VALERIOS  TERMINUS. 


213 


it;  or  that  of  later  editors,  who  have  altered  the  order  of  the  chapters 
so  as  to  make  it  agree  with  the  numbers.  The  latter  plan  will 
perhaps,  upon  the  whole,  be  the  more  convenient.  There  can  be 
little  doubt  that  the  numbers  of  the  chapters  indicate  the  order  in 
which  Bacon  meant  them  to  be  read  ;  and  if  any  one  wishes  to  com¬ 
pare  it  with  the  order  in  which  they  seem  to  have  been  written, 
he  has  only  to  look  at  Bacon’s  table  of  contents,  which  was  made 
with  reference  to  the  transcript,  and  which  I  give  unaltered,  except 
as  to  the  spelling. 

The  notes  to  this  piece  are  mine.  —  J  S. 


21S 


VALERIUS  TERMINUS 

OF 

THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE: 


■WITH  THE 

ANNOTATIONS  OF  HERMES  STELLA.' 


A  few  fragments  of  the  first  book,  viz. 

1.  The  first  chapter  entire.  [Of  the  ends  and  limits  of  know¬ 

ledge.] 

2.  A  portion  of  the  11th  chapter.  [Of  the  scale.] 

3.  A  small  portion  of  the  9th  chapter  [being  an  Inducement 

to  the  Inventory.] 

4.  A  small  portion  of  the  10th  chapter  [being  the  preface 

to  the  Inventory.] 

5.  A  small  portion  of  the  16  th  chapter  [being  a  preface  to  the 

inward  elenches  of  the  mind.] 

6.  A  small  portion  of  the  4th  chapter.  [Of  the  impediments 

of  knowledge  in  general.] 

7.  A  small  portion  of  the  5th  chapter.]  Of  the  diversion  of 

wits.] 

1  This  is  written  in  the  transcriber’s  hand  :  all  that  follows  in  Bacon’s.  The  words 
between  brackets  have  a  line  drawn  through  them.  For  an  exact  facsimile  of  the 
whole,  made  by  Mr.  Netherclift,  see  the  beginning  of  the  volume. 


216 


VALERIUS  TERMINUSL 


8.  The  6th  chapter  entire.  [Of] 

9.  A  portion  of  the  7th  chapter. 

10.  The  8  th  chapter  entire. 

11.  Another  portion  of  the  9  th  chapter. 

12.  The  Abridgment  of  the  12.  13.  14.  15.  16.  17.  18.  19.  21. 

22.  25.  26th  chapters  of  the  first  book. 

13.  The  first  chapter  of  [the]  a  book  of  the  same  argument 

written  in  Latin  and  destined  [for]  to  be  [traditionary] 
separate  and  not  public.1 

None  of  the  Annotations  of  Stella  are  set  down  in 
these  fragments. 


1  This  refers  to  the  first  chapter  of  the  Temporis  Partus  Masculus ;  which  follows 
in  the  MS.  volume,  but  not  here.  It  is  important  as  bearing  upon  the  date  of  that 
fragment. 


217 


OP 

THE  INTERPRETATION  OE  NATURE. 


Cap.  1. 

Of  the  limits  and  end  of  knowledge. 

In  the  divine  nature  both  religion  and  philosophy  hath  ac¬ 
knowledged  goodness  in  perfection,  science  or  providence  com¬ 
prehending  all  things,  and  absolute  sovereignty  or  kingdom. 
In  aspiring  to  the  throne  of  power  the  angels  transgressed  and 
fell,  in  presuming  to  come  within  the  oracle  of  knowledge  man 
transgressed  and  fell1 ;  but  in  pursuit  towards  the  similitude  of 
God’s  goodness  or  love  (which  is  one  thing,  for  love  is  nothing 
else  but  goodness  put  in  motion  or  applied)  neither  man  or 
spirit  ever  hath  transgressed,  or  shall  transgress. 

The  angel  of  light  that  was,  when  he  presumed  before  his 
fall,  said  within  himself,  I  will  ascend  and  be  like  unto  the 
Highest;  not  God,  but  the  highest.  To  be  like  to  God  in 
goodness,  was  no  part  of  his  emulation ;  knowledge,  being  in 
creation  an  angel  of  light,  was  not  the  want  which  did  most 
solicit  him ;  only  because  he  was  a  minister  he  aimed  at  a  su¬ 
premacy  ;  therefore  his  climbing  or  ascension  was  turned  into 
a  throwing  down  or  precipitation. 

Man  on  the  other  side,  when  he  was  tempted  before  he  fell, 
had  offered  unto  him  this  suggestion,  that  he  should  be  like  unto 
God.  But  how  ?  Not  simply,  but  in  this  part,  knowing  good 
and  evil.  For  being  in  his  creation  invested  with  sovereignty  of 
all  inferior  creatures,  he  was  not  needy  of  power  or  dominion ; 
but  again,  being  a  spirit  newly  inclosed  in  a  body  of  earth,  he 
was  fittest  to  be  allured  with  appetite  of  light  and  liberty  of 
knowledge ;  therefore  this  approaching  and  intruding  into  God’s 
secrets  and  mysteries  was  rewarded  with  a  further  removing 
and  estranging  from  God’s  presence.  But  as  to  the  goodness 


1  This  clause  is  repeated  in  the  margin,  in  the  transcriber’s  hand. 


218 


OF  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE. 


of  God,  there  is  no  danger  in  contending  or  advancing  towards 
a  similitude  thereof,  as  that  which  is  open  and  propounded  to 
our  imitation.  For  that  voice  (whereof  the  heathen  and  all 
other  errors  of  religion  have  ever  confessed  that  it  sounds  not 
like  man),  Love  your  enemies ;  be  you  like  unto  your  heavenly 
Father,  that  suffereth  his  rain  to  fall  both  upon  the  just  and  the 
unjust,  doth  well  declare,  that  we  can  in  that  point  commit  no 
excess ;  so  again  we  find  it  often  repeated  in  the  old  law.  Be 
you  holy  as  I  am  holy  ;  and  what  is  holiness  else  but  goodness, 
as  we  consider  it  separate  and  guarded  from  all  mixture  and  all 
access  of  evil? 

Wherefore  seeing  that  knowledge  is  of  the  number  of  those 
things  which  are  to  be  accepted  of  with  caution  and  distinction ; 
being  now  to  open  a  fountain,  such  as  it  is  not  easy  to  discern 
where  the  issues  and  streams  thereof  will  take  and  fall;  I 
thought  it  good  and  necessary  in  the  first  place  to  make  a  strong 
and  sound  head  or  bank  to  rule  and  guide  the  course  of  the 
waters ;  by  setting  down  this  position  or  firmament,  namely. 
That  all  knowledge  is  to  be  limited  by  religion,  and  to  be  referred 
to  use  and  action. 

For  if  any  man  shall  think  by  view  and  inquiry  into  these 
sensible  and  material  things,  to  attain  to  any  light  for  the  re¬ 
vealing  of  the  nature  or  will  of  God,  he  shall  dangerously  abuse 
himself.  It  is  true  that  the  contemplation  of  the  creatures  of 
God  hath  for  end  (as  to  the  natures  of  the  creatures  themselves) 
knowledge,  but  as  to  the  nature  of  God,  no  knowledge,  but 
wonder ;  which  is  nothing  else  but  contemplation  broken  off, 
or  losing  itself.  Nay  further,  as  it  was  aptly  said  by  one  of 
Plato’s  school  the  sense  of  man  resembles  the  sun,  which  openeth 
and  revealeth  the  terrestrial  globe,  but  obscureth  and  concealeth 
the  celestial;  so  doth  the  sense  discover  natural  things,  but 
darken  and  shut  up  divine.  And  this  appeareth  sufficiently  in 
that  there  is  no  proceeding  in  invention  of  knowledge  but  by 
similitude  ;  and  God  is  only  self-like,  having  nothing  in  com¬ 
mon  with  any  creature,  otherwise  than  as  in  shadow  and  trope. 
Therefore  attend  his  will  as  himself  openeth  it,  and  give  unto 
faith  that  which  unto  faith  belongeth ;  for  more  worthy  it  is  to 
believe  than  to  think  or  know,  considering  that  in  knowledge 
(as  we  now  are  capable  of  it)  the  mind  suffereth  from  inferior 
natures ;  but  in  all  belief  it  suffereth  from  a  spirit  which  it 
holdeth  superior  and  more  authorised  than  itself. 


OF  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE.  219 

To  conclude,  the  prejudice  hath  been  infinite  that  both  divine 
and  human  knowledge  hath  received  by  the  intermingling  and 
tempering  of  the  one  with  the  other ;  as  that  which  hath  filled 
the  one  full  of  heresies,  and  the  other  full  of  speculative  fictions 
and  vanities. 

But  now  there  are  again  which  in  a  contrary  extremity  to 
those  which  give  to  contemplation  an  over-large  scope,  do  offer 
too  great  a  restraint  to  natural  and  lawful  knowledge,  being  un¬ 
justly  jealous  that  every  reach  and  depth  of  knowledge  where¬ 
with  their  conceits  have  not  been  acquainted,  should  be  too 
high  an  elevation  of  man’s  wit,  and  a  searching  and  ravelling 
too  far  into  God’s  secrets ;  an  opinion  that  ariseth  either  of 
envy  (which  is  proud  weakness  and  to  be  censured  and  not 
confuted),  or  else  of  a  deceitful  simplicity.  For  if  they  mean 
that  the  ignorance  of  a  second  cause  doth  make  men  more  de¬ 
voutly  to  depend  upon  the  providence  of  God,  as  supposing  the 
effects  to  come  immediately  from  his  hand,  I  demand  of  them, 
as  Job  demanded  of  his  friends,  Will  you  lie  for  God  as  man 
will  for  man  to  gratify  him  f  But  if  any  man  without  any 
sinister  humour  doth  indeed  make  doubt  that  this  digging 
further  and  further  into  the  mine  of  natural  knowledge  is  a 
thing  without  example  and  uncommended  in  the  Scriptures,  or 
fruitless ;  let  him  remember  and  be  instructed ;  for  behold  it 
was  not  that  pure  light  of  natural  knowledge,  whereby  man  in 
paradise  was  able  to  give  unto  every  living  creature  a  name 
according  to  his  propriety,  which  gave  occasion  to  the  fall ;  but 
it  was  an  aspiring  desire  to  attain  to  that  part  of  moral  know- 
ledge  which  defineth  of  good  and  evil,  whereby  to  dispute 
God’s  commandments  and  not  to  depend  upon  the  revelation 
of  his  will,  which  was  the  original  temptation.  And  the  first 
holy  records,  which  within  those  brief  memorials  of  things 
which  passed  before  the  flood  entered  few  things  as  worthy  to 
be  registered  but  only  lineages '  and  propagations,  yet  never¬ 
theless  honour  the  remembrance  of  the  inventor  both  of  music 
and  works  in  metal.  Moses  again  (who  was  the  reporter)  is 
said  to  have  been  seen  in  all  the  Egyptian  learning,  which 
nation  was  early  and  leading  in  matter  of  knowledge.  And  . 
Salomon  the  king,  as  out  of  a  branch  of  his  wisdom  extraor¬ 
dinarily  petitioned  and  granted  from  God,  is  saicL  to  have 


1  linages  in  original.  See  note  3.  p.  148. 


220 


OF  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE. 


h 


V 


\ 


N 


written  a  natural  history  of  all  that  ia  green  from  the  cedar:  to 
the  moss,  (which  is  but  a  rudiment  between  putrefaction  and  an 
herb.,)  and  also  of  all  that  liveth  and  moveth.  And  if  the  book 
of  Job  be  turned  over,  it  will  be  found  to  have  much  aspersion 
of  natural  philosophy.  Nay,  the  same  Salomon  the  king  af- 
firmeth  directly  thab  the  glory  of  God  is  to  conceal  a  thing,  hut  the 
glory  of  the  king  is  to  find  it  out,  as  if  according  to  the  innocent 
play  of  children  the  divine  Majesty  took  delight  to  hide  his 
works,  to  the  end  to  have  them  found  out ;  for  in  naming  the 
king  he  intendeth  man,  taking  such  a  condition  of  man  as  hath 
most  excellency  and  greatest  commandment  of  wits  and  means, 
alluding  also  to  his  own  person,  being  truly  one  of  those  clearest 
burning  lamps,  whereof  himself  speaketh  in  another  place, 
when  he  saith  The  spirit  of  man  is  as  the  lamp  of  God,  whereioith 
he  searchelh  all  inwardness ;  which  nature  of  the  soul  the  same 
Salomon  holding  precious  and  inestimable,  and  therein  con¬ 
spiring  with  the  affection  of  Socrates  who  scorned  the  pretended 
learned  men  of  his  time  for  raising  great  benefit  of  their  learn¬ 
ing  (whereas  Anaxagoras  contrariwise  and  divers  others  being 
bom  to  ample  patrimonies  decayed  them  in  contemplation), 
delivereth  it  in  precept  yet  remaining.  Buy  the  truth,  and  sell  it 
not;  and  so  of  wisdom  and  knowledge. 

And  lest  any  man  should  retain  a  scrapie  as  if  this  thirst  of 
knowledge  were  rather  an  humour  of  the  mind  than  an  emp¬ 
tiness  or  want  in  nature  and  an  instinct  from  God,  the  same 
author  defineth  of  it  fully,  saying^  God  hath  made  every  thing 
in  beauty  according  to  season  ;  also  he  hath  set  the  toorld  in  man's 
I  heart,  yet  can  he  not  find  out  the  work  ivhich  God  worketh 
from  the  beginning  to  the  end :  declaring  not  obscurely  that  God 
hath  framed  the  mind  of  man  as  a  glass  capable  of  the  image 
of  the  universal  world,  joying  to  receive  the  signature  thereof 
as  the  eye  is  of  light,  yea  not  only  satisfied  in  beholding  the 
variety  of  things  and  vicissitude  of  times,  but  raised  also  to  find 
out  and  discern  those  ordinances  and  decrees  which  throughout 
all  these  changes  are  infallibly  observed.  And  although  the 
highest  generality  of  motion  or  summary  law  of  nature  God 
should  still  reserve  within  his  own  curtain,  yet  many  and  noble 
are  the  inferior  and  secondary  operations  which  are  within  man’s 
sounding.  This  is  a  thing  which  I  cannot  tell  whether  I  may  so 
plainly  speak  as  truly  conceive,  that  as  all  knowledge  appeareth 
to  be  a  plant  of  God’s  own  planting,  so  it  may  seem  the  spreading 


OF  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE. 


221 


and  flourishing  or  at  least  the  bearing  and  fructifying  of  this 
plant,  by  a  providence  of  God,  nay  not  only  by  a  general  pro¬ 
vidence  but  by  a  special  prophecy,  was  appointed  to  this 
autumn  of  the  world :  for  to  my  understanding  it  is  not  violent 
to  the  letter,  and  safe  now  after  the  event,  so  to  interpret  that 
place  in  the  prophecy  of  Daniel  where  speaking  of  the  latter 
times  it  is  said.  Many  shall  pass  to  and  fro,  and  science  shall  be 
increased;  as  if  the  opening  of  the  world  by  navigation  and 
commerce  and  the  further  discovery  of  knowledge  should  meet 
in  one  time  or  age. 

But  howsoever  that  be,  there  are  besides  the  authorities 
of  Scriptures  before  recited,  two  reasons  of  exceeding  great 
weight  and  force  why  religion  should  dearly  protect  all  increase 
of  natural  knowledge :  the  one,  because  it  leadeth  to  the  greater 
exaltation  of  the  glory  of  God ;  for  as  the  Psalms  and  other 
Scriptures  do  often  invite  us  to  consider  and  to  magnify  the 
great  and  wonderful  works  of  God,  so  if  we  should  rest  only 
in  the  contemplation  of  those  shews  which  first  offer  them¬ 
selves  to  our  senses,  we  should  do  a  like  injury  to  the  majesty 
of  God,  as  if  we  should  judge  of  the  store  of  some  excellent 
jeweller  by  that  only  which  is  set  out  to  the  street  in  his  shop. 
The  other  reason  is,  because  it  is  a  singular  help  and  a  preser¬ 
vative  against  unbelief  and  error ;  for,  saith  our  Saviour, 
You_eri\  not  knowing  the  Scriptures  nor  the  power  of  God ;  / 
laying  before  us  two  books  or  volumes  to  study  if  we  will  be 
secured  from  error ;  first  the  Scriptures  revealing  the  will  of 
God,  and  then  the  creatures  expressing  his  power;  for  that 
latter  book  will  certify  us  that  nothing  which  the  first  teacheth 
shall  be  thought  impossible.  And  most  sure  it  is,  and  a  true 
conclusion  of  experience,  that  a  little  natural . philosophy- in- 
clineth  the  mind  to  atheism,  but  a  further  proceeding  bringeth  _ 
the  mind  back  to  religion. 

To  conclude  then,  let  no  man  presume  to  check  the  liberality 
of  God’s  gifts,  who,  as  was  said,  hath  set  the  world  in  man’s 
heart.  So  as  whatsoever  is  not  God  but  parcel  of  the  world, 
he  hath  fitted  it  to  the  comprehension  of  man’s  mind,  if  man 
will  open  and  dilate  the  powers  of  his  understanding  as  he 
may. 

But  yet  evermore  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  least  part 
of  knowledge  passed  to  man  by  this  so  large  a  charter  from 
God  must  be  subject  to  that  use  for  which  God  hath  granted  it ; 


OF  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE. 


222 

\v  which  is  the  benefit,  and  relief  of  the  state  and  society  of  man ; 
for  otherwise  all  manner  of  knowledge  becometh  malign  and 
serpentine,  and  therefore  as  carrying  the  quality  of  the  ser¬ 
pent’s  sting  and  malice  it  maketh  the  mind  of  man  to  swell ; 
as  the  Scripture  saith  excellently,  knowledge  bloweth  up,  but 
charity  buildeth  up.  And  again  the  same  author  doth  notably 
disavow  both  power  and  knowledge  such  as  is  not  dedicated  to 
goodness  or  love,  for  saith  he.  If  I  have  all  faith  so  as  I  could 
remove  mountains,  (there  is  power  active,)  if  1  render  my  body 
to  the  fire,  (there  is  power  passive,)  if  I  speak  with  the  tongues 
of  men  and  angels,  (there  is  knowledge,  for  language  is  but  the 
conveyance  of  knowledge,)  all  were  nothing. 

I  And  therefore  it  is  not  the  pleasure  of  curiosity,  nor  the 
j  quiet  of  resolution,  nor  the  raising  of  the  spirit,  nor  victory  of 

wit,  nor  faculty  of  speech,  nor  lucre  of  profession,  nor  ambition 
of  honour  or  fame,  nor  inablement  for  business,  that  are  the 
true  ends  of  knowledge ;  some  of  these  being  more  worthy 
than  other,  though  all  inferior  and  degenerate :  but  it  is  a  re¬ 
stitution  and  reinvesting  (in  great  part)  of  man  to  the  sove¬ 
reignty  and  power  (for  whensoever  he  shall  be  able  to  call  the 
creatures  by  their  true  names  he  shall  again  command  them) 
which  he  had  in  his  first  state  of  creation.  And  to  speak 
plainly  and  clearly,  it  is  a  discovery  of  all  operations  and  pos¬ 
sibilities  of  operations  from  immortality  (if  it  were  possible)  to 
the  meanest  mechanical  practice.  And  therefore  knowledge 
that  tendeth  but  to  satisfaction  is  but  as  a  courtesan,  which  is 
for  pleasure  and  not  for  fruit  or  generation.  And  knowledge 
that  tendeth  to  profit  or  profession  or  glory  is  but  as  the  golden 
ball  thrown  before  Atalanta,  which  while  she  goeth  aside  and 
stoopeth  to  take  up  she  hindereth  the  race.  And  knowledge 
referred  to  some  particular  point  of  use  is  but  as  Harmodius 
which  putteth  down  one  tyrant,  and  not  like  Hercules  who  did 
perambulate  the  world  to  suppress  tyrants  and  giants  and  mon¬ 
sters  in  every  part.1  It  is  true,  that  in  two  points  the  curse  is 
peremptory  and  not  to  be  removed ;  the  one  that  vanity  must 
be  the  end  in  all  human  effects,  eternity  being  resumed,  though 
(the  revolutions  and  periods  may  be  delayed.  The  other  that 

I I  the  consent  of  the  creature  being  now  turned  into  reluctation, 
this  power  cannot  otherwise  be  exercised  and  administered  but 

1  The  words  “  that  is,  man’s  miseries  and  necessities,”  which  followed  in  the  tran¬ 
script,  have  a  line  drawn  through  them. 


OP  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE. 


223 


with  labour,  aa  well  in  inventing  as  in  executing ;  yet  never¬ 
theless  chiefly  that  labour  and  travel  which  is  described  by  the 
sweat  of  the  brows  more  than  of  the  body ;  that  is  such  travel 
as  is  joined  with  the  working  and  discursion  of  the  spirits  in 
the  brain  :  for  as  Salomon  saith  excellently,  The  fool  putteth  to 
more  strength,  but  the  wise  man  considereth  which  way,  signifying 
the  election  of  the  mean  to  be  more  material  than  the  multipli¬ 
cation  of  endeavour.  It  is  true  also  that  there  is  a  limitation 
rather  potential  than  actual,  which  is  when  the  effect  is  possible, 
but  the  time  or  place  yieldeth  not  the  matter  or  basis  where¬ 
upon  man  should  work.  But  notwithstanding  these  precincts 
and  bounds,  let  it  be  believed,  and  appeal  thereof  made  to  Time, 
(with  renunciation  nevertheless  to  all  the  vain  and  abusing 
promises  of  Alchemists  and  Magicians,  and  such  like  light, 
idle,  ignorant,  credulous,  and  fantastical  wits  and  sects,)  that 
the  new-found  world  of  land  was  not  greater  addition  to  the 
ancient  continent  than  there  remaineth  at  this  day  a  world  of 
inventions  and  sciences  unknown,  having  respect  to  those  that 
are  known,  with  this  difference,  that  the  ancient  regions  of 
knowledge  will  seem  as  barbarous  compared  with  the  new,  as 
the  new  regions  of  people  seem  barbarous  compared  to  many 
of  the  old. 

The  dignity  of  this  end  (of  endowment  of  man’s  life  with 
new  commodities)  appeareth  by  the  estimation  that  antiquity 
made  of  such  as  guided  thereunto.  For  whereas  founders  of 
states,  lawgivers,  extirpers  of  tyrants,  fathers  of  the  people, 
were  honoured  but  with  the  titles  of  Worthies  or  Demigods, 
inventors  were  ever  consecrated  amongst  the  Gods  themselves. 
And  if  the  ordinary  ambitions  of  men  lead  them  to  seek  the 
amplification  of  their  own  power  in  their  countries,  and  a 
better  ambition  than  that  hath  moved  men  to  seek  the  ampli¬ 
fication  of  the  power  of  their  own  countries  amongst  other 
nations,  better  again  and  more  worthy  must  that  aspiring  be 
which  seeketh  the  amplification  of  the  power  and  kingdom  of 
mankind  over  the  world;  the  rather  because  the  other  two 
prosecutions  are  ever  culpable  of  much  perturbation  and  injus¬ 
tice;  but  this  is  a  work  truly  divine,  which  cometh  in  aura 
leni  without  noise  or  observation. 

The  access  also  to  this  work  hath  been  by  that  port  or 
passage,  which  the  divine  Majesty  (who  is  unchangeable  in 
his  ways)  doth  infallibly  continue  and  observe;  that  is  the 


224 


OF  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE. 


felicity  wherewith  he  hath  blessed  an  humility  of  mind,  such 
as  rather  laboureth  to  spell  and  so  by  degrees  to  read  in  the 
volumes  of  his  creatures,  than  to  solicit  and  urge  and  as  it 
were  to  invocate  a  man’s  own  spirit  to  divine  and  give  oracles 
unto  him.  For  as  in  the  inquiry  of  divine  truth,  the  pride  of 
man  hath  ever  inclined  to  leave  the  oracles  of  God’s  word  and 
to  vanish  in  the  mixture  of  their  own  inventions ;  so  in  the 
self-same  manner,  in  inquisition  of  nature  they  have  ever  left 
the  oracles  of  God’s  works,  and  adored  the  deceiving  and 
deformed  imagery  which  the  unequal  mirrors  of  their  own 
minds  have  represented  unto  them.  Nav_it  is  a  point-fit  and 
necessary  in  the  front  and  beginning  of  this  work  without 
hesitation  or  reservation  to  be  professed,  that  it  is  no  less  true 
in  this  human  kingdom  of  knowledge  than  in  God’s  kingdom 
of  heaven,  that  no  man  shall  enter  into  it  except  he  become  first 
as  a  little  child.1 

Of  the  impediments  of  knowledge,  being  the  4:th 2  chapter,  the 
preface  only  of  it. 

In  some  things  it  is  more  hard  to  attempt  than  to  achieve, 
which  falleth  out  when  the  difficulty  is  not  so  much  in  the 
matter  or  subject,  as  it  is  in  the  crossness  and  indisposition  of 
the  mind  of  man  to  think  of  any  such  thing,  to  will  or  to 
resolve  it.  And  therefore  Titus  Livius  in  his  declamatory 
digression  wherein  he  doth  depress  and  extenuate  the  honour 
of  Alexander’s  conquests  saith,  Nihil  aliud  quam  bene  ausus 
vana  contemnere :  in  which  sort  of  things  it  is  the  manner  of 
men  first  to  wonder  that  any  such  thing  should  be  possible,  and 
after  it  is  found  out  to  wonder  again  how  the  world  should 
miss  it  so  long.  Of  this  nature  I  take  to  be  the  invention  and 
discovery  of  knowledge,  &c. 

The  impediments  which  have  been  in  the  times,  and  in  diversion  of 

wits,  being  the  5th  chapter 3,  a  small  fragment  in  the  beginning 

of  that  chapter. 

The  encounters  of  the  times  have  been  nothing  favourable 
and  prosperous  for  the  invention  of  knowledge ;  so  as  it  is  not 

1  This  chapter  ends  at  the  top  of  a  new  page.  The  rest  is  left  blank. 

*  The  word  “third”  has  a  line  drawn  through  it,  and  4th  is  written  over  it  in 
Bacon’s  hand. 

8  Originally  “being  the  fourth  chapter  the  beginning:”  the  correction  all  in 
Bacon's  hand. 


OF  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE. 


225 


only  the  daintiness  of  the'  seed  to  take,  and  the  ill  mixture  and 
unliking  of  the  ground  to  nourish  or  raise  this  plant,  but  the 
ill  season  also  of  the  weather  by  which  it  hath  been  checked 
and  blasted.  Especially  in  that  the  seasons  have  been  proper 
to  bring  up  and  set  forward  other  more  hasty  and  indiffe¬ 
rent  plants,  whereby  this  of  knowledge  hath  been  starved  and 
overgrown;  for  in  the  descent  of  times  always  there  hath 
been  somewhat  else  in  reign  and  reputation,  which  hath  ge¬ 
nerally  aliened  and  diverted  wits  and  labours  from  that  em¬ 
ployment. 

For  as  for  the  uttermost  antiquity  which  is  like  fame  that 
muffles  her  head  and  tells  tales,  I  cannot  presume  much  of  it ; 
for  I  would  not  willingly  imitate  the  manner  of  those  that  de¬ 
scribe  maps,  which  when  they  come  to  some  far  countries 
whereof  they  have  no  knowledge,  set  down  how  there  be  great 
wastes  and  deserts  there :  so  I  am  not  apt  to  affirm  that  they 
knew  little,  because  what  they  knew  is  little  known  to  us. 
But  if  you  will  judge  of  them  by  the  last  traces  that  remain  to 
us,  you  will  conclude,  though  not  so  scornfully  as  Aristotle 
doth,  that  saith  our  ancestors  were  extreme  gross,  as  those 
that  came  newly  from  being  moulded  out  of  the  clay  or  some 
earthly  substance ;  yet  reasonably  and  probably  thus,  that  it 
was  with  them  in  matter  of  knowledge  but  as  the  dawning  or 
break  of  day.  For  at  that  time  the  world  was  altogether 
home-bred,  every  nation  looked  little  beyond  their  own  con-  I 
fines  or  territories,  and  the  world  had  no  through  lights  then,/ 
as  it  hath  Fad  since  by  commerce  and  navigation,  whereby 
there  could  neither  be  that  contribution  of  wits  one  to  help 
another,  nor  that  variety  of  particulars  for  the  correcting  ol 
customary  conceits.  .  .  > 

And  as  there  could  be  no  great  collection  of  wits  of  several 
parts  or  nations,  so  neither  could  there  be  any  succession  of 
wits  of  several  times,  whereby  one  might  refine  the  other,  in 
regard  they  had  not  history  to  any  purpose.  And  the  manner 
of  their  traditions  was  utterly  unfit  and  improper  for  amplifi¬ 
cation  of  knowledge.  And  again  the  studies  of  those  times, 
you  shall  find,  besides  wars,  incursions,  and  rapines,  which 
were  then  almost  every  where  betwixt  states  adjoining  (the  use 
of  leagues  and  confederacies  being  not  then  known),  were  to 
populate  by  multitude  of  wives  and  generation,  a  thing  at  this 
day  in  the  waster  part  of  the  West-Indies  principally  affected; 


226 


OF  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE. 


and  to  build  sometimes  for  habitation  towns  and  cities,  some¬ 
times  for  fame  and  memory  monuments,  pyramids,  colosses, 
and  the  like.  And  if  there,  happened  to  Hse-up-any -more civil 
wits 1 ;  then  would  he  found  and  erect  some  new lawg^jajs- 
toms,  and  usages,  such  as  now  of  late  years,  when  the  world 
was  revolute  almost  to  the  like  rudeness  and  obscurity,  we  see 
both  in  our  own  nation  and  abroad  many  examples  of,  as  well 
in  a  number  of  tenures  reserved  upon  men’s  lands,  as  in  divers 
customs  of  towns  and  manors,  being  the  devices  that  such  wits 
wrought  upon  in  such  times  of  deep  ignorance.  & c. 2 

The  impediments  of  knowledge  for  want  of  a  true  succession  of 
wits,  and  that  hitherto  the  length  of  one  man's  life  hath  been 
the  greatest  measure  of  knowledge,  being  the  6th  chapter,  the 
whole  chapter.3 

In  arts  mechanical  the  first  device  comes  shortest  and  time 
addeth  and  perfecteth.  But  in  sciences  of  conceit  the  first 
author  goeth  furthest,  and  timp  leeseth  and__corrupteth.  Paint¬ 
ing,  artillery,  sailing,  and  the  like,  grossly  managed  at  first,  by 
time  accommodate  and  refined.  The  philosophies  and  sciences 
of  Aristotle,  Plato,  Democritus,  Hippocrates,  of  most  vigour 
!  at  first,  by  time  degenerated  and  imbased.  In  the  former 
many  wits  and  industries  contributed  in  one :  In  the  latter 
many  men’s  wits  spent  to  deprave  the  wit  of  one. 

The  error  is  both  in  the  deliverer  and  in  the  receiver.  He 
that  delivereth  knowledge  desireth  to  deliver  it  in  such  form 
as  may  be  soonest  believed,  and  not  as  may  be  easiliest  exa¬ 
mined.  He  that  receiveth  knowledge  desireth  rather  present 
satisfaction  than  expectant  search,  and  so  rather  not  to  doubt 
than  not  to  err.  Glory  maketh  the  author  not  to  lay  open 
his  weakness,  and  sloth  maketh  the  disciple  not  to  know  his 
strength. 

Then  begin  men  to  aspire  to  the  second  prizes ;  to  be  a  pro¬ 
found  interpreter  and  commenter,  to  be  a  sharp  champion  and 
defender,  to  be  a  methodical  compounder  and  abridger.  And 
this  is  the  unfortunate  succession  of  wits  which  the  world  hath 
yet  had,  whereby  the  patrimony  of  all  knowledge  goeth  not 

1  wittt  in  MS.  Probably  a  mistake  for  i title. 

1  The  “  &c.”  in  Bacon’s  hand. 

•  Originally  “the  fifth  chapter:”  “Gth”  substituted,  and  “the  whole  chapter” 
added,  in  Bacon’s  lnnd. 


OF  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE. 


227 


on  husbanded  or  improved,  but  wasted  and  decayed.  For 


knowledge  is  like  a  water  that  will  never  arise  again  higher 
than  the  level  from  which  it  fell ;  and  therefore  to  go  beyond 
Aristotle  by  the  light  of  Aristotle  is  to  think  that  a  borrowed  , 
light  can  increase  the  original  light  from  whom  it  is  taken,  j 
So  then  no  true  succession  of  wits  having  been  in  the  world, 
either  we  must  conclude  that  knowledge  is  but  a  task  for  one 
man’s  life,  and  then  vain  was  the  complaint  that  life  is  short, 
and  art  is  long :  or  else,  that  the  knowledge  that  now  is,  is  but  a 
shrub,  and  not  that  tree  which  is  never  dangerous,  but  where 
it  is  to  the  purpose  of  knowing  Good  and  Evil ;  which  desire 
ever  riseth  upon  an  appetite  to  elect  and  not  to  obey,  and  so 
containeth  in  it  a  manifest  defection. 


That  the  -pretended  succession  of  wits  hath  been  evil  placed,  for¬ 
asmuch  as  after  variety  of  sects  and  opinions,  the  most  popular 
and  not  the  truest  prevaileth  and  weareth  out  the  rest ;  being  the 
7  th  chapter  ;  a  fragment.1 


It  is  sensible  to  think  that  when  men  enter  first  into  search 
and  inquiry,  according  to  the  several  frames  and  compositions 
of  their  understanding  they  light  upon  different  conceits,  and 
so  all  opinions  and  doubts  are  beaten  over,  and  then  men 
having  made  a  taste  of  all  wax  weary  of  variety,  and  so  reject 
the  worst  and  hold  themselves  to  the  best,  either  some  one  if 
it  be  eminent,  or  some  two  or  three  if  they  be  in  some  equality, 
which  afterwards  are  received  and  carried  on,  and  the  rest 
extinct. 

But  truth  is  contrary,  and  that  time  is  like  a  river  which 
carrieth  down  things  which  are  light  and  blown  up,  and  sinketh 
and  drowneth  that  which  is  sad  and  weighty.  For  howsoever 
governments  have  several  forms,  sometimes  one  governing, 
sometimes  few,  sometimes  the  multitude ;  yet  the  state  of 
knowledge  is  ever  a  Democratic,  and  that  prevaileth  which  is 
most  agreeable  to  the  senses  and  conceits  of  people.  As  for 
example  there  is  no  great  doubt  but  he  that  did  put  the  begin¬ 
nings  of  things  to  be  solid,  void,  and  motion  to  the  centre,  was 
in  better  earnest  than  he  that  put  matter,  form,  and  shift ;  or 
he  that  put  the  mind,  motion,  and  matter.  For  no  man  shall 


’  Originally  “  tbe  sixth  chapter  “7th”  substituted,  and  “a  fragment”  added  In 
Bacon's  hand. 


16  Bacon  III 


228 


OF  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE. 


snter  into  inquisition  of  nature,  but  shall  pass  by  that  opinion 
of  Democritus,  whereas  he  shall  never  come  near  the  other  two 
opinions,  but  leave  them  aloof  for  the  schools  and  table-talk. 
Yet  those  of  Aristotle  and  Plato,  because  they  be  both  agree¬ 
able  to  popular  sense,  and  the  one  was  uttered  with  subtilty 
and  the  spirit  of  contradiction,  and  the  other  with  a  stile  of 
ornament  and  majesty,  did  hold  out,  and  the  other  gave 
place,  &C.1 

Of  the  impediments  of  knowledge  in  handling  it  by  parts,  and  in 

slipping  off  particular  sciences  from  the  root  and  stock  of  uni¬ 
versal  knowledge,  being  the  8th 2  chapter,  the  whole  chapter. 

Cicero,  the  orator,  willing  to  magnify  his  own  profession, 
and  thereupon  spending  many  words  to  maintain  that  elo¬ 
quence  was  not  a  shop  of  good  words  and  elegancies  but  a 
treasury  and  receipt  of  all  knowledges,  so  far  forth  as  may 
appertain  to  the  handling  and  moving  of  the  minds  and  affec¬ 
tions  of  men  by  speech,  maketh  great  complaint  of  the  school 
of  Socrates ;  that  whereas  before  his  time  the  same  professors 
of  wisdom  in  Greecedid  preternTtcTteacb  an  universal  Sapience 
and  knowledge  both  of  matter  and  words,  Socrates  divorced 
them  and  withdrew  philosophy  and  left  rhetoric  to  itself,  which 
by  that  destitution  became  but  a  barren  and  unnoble  science. 
<And  in  particular  sciences  we  see  that  if  men  fall  to  subdivide 
their  labours,  as  to  be  an  oculist  in  physic,  or  to  be  perfect  in 
some  one  title  of  the  law,  or  the  like,  they  may  prove  ready 
and  subtile,  but  not  deep  or  sufficient,  no  not  in  that  subject 
which  they  do  particularly  attend,  because  of  that  consent 
which  it  hath  with  the  rest.  And  it  is  a  matter  of  common 
discourse  of  the  chain  of  sciences  how  they  are  linked  together, 
insomuch  as  the  Grecians,  who  had  terms  at  will,  have  fitted  it 
of  a  name  of  Circle  Learning.  Nevertheless  I  that  hold  it  for 
a  great  impediment  towards  the  advancement  and  further  in¬ 
vention  of  knowledge,  that  particular  arts  and  sciences  have 
been  disincorporated  from  general  knowledge,  do  not  understand 
one  and  the  same  thing  which  Cicero’s  discourse  and  the  note  and 
conceit  of  the  Grecians  in  their  word  Circle  Learning  do  intend. 

1  The  “  &c.”  in  Bacon’s  hand. 

2  Originally  “  seventh  “  8th  ”  substituted,  and  “  the  whole  chapter  ”  added,  in 
Bacon’s  hand. 


OF  TIIE  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE. 


229 


For  I  mean  not  that  use  which  one  science  hath  of  another  for 
ornament  or  help  in  practice,  as  the  orator  hath  of  knowledge 
of  affections  for  moving,  or  as  military  science  may  have  use  of 
geometry  for  fortifications ;  but  I  mean  it  directly  of  that  use 
by  way  of  supply  of  light  and  information  which  the  particu¬ 
lars  and  instances  of  one  science  do  yield  and  present  for  the 
framing  or  correcting  of  the  axioms  of  another  science  in  their 
very  truth  and  notion.  And  therefore  that  example  of  oculists 
and  title  lawyers  doth  come  nearer  my  conceit  than  the  other 
two ;  for  sciences  distinguished  have  a  dependence  upon  uni¬ 
versal  knowledge  to  be  augmented  and  rectified  by  the  superior 
light  thereof,  as  well  as  the  parts  and  members  of  a  science 
have  upon  the  Maxims  of  the  same  science,  and  the  mutual 
light  and  consent  which  one  part  receiveth  of  another.  And 
therefore  the  opinion  of  Copernicus  in  astronomy,  which  astro¬ 
nomy  itself  cannot  correct  because  it  is  not  repugnant  to  any 
of  the  appearances,  yet  natural  philosophy  doth  correct.  On 
the  other  side  if  some  of  the  ancient  philosophers  had  been 
perfect  in  the  observations  of  astronomy,  and  had  called  them 
to  counsel  when  they  made  their  principles  and  first  axioms, 
they  would  never  have  divided  their  philosophy  as  the  Cosmo- 
graphers  do  their  descriptions  by  globes,  making  one  philo¬ 
sophy  for  heaven  and  another  for  under  heaven,  as  in  effect 
they  do. 

So  if  the  moral  philosophers  that  have  spent  such  an  infinite 
quantity  of  debate  touching  Good  and  the  highest  good,  had  cast 
their  eye  abroad  upon  nature  and  beheld  the  appetite  that  is  in 
all  things  to  receive  and  to  give ;  the  one  motion  affecting  preser¬ 
vation  and  the  other  multiplication  ;  which  appetites  are  most 
evidently  seen  in  living  creatures  in  the  pleasure  of  nourish¬ 
ment  and  generation ;  and  in  man  do  make  the  aptest  and  most 
natural  division  of  all  his  desires,  being  either  of  sense  of 
pleasure  or  sense  of  power ;  and  in  the  universal  frame  of  the 
world  are  figured,  the  one  in  the  beams  of  heaven  which  issue 
forth,  and  the  other  in  the  lap  of  the  earth  which  takes  in : 
and  again  if  they  had  observed  the  motion  of  congruity  or 
situation  of  the  parts  in  respect  of  the  whole,  evident  in  so 
many  particulars ;  and  lastly  if  they  had  considered  the  mo¬ 
tion  (familiar  in  attraction  of  things)  to  approach  to  that  which 
is  higher  in  the  same  kind  ;  when  by  these  observations  so  easy 
and  concurring  in  natural  philosophy,  they  should  have  found 


230 


OF  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE. 


out  this  quaternion  of  good,  in  enjoying  or  fruition,  effecting  or 
operation,  consenting  or  proportion,  and  approach  or  assump¬ 
tion  ;  they  would  have  saved  and  abridged  much  of  their  long 
and  wandering  discourses  of  pleasure,  virtue,  duty,  and  religion. 
So  likewise  in  this  same  logic  and  rhetoric,  or  arts 1  of  argument 
and  grace  of  speech,  if  the  great  masters  of  them  would  but 
have  gone  a  form  lower,  and  looked  but  into  the  observations 
of  Grammar  concerning  the  kinds  of  words,  their  derivations, 
deflexions,  and  syntax ;  specially  enriching  the  same  with  the 
helps  of  several  languages,  with  their  differing  proprieties  of 
words,  phrases,  and  tropes ;  they  might  have  found  out  more 
and  better  footsteps  of  common  reason,  help  of  disputation,  and 
advantages  of  cavillation,  than  many  of  these  which  they  have 
propounded.  So  again  a  man  should  be  thought  to  dally,  if 
he  did  note  how  the  figures  of  rhetoric  and  music  are  many 
of  them  the  same.  The  repetitions  and  traductions  in  speech 
and  the  reports  and  hauntings  of  sounds  in  music  are  the  very 
same  things.  Plutarch  hath  almost  made  a  book  of  the  La¬ 
cedaemonian  kind  of  jesting,  which  joined  ever  pleasure  with 
distaste.  Sir ,  (saith  a  man  of  art  to  Philip  king  of  Macedon 
when  he  controlled  him  in  his  faculty,)  God  forbid  your  fortune 
should  be  such  as  to  know  these  things  better  than  /.  In  taxing 
his  ignorance  in  his  art  he  represented  to  him  the  perpetual 
greatness  of  his  fortune,  leaving  him  no  vacant  time  for  so 
mean  a  skill.  Now  in  music  it  is  one  of  the  ordinariest  flowers 
to  fall  from  a  discord  or  hard  tune  upon  a  sweet  accord.  The 
figure  that  Cicero  and  the  rest  commend  as  one  of  the  best 
points  of  elegancy,  which  is  the  fine  checking  of  expectation, 
is  no  less  well  known  to  the  musicians  when  they  have  a  special 
grace  in  flying  the  close  or  cadence.  And  these  are  no  allusions 
but  direct  communities,  the  same  delights  of  the  mind  being  to 
be  found  not  only  in  music,  rhetoric,  but  in  moral  philosophy, 
policy,  and  other  knowledges,  and  that  obscure  in  the  one, 
which  is  more  apparent  in  the  other,  yea  and  that  discovered 
in  the  one  which  is  not  found  at  all  in  the  other,  and  so  one 
science  greatly  aiding  to  the  invention  and  augmentation  of 
another.  And  therefore  without  this  intercourse  the  axioms  of 
sciences  will  fall  out  to  be  neither  full  nor  true ;  but  will  be 
such  opinions  as  Aristotle  in  some  places  doth  wisely  censure. 


1  acts  in  MS.,  I  think. 


OF  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE. 


231 


when  lie  saith  These  are  the  opinions  of  persons  that  have  respect 
but  to  a  few  things.  So  then  we  see  that  this  note  leadeth  us 
to  an  administration  of  knowledge  in  some  such  order  and 
policy  as  the  king  of  Spain  in  regard  of  his  great  dominions 
useth  in  state;  who  though  he  hath  particular  councils  for 
several  countries  and  affairs,  yet  hath  one  council  of  State  or 
last  resort,  that  receiveth  the  advertisements  and  certificates 
from  all  the  rest.  Hitherto  of  the  diversion,  succession,  and 
conference  of  wits. 

That  the  end  and  scope  of  knowledge  hath  been  generallg  mis¬ 
taken,  and  that  men  icere  never  well  advised  what  it  teas  they 
sought ;  being  the  9th  chapter,  whereof  a  fragment  (which 
is  the  end  of  the  same  chapter)  is  before.1 

It  appeareth  then  how  rarely  the  wits  and  labours  of  men 
have  been  converted  to  the  severe  and  original  inquisition  of 
knowledge ;  and  in  those  who  have  pretended,  what  hurt  hath 
been  done  by  the  affectation  of  professors  and  the  distraction 
of  such  as  were  no  professors2;  and  how  there  was  never  in 
effect  any  conjunction  or  combination  of  wits  in  the  first  and  in¬ 
ducing  search,  but  that  every  man  wrought  apart,  and  would 
either  have  his  own  way  or  else  would  go  no  further  than  his 
guide,  having  in  the  one  case  the  honour  of  a  first,  and  in  the 
other  the  ease  of  a  second ;  and  lastly  how  in  the  descent  and 
continuance  of  wits  and  labours  the  succession  hath  been  in 
the  most  popular  and  weak  opinions,  like  unto  the  weakest 
natures  which  many  times  have  most  children,  and  in  them 
also  the  condition  of  succession  hath  been  rather  to  defend  and 
to  adorn  than  to  add ;  and  if  to  add,  yet  that  addition  to  be 
rather  a  refining  of  a  part  than  an  increase  of  the  whole.  But 
the  impediments  of  time  and  accidents,  though  they  have 
wrought  a  general  indisposition,  yet  are  they  not  so  peremp¬ 
tory  and  binding  as  the  internal  impediments  and  clouds  in  the 
mind  and  spirit  of  man,  whereof  it  now  followeth  to  speak. 

The  Scripture  speaking  of  the  worst  sort  of  error  saith, 
Err  are  fecit  cos  in  invio  et  non  in  via.  For  a  man  may  wander 


1  See  p.  231.  note  1.;  and  compare  Table  of  Contents  (p.  213.)  No.  3. 

The  number  of  this  chapter  was  not  stated  in  the  transcript  as  it  originally  stood : 
the  words  in  Roman  characters  are  all  added  in  Bacon’s  hand,  at  the  end  of  the  title  : 
nothing  is  struck  out. 

2  This  clause  is  repeated  in  the  margin  and  marked  for  insertion  in  its  proper  place. 


232 


OF  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE. 


in  the  way,  by  rounding  up  and  down.  But  if  men  have 
failed  in  their  very  direction  and  address  that  error  will  never 
by  good  fortune  correct  itself.  Now  it  hath  fared  with  men  in 
their  contemplations  as  Seneca  saith  it  fareth  with  them  in 
their  actions,  De  partibus  vita  quisque  deliberat,  de  summa  nemo. 
A  course  very  ordinary  with  men  who  receive  for  the  most 
part  their  final  ends  from  the  inclination  of  their  nature,  or 
from  common  example  and  opinion,  never  questioning  or  exa¬ 
mining  them,  nor  reducing  them  to  any  clear  certainty  ;  and  use 
only  to  call  themselves  to  account  and  deliberation  touching  the 
means  and  second  ends,  and  thereby  set  themselves  in  the  right 
way  to  the  wrong  place.  So  likewise  upon  the  natural  curiosity 
and  desire  to  know,  they  have  put  themselves  in  way  without 
foresight  or  consideration  of  their  journey’s  end. 

For  I  find  that  even  those  that  have  sought  knowledge  for 
itself,  and  not  for  benefit  or  ostentation  or  any  practical 
enablement  in  the  course  of  their  life,  have  nevertheless  pro¬ 
pounded  to  themselves  a  wrong  mark,  namely  satisfaction 
(which  men  call  truth)  and  not  operation.  For  as  in  the 
courts  and  services  of  princes  and  states  it  is  a  much  easier 
matter  to  give  satisfaction  than  to  do  the  business ;  so  in  the 
inquiring  of  causes  and  reasons  it  is  much  easier  to  find  out 
such  causes  as  will  satisfy  the  mind  of  man  and  quiet  objec¬ 
tions,  than  such  causes  as  will  direct  him  and  give  him  light  to 
new  experiences  and  inventions.  And ’this  did  Celsus  note 
wisely  and  truly,  how  that  the  causes  which  are  in  use  and 
whereof  the  knowledges  now  received  do  consist,  were  in  time 
minors  and  subsequents  to  the  knowledge  of  the  particulars 
out  of  which  they  were  induced  and  collected ;  and  that  it 
was  not  the  light  of  those  causes  which  discovered  particulars, 
but  only  the  particulars  being  first  found,  men  did  fall  on  glossing 
and  discoursing  of  the  causes ;  which  is  the  reason  why  the 
learning  that  now  is  hath  the  curse  of  barrenness,  and  is  cour¬ 
tesan-like,  for  pleasure,  and  not  for  fruit.1  Nay  to  compare  it 
rightly,  the  strange  fiction  of  the  poets  of  the  transformation 
of  Scylla  seemeth  to  be  a  lively  emblem  of  this  philosophy  and 
knowledge ;  a  fair  woman  upwards  in  the  parts  of  show,  but 
when  you  come  to  the  parts  of  use  and  generation.  Barking 

1  Here  in  the  transcript  the  chapter  ended.  The  next  sentence  is  written  in  the 
margin  in  Bacon’s  own  hand. 


OF  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE. 


233 


Monsters ;  for  no  better  are  the  endless  distorted  questions, 
which  ever  have  been,  and  of  necessity  must  be,  the  end  and 
womb  of  such  knowledge. 

But  yet  nevertheless1  here  I  maybe  mistaken,  by  reason  of 
some  which  have  much  in  their  pen  the  referring  sciences 
to  action  and  the  use  of  man,  which  mean  quite  another  matter 


than  I  do.  For  they~mean  a  contriving  of  directions  arnTprp- 
cepts  for  readiness  of  practice,  which  I  discommend  not,  so  it  be 
not  occasion  that  some  quantity  of  the  science  be  lost :  for  else 
it  will  be  such  a  piece  of  husbandry  as  to  put  away  a  manor 
lying  somewhat  scattered,  to  buy  in  a  close  that  lieth  hand.- 
somely  about  a  dwelling.  But  my  intention  contrariwise  is  to 
increase  and  multiply  the  revenues  and  possessions  of  man, 
and  not  to  trim  up  only  or  order  with  conveniency  the  grounds 
whereof  he  is  already  stated.  Wherefore  the  better  to  make 
myself  understood  that  I  mean  nothing  less  than  words,  and 
directly  to  demonstrate  the  point  which  we  are  now  upon,  that 
is,  what  is  the  true  end,  scope,  or  office  of  knowledge,  which 
I  have  set  down  to  consist  not  in  any  plausible,  delectable, 
reverend,  or  admired  discourse,  or  any  satisfactory  arguments, 
but  in  effecting  and  working,  and  in  discovery  of  particulars 
not  revealed  before  for  the  better  endowment  and  help  of  man’s 
life ;  I  have  thought  good  to  make  as  it  were  a  Kalendar  or 
Inventory  of  the  wealth,  furniture,  or  means  of  man  according 
to  his  present  estate,  as  far  as  it  is  known  ;  which  I  do  not  to 
shew  any  universality  of  sense  or  knowledge,  and  much  less  to 
make  a  satire  of  reprehension  in  respect  of  wants  and  errors, 
but  partly  because  cogitations  new  had  need  of  some  grossness 
and  inculcation  to  make  them  perceived ;  and  chiefly  to  the  end 
that  for  the  time  to  come  (upon  the  account  and  state  now  made 
and  cast  up)  it  may  appear  what  increase  this  new  manner  of  use 
and  administration  of  the  stock  (if  it  be  once  planted)  shall  bring 
with  it  hereafter;  and  for  the  time  present  (in  case  I  should 
be  prevented  by  death  to  propound  and  reveal  this  new  light2 
as  I  purpose)  yet  I  may  at  the  least  give  some  awaking  note 
both  of  the  wants  in  man’s  present  condition  and  the  nature  of 
the  supplies  to  be  wished;  though  for  mine  own  part  neither 


1  This  paragraph,  which  stands  as  the  third  fragment  in  the  order  of  the  transcript, 
is  headed  in  the  transcriber’s  hand,  “ Apart  of  the  9ih  chapter  immediately  precedent  to 
the  Inventory  and  inducing  the  same'' 

2  direction  had  been  written  first. 


234 


OF  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE. 


do  I  much  build  upon  my  present  anticipations,  neither  do  I 
think  ourselves  yet  learned  or  wise  enough  to  wish  reasonably : 
for  as  it  asks  some  knowledge  to  demand  a  question  not  imper¬ 
tinent,  so  it  asketh  some  sense  to  make  a  wish  not  absurd.1 

The  Inventory,  or  an  enumeration  and  view  of  inventions  already 
discovered  and  in  use,  together  toith  a  note  of  the  wants  and 
the  nature  of  the  supplies,  being  the  10 th  chapter ;  and  this 
a  small  fragment  thereof,  being  the  preface  to  the  Inven¬ 
tory.2 

The  plainest  method  and  most  directly  pertinent  to  this 
intention,  will  be  to  make  distribution  of  sciences,  arts,  inven¬ 
tions,  works,  and  their  portions,  according  to  the  use  and 
tribute  which  they  yield  and  render  to  the  conditions  of  man’s 
life,  and  under  those  several  uses,  being  as  several  offices  of 
provisions,  to  charge  and  tax  what  may  be  reasonably  exacted 
or  demanded ;  not  guiding  ourselves  neither  by  the  poverty  of 
experiences  and  probations,  nor  according  to  the  vanity  of  cre¬ 
dulous  imaginations ;  and  then  upon  those  charges  and  taxations 
to  distinguish  and  present,  as  it  were  in  several  columns,  what  is 
extant  and  already  found,  and  what  is  defective  and  further  to 
be  provided.  Of  which  provisions,  because  in  many  of  them 
after  the  manner  of  slothful  and  faulty  officers  and  accomptants 
it  will  be  returned  (by  way  of  excuse)  that  no  such  are  to  be 
had,  it  will  be  fit  to  give  some  light  of  the  nature  of  the  sup¬ 
plies,  thereby  it  will  evidently  appear  that  they  are  to  be  com¬ 
passed  and  procured.3  And  yet  nevertheless  on  the  other  side 
again  it  will  be  as  fit  to  check  and  control  the  vain  and  void 
assignations  and  gifts  whereby  certain  ignorant,  extravagant, 
and  abusing  wits  have  pretended  to  indue  the  state  of  man 
with  wonders,  differing  as  much  from  truth  in  nature  as  Caesar’s 
Commentaries  differeth  from  the  acts  of  King  Arthur  or  Huon 
of  Bourdeaux  in  story.  F or  it  is  true  that  Caesar  did  greater 
things  than  those  idle  wits  had  the  audacity  to  feign  their  sup¬ 
posed  worthies  to  have  done ;  but  he  did  them  not  in  that 
monstrous  and  fabulous  manner. 

1  The  chapter  ends  before  the  bottom  of  the  page ;  leaving  about  a  fifth  of  it  blank. 

2  The  words  fragment  only  of  the  tame,  with  which  the  original  heading  ended, 
have  a  line  drawn  through  them,  and  the  words  in  Roman  character  are  added  in 
Bacon’s  hand. 

3  The  concluding  sentence,  which  is  crowded  into  the  page  and  overflows  into  the 
margin,  has  evidently  been  inserted  subsequently  to  the  original  transcript.  After 
“procured”  there  seems  to  be  an  “  &c.” 


OF  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE. 


235 


The  chapter  immediately  following  the  Inventory ;  being  the  1  LA 
in  order ;  a  part  thereof.1 

It  appeareth  then  what  is  now  in  proposition  not  by  general 
circumlocution  but  by  particular  note.  No  former  philosophy 
varied  in  terms  or  method ;  no  new  placet  or  speculation  upon 
particulars  already  known ;  no  referring  to  action  by  any  ma¬ 
nual  of  practice ;  but  the  revealing  and  discovering  of  new  in¬ 
ventions  and  operations.  This  to  be  done  without  the  errors 
and  conjectures  of  art,  or  the  length  or  difficulties  of  experience ; 
the  nature  and  kinds  of  which  inventions  have  been  described 
as  they  could  be  discovered ;  for  your  eye  cannot  pass  one 
kenning  without  further  sailing  ;  only  we  have  stood  upon  the 
best  advantages  of  the  notions  received,  as  upon  a  mount,  to 
shew  the  knowledges  adjacent  and  confining.  If  therefore  the 
true  end  of  knowledge  not  propounded  hath  bred  large  error, 
the  best  and  perfectest  condition  of  the  same  end  not  perceived 
will  cause  some  declination.  For  when  the  butt  is  set  up  men 
need  not  rove,  but  except  the  white  be  placed  men  cannot  level. 
This  perfection  we  mean  not  in  the  worth  of  the  effect,  but  in 
the  nature  of  the  direction ;  for  our  purpose  is  not  to  stir  up 
men’s  hopes,  but  to  guide  their  travels.  The  fulness  of  direc¬ 
tion  to  work  and  produce  any  effect  consisteth  in  two  condi¬ 
tions,  certainty  and  liberty.  Certainty  is  when  the  direction 
is  not  only  true  for  the  most  part,  but  infallible.  Liberty  is 
when  the  direction  is  not  restrained  to  some  definite  means,  but 
comprehendeth  all  the  means  and  ways  possible ;  for  the  poet 
saith  well  Sapientibus  undique  lata  sunt  vice,  and  where  there  is 
the  greatest  plurality  of  change,  there  is  the  greatest  singularity 
of  choice.  Besides  as  a  conjectural  direction  maketh  a  casual 
effect,  so  a  particular  and  restrained  direction  is  no  less  casual 
than  an  uncertain.  For  those  particular  means  whereunto  it  is 
tied  may  be  out  of  your  power  or  may  be  accompanied  with  an 
overvalue  of  prejudice :  and  so  if  for  want  of  certainty  in  direc¬ 
tion  you  are  frustrated  in  success,  for  want  of  variety  in  direc¬ 
tion  you  are  stopped  in  attempt.  If  therefore  your  direction 
be  certain,  it  must  refer  you  and  point  you  to  somewhat  which, 
if  it  be  present,  the  effect  you  seek  will  of  necessity  follow,  else 
may  you  perform  and  not  obtain.  If  it  be  free,  then  must  it 
refer  you  to  somewhat  which  if  it  be  absent  the  effect  you  seek 

The  words  in  Roman  letters  are  inserted  in  Bacon's  hand. 


236 


OF  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE. 


will  of  necessity  withdraw,  else  may  you  have  power  and  not 
attempt.  This  notion  Aristotle  had  in  light,  though  not  in  use. 
For  the  two  commended  rules  by  him  set  down,  whereby  the 
axioms  of  sciences  are  precepted  to  be  made  convertible,  and 
which  the  latter  men  have  not  without  elegancy  surnamed  the 
one  the  rule  of  truth  because  it  preventeth  deceit,  the  other  the 
rule  of  prudence  because  it  freeth  election,  are  the  same  thing 
in  speculation  and  affirmation  which  we  now  observe.  An 
example  will  make  my  meaning  attained,  and  yet  percase  make 
it  thought  that  they  attained  it  not.  Let  the  effect  to  be  pro¬ 
duced  be  Whiteness ;  let  the  first  direction  be  that  if  air  and 
water  be  intermingled  or  broken  in  small  portions  together, 
whiteness  will  ensue,  as  in  snow,  in  the  breaking  of  the  waves 
of  the  sea  and  rivers,  and  the  like.  This  direction  is  certain, 
but  very  particular  and  restrained,  being  tied  but  to  air  and 
water.  Let  the  second  direction  be,  that  if  air  be  mingled  as 
before  with  any  transparent  body,  such  nevertheless  as  is  un¬ 
coloured  and  more  grossly  transparent  than  air  itself,  that  then 
&c.  as  glass  or  crystal,  being  beaten  to  fine  powder,  by  the  in¬ 
terposition  of  the  air  becometh  white ;  the  white  of  an  egg 
being  clear  of  itself,  receiving  air  by  agitation  becometh  white, 
receiving  air  by  concoction  becometh  white ;  here  you  are  freed 
from  water,  and  advanced  to  a  clear  body,  and  still  tied  to  air. 
Let  the  third  direction  exclude  or  remove  the  restraint  of  an 
uncoloured  body,  as  in  amber,  sapphires,  & c.  which  beaten  to 
fine  powder  become  white  ;  in  wine  and  beer,  which  brought  to 
froth  become  white.  Let  the  fourth  direction  exclude  the  re¬ 
straint  of  a  body  more  grossly  transparent  than  air,  as  in  flame, 
being  a  body  compounded  between  air  and  a  finer  substance 
than  air;  which  flame  if  it  were  not  for  the  smoke,  which 
is  the  third  substance  that  incorporateth  itself  and  dyeth  the 
flame,  would  be  more  perfect  white.  In  all  these  four  direc¬ 
tions  air  still  beareth  a  part.  Let  the  fifth  direction  then 
be,  that  if  any  bodies,  both  transparent  but  in  an  unequal 
degree,  be  mingled  as  before,  whiteness  will  follow ;  as  oil  and 
water  beaten  to  an  ointment,  though  by  settling  the  air  which 
gathereth  in  the  agitation  be  evaporate,  yet  remaineth  white; 
and  the  powder  of  glass  or  crystal  put  into  water,  whereby  the 
air  giveth  place,  yet  remaineth  white,  though  not  so  perfect. 
Now  are  you  freed  from  air,  but  still  you  are  tied  to  transparent 
bodies.  To  ascend  further  by  scale  I  do  forbear,  partly  because 


OF  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE. 


237 


it  would  draw  on  the  example  to  an  over  great  length,  but 
chiefly  because  it  would  open  that  which  in  this  work  I  deter¬ 
mine  to  reserve ;  for  to  pass  through  the  whole  history  and 
observation  of  colours  and  objects  visible  were  too  long  a  di¬ 
gression  ;  and  our  purpose  is  now  to  give  an  example  of  a  free 
direction,  thereby  to  distinguish  and  describe  it;  and  not  to  set 
down  a  form  of  interpretation  how  to  recover  and  attain  it. 
But  as  we  intend  not  now  to  reveal,  so  we  are  circumspect  not 
to  mislead;  and  therefore  (this  warning  being  given)  returning 
to  our  purpose  in  hand,  we  admit  the  sixth  direction  to  be,  that 
all  bodies  or  parts  of  bodies  which  are  unequal  equally,  that  is 
in  a  simple  proportion,  do  represent  whiteness  1 ;  we  will  explain 
this,  though  we  induce  it  not.  It  is  then  to  be  understood, 
that  absolute  equality  produceth  transparence,  inequality  in 
simple  order  or  proportion  produceth  whiteness,  inequality  in 
compound  or  respective  order  or  proportion  produceth  all  other 
colours,  and  absolute  or  orderless  inequality  produceth  black¬ 
ness;  which  diversity,  if  so  gross  a  demonstration  be  needful, 
may  be  signified  by  four  tables;  a  blank,  a  chequer,  a  fret,  and 
a  medley ;  whereof  the  fret  is  evident  to  admit  gi-eat  variety. 
Out  of  this  assertion  are  satisfied  a  multitude  of  effects  and 
observations,  as  that  whiteness  and  blackness  are.  most  incom¬ 
patible  with  transparence;  that  whiteness  keepeth  light,  and 
blackness  stoppeth  light,  but  neither  passeth  it ;  that  whiteness 
or  blackness  are  never  produced  in  rainbows,  diamonds,  crystals, 
and  the  like  ;  that  white  giveth  no  dye,  and  black  hardly  taketh 
dye ;  that  whiteness  seemeth  to  have  an  affinity  with  dryness, 
and  blackness  with  moisture ;  that  adustion  causeth  blackness, 
and  calcination  whiteness ;  that  flowers  are  generally  of  fresh 
colours,  and  rarely  black,  &c.  All  which  I  do  now  mention 
confusedly  by  way  of  derivation  and  not  by  way  of  induction. 
This  sixth  dii’ection,  which  I  have  thus  explained,  is  of  good 
and  competent  liberty  for  whiteness  fixed  and  inherent,  but 
not  for  whiteness  fantastical  or  appearing,  as  shall  be  afterwards 
touched.  But  first  do  you  need  a  reduction  back  to  certainty 
or  verity ;  for  it  is  not  all  position  or  contexture  of  unequal 
bodies  that  will  produce  colour ;  for  aqua  fortis,  oil  of  vitriol, 

'  Compare  De  Aug.  ill.  4.  Vol.  I.  p.  566.  “At  in  Metaphysica,  si  flat  inquisitio,  hujus- 
modi  quidpiam  reperies ;  Corpora  duo  Diapbana  intermixta,  Portionibus  eorum  Opticis 
simplici  ordine  sive  aequaliter  collocatis,  constituere  Albedinem.”  And  observe  that 
this  sentence  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  corresponding  passage  of  the  Advancement  of 
Learning,  but  is  interpolated  in  the  translation. 


238 


OF  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE. 


&c.  more  manifestly,  and  many  other  substances  more  ob¬ 
scurely,  do  consist  of  very  unequal  parts,  which  yet  are  trans¬ 
parent  and  clear.  Therefore  the  reduction  must  he,  that  the 
bodies  or  parts  of  bodies  so  intermingled  as  before  be  of  a 
certain  grossness  or  magnitude ;  for  the  unequalities  which 
move  the  sight  must  have  a  further  dimension  and  quantity 
than  those  which  operate  many  other  effects.  Some  few  grains 
of  saffron  will  give  a  tincture  to  a  tun  of  water ;  but  so  many 
grains  of  civet  will  give  a  perfume  to  a  whole  chamber  of  air. 
And  therefore  when  Democritus  (from  whom  Epicurus  did 
borrow  it)  held  that  the  position  of  the  solid  portions  was  the 
cause  of  colours,  yet  in  the  very  truth  of  his  assertion  he 
should  have  added,  that  the  portions  are  required  to  be  of  some 
magnitude.  And  this  is  one  cause  why  colours  have  little 
inwardness  and  necessitude  with  the  nature  and  proprieties 
of  things,  those  things  resembling  in  colour  which  otherwise 
differ  most,  as  salt  and  sugar,  and  contrariwise  differing  in 
colour  which  otherwise  resemble  most,  as  the  white  and  blue 
violets,  and  the  several  veins  of  one  agate  or  marble,  by 
reason  that  other  virtues  consist  in  more  subtile  proportions 
than  colours  do ;  and  yet  are  there  virtues  and  natures  which 
require  a  grosser  magnitude  than  colours,  as  well  as  scents 
and  divers  other  require  a  more  subtile ;  for  as  the  portion  of 
a  body  will  give  forth  scent  which  is  too  small  to  be  seen, 
so  the  portion  of  a  body  will  shew  colours  which  is  too  small 
to  be  endued  with  weight ;  and  therefore  one  of  the  pro¬ 
phets  with  great  elegancy  describing  how  all  creatures  carry 
no  proportion  towards  God  the  creator,  saith.  That  all  the 
nations  in  respect  of  him.  are  like  the  dust  upon  the  balance, 
which  is  a  thing  appeareth  but  weigheth  not.  But  to  re¬ 
turn,  there  resteth  a  further  freeing  of  this  sixth  direction ; 
for  the  clearness  of  a  river  or  stream  sheweth  white  at  a 
distance,  and  crystalline  glasses  deliver  the  face  or  any  other 
object  falsified  in  whiteness,  and  long  beholding  the  snow 
to  a  weak  eye  giveth  an  impression  of  azure  rather  than  of 
whiteness.  So  as  for  whiteness  in  apparition  only  and  repre¬ 
sentation  by  the  qualifying  of  the  light,  altering  the  intermedium, 
or  affecting  the  eye  itself,  it  reacheth  not.  But  you  must  free 
your  direction  to  the  producing  of  such  an  incidence,  impres¬ 
sion,  or  operation,  as  may  cause  a  precise  and  determinate 
passion  of  the  eye ;  a  matter  which  is  much  more  easy  to  induce 


OF  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE. 


239 


than  that  which  we  have  passed  through;  but  yet  because  it 
hath  a  full  coherence  both  with  that  act  of  radiation  (which 
hath  hitherto  been  conceived  and  termed  so  unproperly  and  un¬ 
truly  by  some  an  effluxion  of  spiritual  species  and  by  others  an 
investing  of  the  intermedium  with  a  motion  which  successively 
is  conveyed  to  the  eye)  and  with  the  act  of  sense,  wherein  I 
should  likewise  open  that  which  I  think  good  to  withdraw,  I 
will  omit.  Neither  do  I  contend  but  that  this  motion  which  I 
call  the  freeing  of  a  direction,  in  the  received  philosophies  (as 
far  as  a  swimming  anticipation  could  take  hold)  might  be  per¬ 
ceived  and  discerned ;  being  not  much  other  matter  than  that 
which  they  did  not  only  aim  at  in  the  two  rules  of  Axioms  be¬ 
fore  remembered,  but  more  nearly  also  in  1  that  which  they 
term  the  form  or  formal  cause,  or  that  which  they  call  the 
true  difference ;  both  which  nevertheless  it  seemeth  they  pro¬ 
pound  rather  as  impossibilities  and  wishes  than  as  things  within 
the  compass  of  human  comprehension.  For  Plato  casteth  his 
burden  and  saith  that  he  will  revere  him  as  a  God,  that  can  truly 
divide  and  define 2 ;  which  cannot  be  but  by  true  forms  and  dif¬ 
ferences.  Wherein  I  join  hands  with  him,  confessing  as  much 
as  yet  assuming  to  myself  little ;  for  if  any  man  can  by  the 
strength  of  his  anticipations  find  out  forms,  I  will  magnify  him 
with  the  foremost.  But  as  any  of  them  would  say  that  if  di¬ 
vers  things  which  many  men  know  by  instruction  and  obser¬ 
vation  another  knew  by  revelation  and  without  those  means, 
they  would  take  him  for  somewhat  supernatural  and  divine  ;  so 
I  do  acknowledge  that  if  any  man  can  by  anticipations  reach  to 
that  which  a  weak  and  inferior  wit  may  attain  to  by  interpre¬ 
tation,  he  cannot  receive  too  high  a  title.  Nay  I  for  my  part 
do  indeed  admire  to  see  how  far  some  of  them  have  proceeded 
by  their  anticipations  ;  but  how  ?  it  is  as  I  wonder  at  some  blind 
men,  to  see  what  shift  they  make  without  their  eye-sight ; 
thinking  with  myself  that  if  I  were  blind  I  could  hardly  do  it, 

A^ain  Aristotle’s  school  confesseth  that  there  is  no  true  know- 
© 

ledge  but  by  causes,  no  true  cause  but  the  form,  no  true  form 
known  except  one,  which  they  are  pleased  to  allow  ;  and  there¬ 
fore  thus  far  their  evidence  standeth  with  us,  that  both  hitherto 
there  hath  been  nothing  but  a  shadow  of  knowledge,  and  that 
we  propound  now  that  which  is  agreed  to  be  worthiest  to  be 
sought,  and  hardest,  to  be  found.  There  wanteth  now  a  part 

2  See  Nov.  Org.  ii.  26.  Vol.  I.  p.  277. 


1  than  in  MS. 


240 


OF  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE. 


very  necessary,  not  by  way  of  supply  but  by  way  of  caution ; 
for  as  it  is  seen  for  the  most  part  that  the  outward  tokens  and 
badges  of  excellency  and  perfection  are  more  incident  to  things 
merely  counterfeit  than  to  that  which  is  true,  but  for 1  a  meaner 
and  baser  sort ;  as  a  dubline  is  more  like  a  perfect  ruby  than  a 
spinel,  and  a  counterfeit  angel  is  made  more  like  a  true  angel 
than  if  it  were  an  angel  coined  of  China  gold  ;  in  like  manner 
the  direction  carrieth  a  resemblance  of  a  true  direction  in 
verity  and  liberty  which  indeed  is  no  direction  at  all.  For 
though  your  direction  seem  to  be  certain  and  free  by  pointing 
you  to  a  nature  that  is  unseparable  from  the  nature  you  inquire 
upon,  yet  if  it  do  not  carry  you  on  a  degree  or  remove  nearer 
to  action,  operation,  or  light  to  make  or  produce,  it  is  but 
superficial  and  counterfeit.  Wherefore  to  secure  and  warrant 
what  is  a  true  direction,  though  that  general  note  I  have  given 
be  perspicuous  in  itself  (for  a  man  shall  soon  cast  with  himself 
whether  he  be  ever  the  nearer2  to  effect  and  operate  or  no,  or 
whether  he  have  won  but  an  abstract  or  varied  notion)  yet  for 
better  instruction  I  will  deliver  three  particular  notes  of  cau¬ 
tion.  The  first  is  that  the  nature  discovered  be  more  original 
than  the  nature  supposed,  and  not  more  secondary  or  of  the 
like  degree ;  as  to  make  a  stone  bright  or  to  make  it  smooth  it 
is  a  good  direction  to  say,  make  it  even ;  but  to  make  a  stone 
even  it  is  no  good  direction  to  say,  make  it  bright  or  make  it 
smooth ;  for  the  rule  is  that  the  disposition  of  any  thing 
referring  to  the  state  of  it  in  itself  or  the  parts,  is  more  original 
than  that  which  is  relative  or  transitive  towards  another  thing. 
So  evenness  is  the  disposition  of  the  stone  in  itself,  but  smooth 
is  to  the  hand  and  bright  to  the  eye,  and  yet  nevertheless  they 
all  cluster  and  concur ;  and  yet  the  direction  is  more  unperfect, 
if  it  do  appoint  you  to  such  a  relative  as  is  in  the  same  kind 
and  not  in  a  diverse.  For  in  the  direction  to  produce  bright¬ 
ness  by  smoothness,  although  properly  it  win  no  degree,  and 
will  never  teach  you  any  new  particulars  before  unknown ;  yet 
by  way  of  suggestion  or  bringing  to  mind  it  may  draw  your 
consideration  to  some  particulars  known  but  not  remembered  ; 
as  you  shall  sooner  remember  some  practical  means  of  making 
smoothness,  than  if  you  had  fixed  your  consideration  only  upon 
brightness ;  but  if  the  direction  had  been  to  make  brightness 


1  So  MS.  qu  of! 


2  neare  MS. 


OF  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE. 


241 


by  making  reflexion,  as  thus,  make  it  such  as  you  may  see  your 
face  in  it,  this  is  merely  secondary,  and  helpeth  neither  by  way 
of  informing  nor  by  way  of  suggestion.  So  if  in  the  inquiry 
of  whiteness  you  were  directed  to  make  such  a  colour  as  should 
be  seen  furthest  in  a  dark  light ;  here  you  are  advanced  nothing 
at  all.  For  these  kinds  of  natures  are  but  proprieties,  effects, 
circumstances,  concurrences,  or  what  else  you  shall  like  to  call 
them,  and  not  radical  and  formative  natures  towards  the  nature 
supposed.  The  second  caution  is  that  the  nature  inquired  be 
collected  by  division  before  composition,  or  to  speak  more  pro¬ 
perly,  by  composition  subaltern  before  you  ascend  to  composi¬ 
tion  absolute,  &C.1 

Of  the  internal  and  profound  errors  and  superstitions  in  tlie 
nature  of  the  mind ,  and  of  the  four  sorts  of  idols  or  fictions 
which  offer  themselves  to  the  understanding  in  the  inquisition 
of  knoioledge ;  being  the  16th  chapter,  and  this  a  small  frag¬ 
ment  thereof,  being  a  preface  to  the  inward  elenches  of  the 
mind.2 

The  opinion  of  Epicurus  that  the  gods  were  of  human  shape, 
was  rather  justly  derided  than  seriously  confuted  by  the  other 
sects,  demanding  whether  every  kind  of  sensible  creatures  did 
not  think  their  own  figure  fairest,  as  the  horse,  the  bull,  and 
the  like,  which  found  no  beauty  but  in  their  own  forms,  as  in 
appetite  of  lust  appeared.  And  the  heresy  of  the  Anthropo- 
morphites  was  ever  censured  for  a  gross  conceit  bred  in  the 
obscure  cells  of  solitary  monks  that  never  looked  abroad. 
Again  the  fable  so  well  known  of  Quis  pinxit  leonem,  doth  set 
forth  well  that  there  is  an  error  of  pride  and  partiality,  as  well 
as  of  custom  and  familiarity.  The  reflexion  also  from  glasses 
so  usually  resembled  to  the  imagery  of  the  mind,  every  man 
knoweth  to  receive  error  and  variety  both  in  colour,  magni¬ 
tude,  and  shape,  according  to  the  quality  of  the  glass.  But  yet 
no  use  hath  been  made  of  these  and  many  the  like  observa¬ 
tions,  to  move  men  to  search  out  and  upon  search  to  give  true 
cautions  of  the  native  and  inherent  errors  in  the  mind  of  man 
which  have  coloured  and  corrupted  all  his  notions  and  im¬ 
pressions. 

I  do  find  therefore  in  this  enchanted  glass  four  Idols  or  false 

1  The  word  “subaltern”  (for  which  a  blank  was  left  by  the  transcriber)  and  the 
“&c.”  have  been  Inserted  by  Bacon.  The  chapter  ends  nearly  at  the  bottom  of  the  page. 

2  The  words  in  Roman  character  have  been  added  by  Bacon. 


242 


OF  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE. 


appearances  of  several  and  distinct  sorts,  every  sort  com¬ 
prehending  many  subdivisions :  the  first  sort,  I  call  idols  of  the 
Nation  or  Tribe ;  the  second,  idols  of  the  Palace ;  the  third, 
idols  of  the  Cave ;  and  the  fourth,  idols  of  the  Theatre,  &C.1 

Here  followeth  an  abridgment  of  divers  chapters  of  the  first 
book  of  Interpretation  of  Nature.8 

Cap.  12. 

That  in  deciding  and  determining  of  the  truth  of  knowledge, 
men  have  put  themselves  upon  trials  not  competent.  That 
antiquity  and  authority  ;  common  and  confessed  notions ;  the 
natural  and  yielding  consent  of  the  mind;  the  harmony  and 
coherence  of  a  knowledge  in  itself;  the  establishing  of  prin¬ 
ciples  with  the  touch  and  reduction  of  other  propositions  unto 
them;  inductions  without  instances  contradictory;  and  the 
report  of  the  senses ;  are  none  of  them  absolute  and  infallible 
evidence  of  truth,  and  bring  no  security  sufficient  for  effects 
and  operations.  That  the  discovery  of  new  works  and  active 
directions  not  known  before,  is  the  only  trial  to  be  accepted  of ; 
and  yet  not  that  neither,  in  case  where  one  particular  giveth 
light  to  another ;  but  where  particulars  induce  an  axiom  or 
observation,  which  axiom  found  out  discovereth  and  designeth 
new  particulars.  That  the  nature  of  this  trial  is  not  only  upon 
the  point,  whether  the  knowledge  be  profitable  or  no,  but  even 
upon  the  point  whether  the  knowledge  be  true  or  no ;  not 
because  you  may  always  conclude  that  the  Axiom  which  dis¬ 
covereth  new  instances  is  true,  but  contrariwise  you  may  safely 
conclude  that  if  it  discover  not  any  new  instance  it  is  in  vain 
and  untrue.  That  by  new  instances  are  not  always  to  be 
understood  new  recipes  but  new  assignations,  and  of  the  diver¬ 
sity  between  these  two.  That  the  subtilty  of  words,  argu¬ 
ments,  notions,  yea  of  the  senses  themselves,  is  but  rude  and 
gross  in  comparison  of  the  subtilty  of  things ;  and  of  the  sloth¬ 
ful  and  flattering  opinions  of  those  which  pretend  to  honour 
the  mind  of  man  in  withdrawing  and  abstracting  it  from  par¬ 
ticulars,  and  of  the  inducements  and  motives  whereupon  such 
opinions  have  been  conceived  and  received. 

1  The  “  &c.”  in  Bacon’s  band.  The  chapter  ends  in  the  middle  of  the  second  page, 
and  the  heading  of  the  next  (which  is  the  4th),  follows  immediately  ;  whence  1  infer 
that  the  whole  formed  part  of  the  original  transcript. 

*  The  words  “  Interpretation  of  Nature  ”  added  in  Bacon’s  hand. 


OF  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE. 


243 


Cai\  13. 

Of  the  error  in  propounding  chiefly  the  search  of  causes  and 
productions  of  things  concrete,  which  are  infinite  and  transi¬ 
tory,  and  not  of  abstract  natures,  which  are  few  and  permanent. 
That  these  natures  are  as  the  alphabet  or  simple  letters,  whereof 
the  variety  of  things  consisteth ;  or  as  the  colours  mingled  in 
the  painter’s  shell,  wherewith  he  is  able  to  make  infinite  variety 
of  faces  or  shapes.'  An  enumeration  of  them  according  to 
popular  note.  That  at  the  first  one  would  conceive  that  in 
the  schools  by  natural  philosophy  were  meant  the  knowledge 
of  the  efficients  of  things  concrete ;  and  by  metaphysic  the 
knowledge  of  the  forms  of  natures  simple ;  which  is  a  good  and 
fit  division  of  knowledge :  but  upon  examination  there  is  no 
such  matter  by  them  intended.  That  the  little  inquiry  into 
the  production  of  simple  natures  sheweth  well  that  works  were 
not  sought ;  because  by  the  former  knowledge  some  small  and 
superficial  deflexions  from  the  ordinary  generations  and  produc¬ 
tions  may  be  found  out,  but  the  discovery  of  all  profound  and 
radical  alteration  must  arise  out  of  the  latter  knowledge. 


Cap.  14. 

Of  the  error  in  propounding  the  search  of  the  materials  or 
dead  beginnings  or  principles  of  things,  and  not  the  nature  of 
motions,  inclinations,  and  applications.  That  the  whole  scope 
of  the  former  search  is  impertinent  and  vain ;  both  because  there 
are  no  such  beginnings,  and  if  there  were  they  could  not  be  known. 
That  the  latter  manner  of  search  (which  is  all)  they  pass  over  com¬ 
pendiously  and  slightly  as  a  by-matter.  That  the  several  conceits 
in  that  kind,  as  that  the  lively  and  moving  beginnings  of  things 
should  be  shift  or  appetite  of  matter  to  privation ;  the  spirit  of 
the  world  working  in  matter  according  to  platform ;  the  proceed¬ 
ing  or  fructifying  of  distinct  kinds  according  to  their  proprieties ; 
the  intercourse  of  the  elements  by  mediation  of  their  common 
qualities;  the  appetite  of  like  portions  to  unite  themselves; 
amity  and  discord,  or  sympathy  and  antipathy ;  motion  to  the 
centre,  with  motion  of  stripe  or  press ;  the  casual  agitation,  ag¬ 
gregation,  and  essays  of  the  solid  portions  in  the  void  space ; 
motion  of  shuttings  and  openings;  are  all  mere  nugations; 
and  that  the  calculating  and  ordination  of  the  true  degrees, 

1  This  last  illustration  19  added  in  the  margin  in  Bacon’s  hand. 


17  Bacon  III 


244 


OF  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE. 


moments,  limits,  and  laws  of  motions  and  alterations  (by 
means  whereof  all  works  and  effects  are  produced),  is  a  matter 
of  a  far  other  nature  than  to  consist  in  such  easy  and  wild 
generalities. 

Cap.  15. 

Of  the  great  error  of  inquiring  knowledge  in  Anticipations. 
That  I  call  Anticipations  the  voluntary  collections  that  the 
mind  maketh  of  knowledge ;  which  is  every  man’s  reason. 
That  though  this  be  a  solemn  thing,  and  serves  the  turn  to 
negotiate  between  man  and  man  (because  of  the  conformity 
and  participation  of  men’s  minds  in  the  like  errors),  yet  to¬ 
wards  inquiry  of  the  truth  of  things  and  works  it  is  of  no 
value.  That  civil  respects  are  a  lett  that  this  pretended  rea¬ 
son  should  not  be  so  contemptibly  spoken  of  as  were  fit  and 
medicinable,  in  regard  that 1  hath  been  too  much  exalted 
and  glorified,  to  the  infinite  detriment  of  man’s  estate.  Of 
the  nature  of  words  and  their  facility  and  aptness  to  cover 
and  grace  the  defects  of  Anticipations.  That  it  is  no  marvel 
if  these  Anticipations  have  brought  forth  such  diversity  and 
repugnance  in  opinions,  theories,  or  philosophies,  as  so  many 
fables2  of  several  arguments.  That  had  not  the  nature  of 
civil  customs  and  government  been  in  most  times  somewhat 
adverse  to  such  innovations,  though  contemplative,  there  might 
have  been  and  would  have  been  many  more.  That  the  second 
school  of  the  Academics  and  the  sect  of  Pyrrho,  or  the  con- 
siderers  that  denied  comprehension,  as  to  the  disabling  of  man’s 
knowledge  (entertained  in  Anticipations)  is  well  to  be  allowed, 
but  that  they  ought  when  they  had  overthrown  and  purged 
the  floor  of  the  ruins  to  have  sought  to  build  better  in  place. 
And  more  especially  that  they  did  unjustly  and  prejudicially 
to  charge  the  deceit  upon  the  report  of  the  senses,  which 
admitteth  very  sparing  remedy;  being  indeed  to  have  been 
charged  upon  the  Anticipations  of  the  mind,  which  admitteth 
a  perfect  remedy.  That  the  information  of  the  senses  is  suffi¬ 
cient,  not  because  they  err  not,  but  because  the  use  of  the  sense 
in  discovering  of  knowledge  is  for  the  most  part  not  imme¬ 
diate.  So  that  it  is  the  work,  effect,  or  instance,  that  trieth 
the  Axiom,  and  the  sense  doth  but  try  the  work  done  or  not 
done,  being  or  not  being.  That  the  mind  of  man  in  collecting 

1  So  MS.  by  mistake  probably  for  it ;  the  transcriber  hiking  yt  for  y‘. 

2  /able  in  MS. 


OF  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE. 


245 


knowledge  needeth  great  variety  of  helps,  as  well  as  the  hand 
of  man  in  manual  and  mechanical  practices  needeth  great  va¬ 
riety  of  instruments.  And  that  it  were  a  poor  work  that  if 
instruments  were  removed  men  would  overcome  with  their 
naked  hands.  And  of  the  distinct  points  of  want  and  insuffi¬ 
ciency  in  the  mind  of  man. 


Cap.  16. 

That  the  mind  of  a  man,  as  it  is  not  a  vessel  of  that  con¬ 
tent  or  receipt  to  comprehend  knowledge  without  helps  and 
supplies,  so  again  it  is  not  sincere,  but  of  an  ill  and  corrupt 
tincture.  Of  the  inherent  and  profound  errors  and  supersti¬ 
tions  in  the  nature  of  the  mind,  and  of  the  four  sorts  of  Idols 
or  false  appearances  that  offer  themselves  to  the  understanding 
in  the  inquisition  of  knowledge ;  that  is  to  say,  the  Idols  of 
the  Tribe,  the  Idols  of  the  Palace,  the  Idols  of  the  Cave,  and 
the  Idols  of  the  Theatre.  That  these  four,  added  to  the  inca¬ 
pacity  of  the  mind  and  the  vanity  and  malignity  of  the  affec¬ 
tions,  leave  nothing  but  impotency  and  confusion.  A  recital 
of  the  particular  kinds  of  these  four  Idols,  with  some  chosen 
examples  of  the  opinions  they  have  begot,  such  of  them  as  have 
supplanted  the  state  of  knowledge  most. 


Cap.  17. 

Of  the  errors  of  such  as  have  descended  and  applied  them¬ 
selves  to  experience,  and  attempted  to  induce  knowledge  upon 
particulars.  That  they  have  not  had  the  resolution  and 
strength  of  mind  to  free  themselves  wholly  from  Anticipations, 
but  have  made  a  confusion  and  intermixture  of  Anticipations 
and  observations,  and  so  vanished.  That  if  any  have  had  the 
strength  of  mind  generally  to  purge  away  and  discharge  all 
Anticipations,  they  have  not  had  that  greater  and  double 
strength  and  patience  of  mind,  as  well  to  repel  new  Anticipa¬ 
tions  after  the  view  and  search  of  particulars,  as  to  reject  old 
jvhich  were  in  their  mind  before;  but  have  from  particulars 
and  history  flown  up  to  principles  without  the  mean  degrees, 
and  so  framed  all  the  middle  generalities  or  axioms,  not  by 
way  of  scale  or  ascension  from  particulars,  but  by  way  of  de- 


246 


OF  THE  iNTERFRETATION  OF  NATURE. 


rivation  from  principles ;  whence  hath  issued  the  infinite  chaos 
of  shadows  and  notions ',  wherewith  both  books  and  minds 
have 1  2  been  hitherto,  and  may  be  yet  hereafter  much  more 
pestered.  That  in  the  course  of  those  derivations,  to  make 
them  yet  the  more  unprofitable,  they  have  used  when  any  light 
of  new  instance  opposite  to  any  assertion  appeared,  rather  to 
reconcile  the  instance  than  to  amend  the  rule.  That  if  any 
have  had  or  shall  have  the  power  and  resolution  to  fortify  and 
inclose  his  mind  against  all  Anticipations,  yet  if  he  have  not 
been  or  shall  not  be  cautioned  by  the  full  understanding  of  the 
nature  of  the  mind  and  spirit  of  man,  and  therein  of  the  seats 
pores  and  passages  both  of  knowledge  and  error,  he  hath  not 
been  nor  shall  not  be  possibly  able  to  guide  or  keep  on  his 
course  aright.  That  those  that  have  been  conversant  in  ex¬ 
perience  and  observation  have  used,  when  they  have  intended 
to  discover  the  cause  of  any  effect,  to  fix  their  consideration 
narrowly  and  exactly  upon  that  effect  itself  with  all  the  cir¬ 
cumstances  thereof,  and  to  vary  the  trial  thereof  as  many  ways 
as  can  be  devised ;  which  course  amounteth  but  to  a  tedious 
curiosity,  and  ever  breaketh  off  in  wondering  and  not  in  know¬ 
ing  ;  and  that  they  have  not  used  to  enlarge  their  observation  to 
match  and  sort  that  effect  with  instances  of  a  diverse  subject, 
which 3  must  of  necessity  be  before  any  cause  he  found  out.  That 
they  have  passed  over  the  observation  of  instances  vulgar  and 
ignoble,  and  stayed  their  attention  chiefly  upon  instances  of 
mark ;  whereas  the  other  sort  are  for  the  most  part  more  sig¬ 
nificant  and  of  better  light  and  information.  That  every  par¬ 
ticular  that  worketh  any  effect  is  a  thing  compounded  (more 
or  less)  of  diverse  single  natures,  (more  manifest  and  more 
obscure,)  and  that  it  appeareth  not  to  whether  of  the  natures 
the  effect  is  to  be  ascribed,  and  yet  notwithstanding  they  have 
taken  a  course  without  breaking  particulars  and  reducing  them 
by  exclusions  and  inclusions  to  a  definite  point,  to  conclude 
upon  inductions  in  gross,  which  empirical  course  is  no  less  vain 
than  the  scholastical.  That  all  such  as  have  sought  action  and 
work  out  of  their  inquiry  have  been  hasty  and  pressing  to 

1  This  word  is  written  between  the  lines  in  Bacon’s  hand,  and  I  am  not  sure  that  I 
read  it  right.  Stephens  read  it  moths,  which  is  certainly  wrong.  It  is  more  like 
nocuns  than  any  word  I  can  think  of. 

*  hath  in  MS. 

3  The  words  “  according  to  their  own  rules”  follow  in  the  MS.,  but  a  line  is  drawn 
through  them. 


OF  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE. 


247 


discover  some  practices  for  present  use,  and  not  to  discover 
Axioms,  joining  with  them  the  new  assignations  as  their  sure¬ 
ties.  That  the  forerunning  of  the  mind  to  frame  recipes  upon 
Axioms  at  the  entrance,  is  like  Atalanta’s  golden  ball  that  hin- 
dereth  and  interrupteth  the  course,  and  is  to  be  inhibited  till 
you  have  ascended  to  a  certain  stage  and  degree  of  generali¬ 
ties;  which  forbearance  will  be  liberally  recompensed  in  the 
end ;  and  that  chance  disco ve  re th  new  inventions  by  one  and 
one,  but  science  by  knots  and  clusters.  That  they  have  not 
collected  sufficient  quantity  of  particulars,  nor  them  in  suffi¬ 
cient  certainty  and  subtilty,  nor  of  all  several  kinds,  nor  with 
those  advantages  and  discretions  in  the  entry  and  sorting 
which  are  requisite;  and  of  the  weak  manner  of  collecting 
natural  history  which  hath  been  used.  Lastly  that  they  had 
no  knowledge  of  the  formulary  of  interpretation,  the  work 
whereof  is  to  abridge  experience  and  to  make  things  as  cer¬ 
tainly  found  out  by  Axiom  in  short  time,  as  by  infinite  ex¬ 
periences  in  ages. 


Cap.  18. 

That  the  cautels  and  devices  put  in  practice  in  the  delivery 
of  knowledge  for  the  covering  and  palliating  of  ignorance,  and 
the  gracing  and  overvaluing  of  that  they  utter,  are  without 
number;  but  none  more  bold  and  more  hurtful  than  two;  the 
one  that  men  have  used  of  a  few  observations  upon  any  subject 
to  make  a  solemn  and  formal  art,  by  filling  it  up  with  dis¬ 
course,  accommodating  it  with  some  circumstances  and  direc¬ 
tions  to  practice,  and  digesting  it  into  method,  whereby  men 
grow  satisfied  and  secure,  as  if  no  more  inquiry  were  to  be 
made  of  that  matter ;  the  other,  that  men  have  used  to  dis¬ 
charge  ignorance  with  credit,  in  defining  all  those  effects  which 
they  cannot  attain  unto  to  be  out  of  the  compass  of  art  and 
human  endeavour.  That  the  very  styles  and  forms  of  utter¬ 
ance  are  so  many  characters  of  imposture,  some  choosing  a  style 
of  pugnacity  and  contention,  some  of  satire  and  reprehension, 
some  of.  plausible  and  tempting  similitudes  and  examples, 
some  of  great  words  and  high  discourse,  some  of  short  and 
dark  sentences,  some  of  exactness  of  method,  all  of  positive 
affirmation,  without  disclosing  the  true  motives  and  proofs  of 
their  opinions,  or  free  confessing  their  ignorance  or  doubts, 


248 


OF  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE. 


except  it  be  now  and  then  for  a  grace,  and  in  cunning  to  win 
the  more  credit  in  the  rest,  and  not  in  good  faith.  That  al¬ 
though  men  be  free  from  these  errors  and  incumbrances  in  the 
will  and  affection,  yet  it  is  not  a  thing  so  easy  as  is  conceived 
to  convey  the  conceit  of  one  man’s  mind  into  the  mind  of  an¬ 
other  without  loss  or  mistaking,  specially  in  notions  new  and 
differing  from  those  that  are  received.  That  never  any  know¬ 
ledge  was  delivered  in  the  same  order  it  was  invented,  no  not 
in  the  mathematic,  though  it  should  seem  otherwise  in  regard 
that  the  propositions  placed  last  do  use  the  propositions  or 
grants  placed  first  for  their  proof  and  demonstration.  That 
there  are  forms  and  methods  of  tradition  wholly  distinct  and 
differing,  according  to  their  ends  whereto  they  are  directed. 
That  there  are  two  ends  of  tradition  of  knowledge,  the  one  to 
teach  and  instruct  for  use  and  practice,  the  other  to  impart  or 
intimate  for  re-examination  and  progression.  That  the  former 
of  these  ends  requireth  a  method  not  the  same  whereby  it  was 
invented  and  induced,  but  such  as  is  most  compendious  and 
ready  whereby  it  may  be  used  and  applied.  That  the  latter 
of  the  ends,  which  is  where  a  knowledge  is  delivered  to  be 
continued  and  spun  on  by  a  succession  of  labours,  requireth  a 
method  whereby  it  may  be  transposed  to  another  in  the  same 
manner  as  it  was  collected,  to  the  end  it  may  be  discerned  both 
where  the  work  is  weak,  and  where  it  breaketh  off.  That  this 
latter  method  is  not  only  unfit  for  the  former  end,  but  also 
impossible  for  all  knowledge  gathered  and  insinuated  by  Anti¬ 
cipations,  because  the  mind  working  inwardly  of  itself,  no  man 
can  give  a  just  account  how  he  came  to  that  knowledge  which 
he  hath  received,  and  that  therefore  this  method  is  peculiar  for 
knowledge  gathered  by  interpretation.  That  the  discretion 
anciently  observed,  though  by  the  precedent  of  many  vain  per¬ 
sons  and  deceivers  disgraced,  of  publishing  part,  and  reserving 
part  to  a  private  succession,  and  of  publishing  in  a  manner 
whereby  it  shall  not  be  to  the  capacity  nor  taste  of  all,  but 
shall  as  it  were  single  and  adopt  his  reader,  is  not  to  be  laid 
aside,  both  for  the  avoiding  of  abuse  in  the  excluded,  and  the 
strengthening  of  affection  in  the  admitted.  That  there  are 
other  virtues  of  tradition,  as  that  there  be  no  occasion  given  to 
error,  and  that  it  carry  a  vigour  to  root  and  spread  against  the 
vanity  of  wits  and  injuries  of  time;  all  which  if  they  were 
ever  due  to  any  knowledge  delivered,  or  if  they  were  never 


OF  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE. 


249 


due  to  any  human  knowledge  heretofore  delivered,  yet  are  now 
due  to  the  knowledge  propounded. 

Cap.  19. 

Of  the  impediments  which  have  been  in  the  affections,  the 
principle  whereof  hath  been  despair  or  diffidence,  and  the 
strong  apprehension  of  the  difficulty,  obscurity,  and  infinite¬ 
ness  which  belongeth  to  the  invention  of  knowledge,  and  that 
men  have  not  known  their  own  strength,  and  that  the  sup¬ 
posed  difficulties  and  vastness  of  the  work  is  rather  in  shew 
and  muster  than  in  state  or  substance  where  the  true  way  is 
taken.  That  this  diffidence  hath  moved  and  caused  some  never 
to  ejiter  into  search,  and  others  when  they  have  been  entered 
either  to  give  over  or  to  seek  a  more  compendious  course 
than  can  stand  with  the  nature  of  true  search.  That  of  those 
that  have  refused  and  prejudged  inquiry,  the  more  sober  and 
grave  sort  of  wits  have  depended  upon  authors  and  traditions, 
and  the  more  vain  and  credulous  resorted  to  revelation  and 
intelligence  with  spirits  and  higher  natures.  That  of  those 
that  have  entered  into  search,  some  having  fallen  upon  some 
conceits  which  they  after  consider  to  be  the  same  which  they 
have  found  in  former  authors,  have  suddenly  taken  a  persua¬ 
sion  that  a  man  shall  but  with  much  labour  incur  and  light 
upon  the  same  inventions  which  he  might  with  ease  receive 
from  others ;  and  that  it  is  but  a  vanity  and  self-pleasing  of 
the  wit  to  go  about  again,  as  one  that  would  rather  have  a 
flower  of  his  own  gathering,  than  much  better  gathered  to  his 
hand.  That  the  same  humour  of  sloth  and  diffidence  su£- 
gesteth  that  a  man  shall  but  revive  some  ancient  opinion,  which 
was  long  ago  propounded,  examined,  and  rejected.  And  that 
it  is  easy  to  err  in  conceit  that  a  man’s  observation  or  notion 
is  the  same  with  a  former  opinion,  both  because  new  conceits 
must  of  necessity  be  uttered  in  old  words,  and  because  1  upon 
true  and  erroneous  grounds  men  may  meet  in  consequence  or 
conclusion,  as  several  lines  or  circles  that  cut  in  some  one  point. 
That  the  greatest  part  of  those  that  have  descended  into  search 
have  chosen  for  the  most  artificial  and  compendious  course  to 
induce  principles  out  of  particulars,  and  to  reduce  all  other 

1  A  parenthesis  “  (as  the  Schools  well  know)  ”  which  follows  here,  has  a  line  drawn 
through  it, 


250 


OF  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE. 


propositions  unto  principles ;  and  so  instead  of  the  nearest  way, 
have  been  led  to  no  way  or  a  mere  labyrinth.  That  the  two 
contemplative  ways  have  some  resemblance  with  the  old  pa¬ 
rable  of  the  two  moral  ways,  the  one  beginning  with  incer¬ 
tainty  and  difficulty,  and  ending  in  plainness  and  certainty, 
and  the  other  beginning  with  shew  of  plainness  and  certainty, 
and  ending  in  difficulty  and  incertainty.  Of  the  great  and 
manifest  error  and  untrue  conceit  or  estimation  of  the  infinite¬ 
ness  of  particulars,  whereas  indeed  all  prolixity  is  in  discourse 
and  derivations ;  and  of  the  infinite  and  most  laborious  expeuoe 
of  wit  that  hath  been  employed  upon  toys  and  matters  of  no 
fruit  or  value.  That  although  the  period  of  one  age  cannot 
advance  men  to  the  furthest  point  of  interpretation  of  nature, 
(except  the  work  should  be  undertaken  with  greater  helps  than 
can  be  expected),  yet  it  cannot  fail  in  much  less  space  of  time 
to  make  return  of  many  singular  commodities  towards  the 
state  and  occasions  of  man’s  life.  That  there  is  less  reason  of 
distrust  in  the  course  of  interpretation  now  propounded  than  in 
any  knowledge  formerly  delivered,  because  this  course  doth  in 
sort  equal  men’s  wits,  and  leaveth  no  great  advantage  or  pre¬ 
eminence  to  the  perfect  and  excellent  motions  of  the  spirit. 
That  to  draw  a  straight  line  or  to  make  a  circle  perfect  round 
by  aim  of  hand  only,  there  must  be  a  great  difference  between 
an  unsteady  and  unpractised  hand  and  a  steady  and  practised, 
but  to  do  it  by  rule  or  compass  it  is  much  alike. 

Cap.  21. 

Of  the  impediments  which  have  been  in  the  two  extreme 
humours  of  admiration  of  antiquity  and  love  of  novelty,  and 
again  of  over-servile  reverence  or  over-light  scorn  of  the  opi¬ 
nions  of  others. 


Cap.  22. 

Of  the  impediments  which  have  been  in  the  affection  of 
pride,  specially  of  one  kind,  which  is  the  disdain  of  dwelling 
and  being  conversant  much  in  experiences  and  particulars, 
specially  such  as  are  vulgar  in  occurrency,  and  base  and 
ignoble  in  use.  That  besides  certain  higher  mysteries  of  pride, 
generalities  seem  to  have  a  dignity  and  solemnity,  in  that  they 
do  not  put  men  in  mind  of  their  familiar  actions,  in  that  they 


OF  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE.  251 

have  less  affinity  with  arts  mechanical  and  illiberal,  in  that 
they  are  not  so  subject  to  be  controuled  by  persons  of  mean 
observation,  in  that  they  seem  to  teach  men  that  they  know 
not,  and  not  to  refer  them  to  that  they  know.  All  which 
conditions  directly  feeding  the  humour  of  pride,  particulars  do 
want.  That  the  majesty  of  generalities,  and  the  divine  nature 
of  the  mind  in  taking  them  (if  they  be  truly  collected,  and  be 
indeed  the  direct  reflexions  of  things,)  cannot  be  too  much 
magnified.  And  that  it  is  true  that  interpretation  is  the  very 
natural  and  direct  intention,  action,  and  progression  of  the 
understanding  delivered  from  impediments.  And  that  all  An¬ 
ticipation  is  but  a  deflexion  or  declination  by  accident. 

Cap.  25. 

Of  the  impediments  which  have  been  in  the  state  of  heathen 
religion  and  other  superstitions  and  errors  of  religion.  And 
that  in  the  true  religion  there  hath  not 1  nor  is  any  impediment, 
except  it  be  by  accident  or  intermixture  of  humour.  That  a 
religion  which  consisteth  in  rites  and  forms  of  adoration,  and 
not  in  confessions  and  beliefs,  is  adverse  to  knowledge ;  be¬ 
cause  men  having  liberty  to  inquire  and  discourse  of  Theology 
at  pleasure,  it  cometh  to  pass  that  all  inquisition  of  nature 
endeth  and  limiteth  itself  in  such  metaphysical  or  theological 
discourse ;  whereas  if  men’s  wits  be  shut  out  of  that  port,  it 
turneth  them  again  to  discover,  and  so  to  seek  reason  of  rea¬ 
son  more  deeply.  And  that  such  was  the  religion  of  the  Hea¬ 
then.  That  a  religion  that  is  jealous  of  the  variety  of  learning, 
discourse,  opinions,  and  sects,  (as  misdoubting  it  may  shake  the 
foundations,)  or  that  cherisheth  devotion  upon  simplicity  and 
ignorance,  as  ascribing  ordinary  effects  to  the  immediate  work¬ 
ing  of  God,  is  adverse  to  knowledge.  That  such  is  the  religion 
of  +he  Turk,  and  such  hath  been  the  abuse  of  Christian  religion 
at  some  several  times,  and  in  some  several  factions.  And  of 
the  singular  advantage  which  the  Christian  religion  hath  to¬ 
wards  the  furtherance  of  true  knowledge,  in  that  it  excludeth 
and  interdicteth  human  reason,  whether  by  interpretation  or 
anticipation,  from  examining  or  discussing  of  the  mysteries  and 
principles  of  faith. 


So  MS. 


252 


OF  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE. 


Cap.  26. 

Of  the  impediments  which  have  been  in  the  nature  of  society 
and  the  policies  of  state.  That  there  is  no  composition  of 
estate  or  society,  nor  order  or  quality  of  persons,  which  have 
not  some  point  of  contrariety  towards  true  knowledge.  That 
monarchies  incline  wits  to  profit  and  pleasure,  and  common¬ 
wealths  to  glory  and  vanity.  That  universities  incline  wits  to 
sophistry  and  affectation,  cloisters  to  fables  and  unprofitable 
subtilty,  study  at  large  to  variety  ;  and  that  it  is  hard  to  say, 
whether  mixture  of  contemplations  with  an  active  life,  or 
retiring  wholly  to  contemplations,  do  disable  and  hinder  the 
mind  more. 


ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


255 


PREFACE 

TO 

THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


The  first  edition  of  the  Advancement  of  Learning  is  dated  1605. 
In  what  month  it  appeared  is  doubtful ;  but  from  certain  allu¬ 
sions  in  a  letter  sent  by  Bacon  to  Tobie  Matthew  with  a  pre¬ 
sentation  copy,  I  gather  (for  the  letter  bears  no  date)  that  it 
was  not  out  before  the  latter  end  of  October. 

Tobie  Matthew,  eldest  son  of  the  Bishop  of  Durham,  was 
then  about  27  years  old,  and  had  been  intimate  with  Bacon, 
certainly  for  the  last  three  years,  and  probably  for  more.  Bacon 
had  a  high  opinion  of  his  abilities  and  seems  to  have  consulted 
him  about  his  works.  “  I  have  now  at  last  (he  says  in  this 
letter)  taught  that  child  to  go,  at  the  swaddling  whereof  you 
were.  My  work  touching  the  Proficiency  and  Advancement  of 
Learning  I  have  put  into  two  books,  whereof  the  former,  which 
you  saw,  I  account  but  as  a  Page  to  the  latter.  I  have  now 
published  them  both,  whereof  I  thought  it  a  small  adventure 
to  send  you  a  copy,  who  have  more  right  to  it  than  any  man, 
except  Bishop  Andrews,  who  was  my  Inquisitor.”  1 

Now  Matthew  had  been  abroad  since  April,  1605  ;  and  as  he 
had  seen  the  first  book  only,  it  is  probable  that  the  second 
was  not  then  written;  a  circumstance  which  may  be  very 
naturally  accounted  for,  if  I  am  right  in  supposing  that  the 
Advancement  of  Learning  was  begun  immediately  after  the  ac¬ 
cession  of  James  I.  From  the  death  of  Elizabeth,  24th  March, 

1602- 3,  to  the  meeting  of  James’s  first  Parliament,  1 9th  March, 

1 603- 4,  Bacon  had  very  little  to  do.  He  held  indeed  the  same 
place  among  the  Learned  Counsel  which  he  had  held  under 
Elizabeth,  but  his  services  were  little  if  at  all  used.  On  the  3d 
of  July,  1603,  we  find  him  writing  to  Lord  Cecil: — “For  my 

1  Sir  Tobie  Matthew’s  collection  of  English  letters,  p.  xi.  Andrews  was  made  a 
Bishop  on  the  3d  of  November,  1605. 


256 


PREFACE  TO 


purpose  or  course,  I  desire  to  meddle  as  little  as  I  can  in  the 
King’s  causes,  his  Majesty  now  abounding  in  counsel.  .  .  .  My 
ambition  now  I  shall  only  put  upon  my  pen,  whereby  I  shall 
be  able  to  maintain  memory  and  merit  of  the  times  succeeding.” 
And  in  the  trial  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  at  Winchester  in  the 
following  November  (though  it  was  a  complicated  case  involv¬ 
ing  many  persons  and  requiring  a  great  number  of  examina¬ 
tions)  he  does  not  appear  to  have  been  employed  at  all.  But 
from  the  meeting  of  Parliament  in  March  till  the  end  of  1 604 
he  was  incessantly  employed ;  first  during  the  session  (which 
lasted  till  the  7th  of  July)  in  the  business  of  the  House  of 
Commons then  during  the  vacation,  in  preparation  for  the 
Commission  of  the  Union*  which  was  to  meet  in  October  ;  and 
from  that  time  to  the  beginning  of  December  in  the  business  of 
the  Commission  itself ;  —  all  matters  of  extreme  urgency  and 
importance,  and  the  “  labour  whereof,  for  men  of  his  profession, 
rested  most  upon  his  hand.” 2 

On  the  4th  of  December  the  Commissioners  signed  their  re¬ 
port  ;  and  on  the  24th  the  next  meeting  of  Parliament,  which 
had  been  fixed  for  F ebruary,  was  postponed  till  October.  This 
prorogation  secured  Bacon  another  interval  of  leisure ;  an  in¬ 
terval  longer  perhaps,  considering  the  nature  of  the  public  ser¬ 
vices  which  had  now  fallen  upon  him,  than  he  was  likely  soon 
again  to  enjoy  ;  and  which  it  was  the  more  important  therefore 
to  use  in  finishing  the  great  literary  work  which  he  had  begun. 
The  same  consideration  may  have  determined  him  to  be  content 
with  a  less  perfect  treatment  of  the  subject  than  he  had  origin¬ 
ally  designed ;  for  certainly  the  second  book,  though  so  much 
the  more  important  of  the  two,  is  in  point  of  execution  much 
less  careful  and  elaborate  than  the  first,  and  bears  many  marks 
of  hasty  composition.  The  presumption  that  an  interval  occurred 
between  the  writing  of  the  two  is  further  confirmed  by  the 
fact  that  they  were  not  printed  at  the  same  time.  The  first 
ends  with  a  half-  sheet,  and  the  second  begins  upon  a  fresh  one 
with  a  new  signature ;  whence  I  suppose  we  may  infer  that  the 
first  had  been  printed  off  before  the  second  was  ready  for  the 
press. 

Of  the  motives  which  induced  Bacon  to  undertake  and 

1  See  “  Certain  Articles  or  Considerations  touching  the  union  of  the  Kingdoms  of 
England  and  Scotland  ;  collected  and  dispersed  for  His  Majesty’s  better  service.” 

2  Letter  to  tire  King,  touching  the  Solicitor’s  place. 


THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


257 


hurry  forward  the  Advancement  of  Learning  at  that  particular 
time,  and  of  those  which  afterwards  suggested  the  incorpora¬ 
tion  of  it  into  his  great  work  on  the  Interpretation  of  Nature, 
I  have  already  explained  my  own  view  in  my  preface  to  the 
De  Augmentis.  Upon  all  matters  requiring  explanation  or 
illustration  the  reader  is  referred  to  Mr.  Ellis’s  notes  upon 
the  corresponding  passages  in  that  more  finished  work ;  and 
that  the  reference  may  be  more  easy  I  have  marked  the  places 
where  the  several  chapters  begin ;  adding  some  account,  more 
or  less  complete,  of  the  principal  differences  between  the  two. 
In  many  cases  these  differences  are  so  extensive  that  no  ade¬ 
quate  idea  of  their  nature  could  be  given  within  the  limits 
of  a  note ;  and  in  such  cases  I  have  been  content  with  a  simple 
reference  to  the  place.  But  where  the  substance  of  any  addi¬ 
tion  or  alteration  which  seemed  to  me  material  could  be  stated 
succinctly,  —  especially  if  it  involved  any  modification  of  the 
opinion  expressed  in  the  text,  —  I  have  generally  endeavoured 
to  state  it;  sometimes  translating  Bacon’s  words,  sometimes 
giving  the  effect  in  my  own,  as  I  found  most  convenient. 

For  the  text,  I  have  treated  the  edition  of  1605  as  the  only 
original  authority ;  the  corrections  introduced  by  later  editors, 
though  often  unquestionably  right,  being  (as  far  as  I  can  see) 
merely  conjectural.  And  therefore,  though  I  have  adopted  all 
such  corrections  into  the  text  whenever  I  was  satisfied  that 
they  give  the  true  reading,  I  have  always  quoted  in  a  note  the 
reading  of  the  original.  Only  in  the  typographical  arrange¬ 
ment  with  respect  to  capitals,  italics,  &c,,  (which  in  the  original 
was  probably  left  to  the  printer’s  taste,  and  is  inconsistent  in 
itself,  and  would  be  perplexing  to  modern  eyes,)  and  also  in 
the  punctuation,  which  is  extremely  confused  and  inaccurate, 
I  have  used  the  full  liberty  of  my  own  judgment;  altering 
as  much  as  I  pleased,  and  endeavouring  only  to  make  the 
sense  clear  to  an  eye  accustomed  to  modern  books,  without 
encumbering  the  page  with  any  notice  of  such  alterations. 

There  is  one  innovation  however  which  I  have  ventured  to 
introduce  and  which  it  is  necessary  to  explain.  The  Advance¬ 
ment  of  Learning  was  written  for  readers  who  were  familiar 
with  Latin,  and  abounds  with  Latin  quotations.  In  these  days 
it  may  be  read  with  profit  by  many  persons  of  both  sexes  to 
whom  such  quotations  are  a  very  perplexing  obstruction. 
Forming  as  they  generally  do  a  part  of  the  context,  so  that  the 


258 


PREFACE  TO  THE  ADV.  OF  LEARNING. 


sentence  is  not  complete  without  them,  those  who  cannot  read 
Latin  are  in  many  cases  unable  to  follow  the  sense  of  the 
English.  To  give  such  readers  the  means  of  understanding 
them  seemed  therefore  no  less  than  necessary ;  and  I  thought 
the  true  effect  of  them  would  be  conveyed  to  the  mind  most 
perfectly  and  satisfactorily  by  presenting  the  interpretations  in 
such  a  form  that  they  might  be  read  in  their  places,  just  as 
they  would  have  been  had  they  formed  part  of  the  original 
text,  and  just  as  they  are  in  those  passages  where  Bacon  has 
himself  furnished  the  interpretation.  Following  his  example 
therefore  as  nearly  as  I  could,  I  have  endeavoured  to  give  the 
effect  of  each  of  these  Latin  quotations  in  such  a  form  as 
seemed  to  suit  best  the  English  idiom  and  to  fall  best  into  the 
English  context;  not  tying  myself  to  literal  translation,  but 
rather  preferring  to  vary  the  expression,  especially  where  I 
could  by  that  means  give  it  such  a  turn  as  to  throw  the 
emphasis  more  distinctly  upon  that  part  of  the  quotation  which 
was  more  particularly  in  point.  Thus  it  will  be  found,  I  think, 
that  those  who  understand  the  Latin  may  still  read  the  English 
without  feeling  it  to  be  a  mere  repetition,  while  those  who  do 
not  will  in  reading  the  English  alone  find  the  sense  always 
complete.  It  was  evident  however  that  translations  of  this 
kind  could  not  be  read  in  this  way  conveniently  if  inserted  in 
notes  at  the  bottom  of  the  page ;  and  therefore,  there  being 
no  room  in  the  margin,  I  have  ventured  to  insert  them  in  the 
text ;  from  which  however,  that  they  may  not  be  mistaken  for 
a  part  of  it,  I  have  always  taken  care  to  distinguish  them  by 
brackets.  In  a  few  cases  where  a  Latin  quotation  occurs,  not 
followed  by  a  translation  within  brackets,  it  is  to  be  under¬ 
stood  that  it  is  introduced  merely  as  a  voucher  for  what  has 
just  been  said  in  the  English,  or  for  the  purpose  of  suggesting 
a  classical  allusion  which  a  translation  would  not  suggest  ex¬ 
cept  to  a  classical  reader,  and  that  the  sense  is  complete  with¬ 
out  it.  In  a  few  other  cases  where  a  quotation  is  followed  by 
a  translation  not  included  within  brackets,  it  is  to  be  under¬ 
stood  that  it  is  Bacon’s  own  translation  and  forms  part  of  the 
original  text. 

For  all  the  notes  except  those  signed  R.  L.  E.,  which  are 
Mr.  Ellis’s,  I  am  responsible. 


THE 


TWOO  BOOKES  OE  FRANCIS  BACON 


OF  THE 


PROFICIENCE 

AND 

ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING 

DIVINE  AND  HUMANE, 


TO  THE  KING. 


At  London: 

Printed  for  Henrie  Tomes,  and  are  to  be  sold  at  his  shop  at  Graies 
Inne  Gate  in  Holborne. 

1605. 


18  Bacon  III 


261 


THE 

FIRST  BOOK  OF  FRANCIS  BACON 

OF  THE 

PROFICIENCE  AND  ADVANCEMENT  OE 
LEARNING 


DIVINE  AND  HUMAN. 


TO  THE  KING. 

There  were  under  the  Law  (excellent  King)  both  daily 
sacrifices  and  freewill  offerings ;  the  one  proceeding  upon  ordi¬ 
nary  observance,  the  other  upon  a  devout  cheerfulness.  In 
like  manner  there  belongeth  to  kings  from  their  servants  both 
tribute  of  duty  and  presents  of  affection.  In  the  former  of 
these  I  hope  I  shall  not  live  to  be  wanting,  according  to  my 
most  humble  duty,  and  the  good  pleasure  of  your  Majesty’s 
employments  :  for  the  later,  I  thought  it  more  respective  to 
make  choice  of  some  oblation  which  might  rather  refer  to  the 
propriety  and  excellency  of  your  individual  person,  than  to 
the  business  of  your  crown  and  state. 

Wherefore  representing  your  Majesty  many  times  unto  my 
mind,  and  beholding  you  not  with  the  inquisitive  eye  of  pre¬ 
sumption  to  discover  that  which  the  Scripture  telleth  me  is 
inscrutable,  but  with  the  observant  eye  of  duty  and  admiration; 
leaving  aside  the  other  parts  of  your  virtue  and  fortune,  I 
have  been  touched,  yea  and  possessed  with  an  extreme  wonder 
at  those  your  virtues  and  faculties  which  the  philosophers  call 
intellectual  ;  the  largeness  of  your  capacity,  the  faithfulness 
of  your  memory,  the  swiftness  of  your  apprehension,  the  pene¬ 
tration  of  your  judgment,  and  the  facility  and  order  of  your 
elocution :  and  I  have  often  thought  that  of  all  the  persons 


262 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


living  that  I  have  known,  your  Majesty  were  the  best  instance 
to  make  a  man  of  Plato’s  opinion,  that  all  knowledge  is  but 
remembrance,  and  that  the  mind  of  man  by  nature  knoweth 
all  things,  and  hath  but  her  own  native  and  original  notions  1 
(which  by  the  strangeness  and  darkness  of  this  tabernacle  of 
the  body  are  sequestered)  again  revived  and  restored :  such  a 
light  of  nature  I  have  observed  in  your  Majesty,  and  such  a 
readiness  to  take  flame  and  blaze  from  the  least  occasion  pre¬ 
sented,  or  the  least  spark  of  another’s  knowledge  delivered. 
And  as  the  Scripture  saith  of  the  wisest  king,  That  his  heart 
was  as  the  sands  of  the  sea ;  which  though  it  be  one  of.  the 
largest  bodies  yet  it  consisteth  of  the  smallest  and  finest  por¬ 
tions  ;  so  hath  God  given  your  Majesty  a  composition  of  under¬ 
standing  admirable,  being  able  to  compass  and  comprehend  the 
greatest  matters,  and  nevertheless  to  touch  and  apprehend  the 
least ;  whereas  it  should  seem  an  impossibility  in  nature  for  the 
same  instrument  to  make  itself  fit  for  great  and  small  works. 
And  for  your  gift  of  speech,  I  call  to  mind  what  Cornelius 
Tacitus  saith  of  Augustus  Caesar ;  Augusto  profluens,  et  qua 
principem  deceret,  eloquentia  fuit ;  [that  his  style  of  speech  was 
flowing  and  prince-like : 2]  for  if  we  note  it  well,  speech 
that  is  uttered  with  labour  and  difficulty,  or  speech  that  sa- 
voureth  of  the  affectation  of  art  and  precepts,  or  speech  that 
is  framed  after  the  imitation  of  some  pattern  of  eloquence, 
though  never  so  excellent,  —  all  this  has  somewhat  servile,  and 
holding  of  the  subject.  But  your  Majesty’s  manner  of  speech 
is  indeed  prince-like,  flowing  as  from  a  fountain,  and  yet 
streaming  and  branching  itself  into  nature’s  order,  full  of  facility 
and  felicity,  imitating  none,  and  inimitable  by  any.  And  as  in 
your  civil  estate  there  appeareth  to  be  an  emulation  and  con¬ 
tention  of  your  Majesty’s  virtue  with  your  fortune;  a  virtuous 
disposition  with  a  fortunate  regiment ;  a  virtuous  expectation 
(when  time  was)  of  your  greater  fortune,  with  a  prosperous 
possession  thereof  in  the  due  time ;  a  virtuous  observation  of 
the  laws  of  marriage,  with  most  blessed  and  happy  fruit  of 
marriage ;  a  virtuous  and  most  Christian  desire  of  peace,  with  a 
fortunate  inclination  in  your  neighbour  princes  thereunto:  so 
likewise  in  these  intellectual  matters,  there  seemeth  to  be  no 

1  So  edd.  1629  and  1633.  Ed.  1605  has  motions. 

2  Observe  that  the  translations  within  brackets  are  not  in  the  original,  but  inserted 
by  myself.  My  reasons  for  adopting  this  plan,  and  the  principle  upon  which  I  have 
proceeded  in  translating,  are  explained  in  the  preface. 


THE  FIRST  BOOK. 


263 


less  contention  between  the  excellency  of  your  Majesty’s  gifts 
of  nature  and  the  universality  and  perfection  of  your  learning. 
For  I  am  well  assured  that  this  which  I  shall  say  is  no  amplifi¬ 
cation  at  all,  but  a  positive  and  measured  truth  ;  which  is,  that 
there  hath  not  been  since  Christ’s  time  any  king  or  temporal 
monarch  which  hath  been  so  learned  in  all  literature  and  eru¬ 
dition,  divine  and  human.  For  let  a  man  seriously  and  diligently 
revolve  and  peruse  .the  succession  of  the  emperors  of  Rome,  of 
which  Csesar  the  dictator,  who  lived  some  years  before  Christ, 
and  Marcus  Antoninus  were  the  best  learned ;  and  so  descend  to 
the  emperors  of  Graecia,  or  of  the  West,  and  then  to  the  lines 
of  France,  Spain,  England,  Scotland,  and  the  rest;  and  he 
shall  find  this  judgment  is  truly  made.'  For  it  seemeth  much 
in  a  king,  if  by  the  compendious  extractions  of  other  men’s 
wits  and  labours  he  can  take  hold  of  any  superficial  ornaments 
and  shews  of  learning,  or  if  he  countenance  and  prefer  learning. 
and  learned  men :  but  to  drink  indeed  of  the  true  fountains  of 
learning,  nay  to  have  such  a  fountain  of  learning  in  himself, 
in  a  king,  and  in  a  king  born,  is  almost  a  miracle.  And  the 
more,  because  there  is  met  in  your  Majesty  a  rare  conjunction 
as  well  of  divine  and  sacred  literature  as  of  profane  and  hu¬ 
man  ;  so  as  your  Majesty  standeth  invested  of  that  triplicity 
which  in  great  veneration  was  ascribed  to  the  ancient  Hermes ; 
the  power  and  fortune  of  a  King,  the  knowledge  and  illumination 
of  a  Pi’iest,  and  the  learning  and  universality  of  a  Philosopher. 
This  propriety  inherent  and  individual  attribute  in  your  Majesty 
deserveth  to  be  expressed  not  only  in  the  fame  and  admiration  of 
the  present  time,  nor  in  the  history  or  tradition  of  the  ages 
succeeding ;  but  also  in  some  solid  work,  fixed  memorial,  and 
immortal  monument,  bearing  a  character  or  signature  both  of  the 
power  of  a  king  and  the  difference  and  perfection  of  such  a  king. 

Therefore  I  did  conclude  with  myself,  that  I  could  not  make 
unto  your  Majesty  a  better  oblation  than  of  some  treatise 
tending  to  that  end;  whereof  the  sum  will  consist  of  these  two 
parts :  the  former  concerning  the  excellency  of  learning  and 
knowledge,  and  the  excellency  of  the  merit  and  true  glory  in 
the  augmentation  and  propagation  thereof;  the  later 2,  what 
the  particular  acts  and  works  are  which  have  been  embraced 

1  In  the  translation  the  reference  to  the  particular  dynasties  is  omitted ;  he  only 
says, —  Percurrat  qui  voluerit  imperatorum  et  rerum  seriein ,  etjuxta  mecum  sentiet. 

2  I  have  observed  elsewhere,  that  it  was  only  the  latter  part  which  entered  into  the 
original  scheme  of  the  Instauratio  Magna.  And  though  in  adapting  the  Advancement 


264 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


and  undertaken  for  the  advancement  of  learning,  and  again 
what  defects  and  undervalues  I  find  in  such  particular  acts ;  to 
the  end  that  though  I  cannot  positively  or  affirmatively  advise 
your  Majesty,  or  propound  unto  you  framed  particulars,  yet 
I  may  excite  your  princely  cogitations  to  visit  the  excellent 
treasure  of  your  own  mind,  and  thence  to  extract  particulars 
for  this  purpose  agreeable  to  your  magnanimity  and  wisdom. 

In  the  entrance  to  the  former  of  these, — to  clear  the  way, 
and  as  it  were  to  make  silence  to  have  the  true  testimonies 
concerning  the-.dignity_of  learning  to  be  better  heard  without 
the  interruption  of  tacit  objections, — I  think  good  to  deliver  it 
from  the  discredits  and  disgraces  which  it  hath  received;  all 
from  ignorance;  but  ignorance  severally  disguised;  appearing- 
sometimes  in  the  zeal  and  jealousy  of  divines,  sometimes  in 
the  severity  and  arrogancy  of  politiques,  and  sometimes  in  the 
erroTB-and  imperfections  of  learned  men  themselves. 

I  hear  the  former  sort  say,  that  knowledge  is  of  those  things 
which  are  to  be  accepted  of  with  great  limitation  and  caution  ; 
that  the  aspiring  to  over-much  knowledge  was  the  original 
temptation  and  sin,  whereupon  ensued  the  fall  of  man ;  that 
knowledge  hath  in  it  somewhat  of  the  serpent,  and  therefore 
where  it  entereth  into  a  man  it  makes  him  swell,  —  Scientia 
inflat,  [knowledge  puffeth  up  ;]  that  Salomon  gives  a  censure. 
That  there  is  no  end  of  making  books,  and  that  much  reading 
is  weariness  of  the  flesh  ;  and  again  in  another  place.  That  in 
spacious  knowledge  there  is  much  contristation,  and  that  he  that 
increaseth  knowledge  increaseth  anxiety ;  that  St.  Paul  gives  a 
caveat.  That  we  be  not  spoiled  through  vain  philosophy ;  that 
experience  demonstrates  how  learned  men  have  been  arch¬ 
heretics,  how  learned  times  have  been  inclined  to  atheism,  and 
how  the  contemplation  of  second  causes  doth  derogate  from  our 
dependence  upon  God,  who  is  the  first  cause. 

To  discover  then  the  ignorance  and  error  of  this  opinion 
and  the  misunderstanding  in  the  grounds  thereof,  it  may  well 
appear  these  men  do  not  observe  or  consider  that  it  was  not 
the  pure  knowledge  of  nature  and  universality,  a  knowledge 
by  the  light  whereof  man  did  give  names  unto  other  creatures 
in  Paradise,  as  they  were  brought  before  him,  according  unto 

of  Learning  to  it,  he  retained  the  former  part,  yet  he  marks  it  in  the  translation  as 
comparatively  unimportant ;  adding  with  regard  to  the  first,  qua  levior  esf,  neque 
tamen  ullo  modo  pratermittenda,  and  with  regard  to  the  second,  quod  caput  rei  esf. 


THE  FIRST  BOOK. 


265 


their  proprieties,  which  gave  the  occasion  to  the  fall ;  but  it 
was  the  proud  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  with  an  intent  in 
man  to  give  law  unto  himself  and  to  depend  no  more  upon 
God’s  commandments,  which  was  the  form  of  the  temptation. 
Neither  is  it  any  quantity  of  knowledge  how  great  soever  tliat 
can  make  the  mind  of  man  to  swell ;  for  nothing  can  fill,  much 
less  extend,  the  soul  of  man,  but  God  and  the  contemplation  of 
God ;  and  therefore  Salomon  speaking  of  the  two  principal 
senses  of  inquisition,  the  eye  and  the  ear,  affirmeth  that  the 
eye  is  never  satisfied  with  seeing,  nor  the  ear  with  hearing ; 
and  if  there  be  no  fulness,  then  is  the  continent  greater  than 
the  content :  so  of  knowledge  itself  and  the  mind  of  man, 
whereto  the  senses  are  but  reporters,  he  defineth  likewise  in 
these  words,  placed  after  that  calendar  or  ephemerides  which 
he  maketh  of  the  diversities  of  times  and  seasons  for  all  ac¬ 
tions  and  purposes  ;  and  concludeth  thus  :  God  hath  made  all 
things  beautiful,  or  decent,  in  the  true  return  of  their  seasons : 
Also  he  hath  placed  the  world  in  man's  heart,  yet  cannot  man 
find  out  the  work  which  God  worketh  from  the  beginning  to  the 
end :  declaring  not  obscurely  that  God  hath  framed  the  mind 
of  man  as  a  mirror  or  glass  capable  of  the  image  of  the  uni¬ 
versal  world,  and  joyful  to  receive  the  impression  thereof,  as 
the  eye  joyeth  to  receive  light ;  and  not  only  delighted 
in  beholding  the  variety  of  things  and  vicissitude  of  times, 
but  raised  also  to  find  out  and  discern  the  ordinances  and 
decrees  which  throughout  all  those  changes  are  infallibly  ob¬ 
served.  And  although  he  doth  insinuate  that  the  supreme 
or  summary  law  of  nature,  which  he  calleth  the  work  which 
God  worketh  from  the  beginning  to  the  end,  is  not  possible  to  be 
found  out  by  man ;  yet  that  doth  not  derogate  from  the  capa¬ 
city  of  the  mind,  but  may  be  referred  to  the  impediments,  as 
of  shortness  of  life,  ill  conjunction  of  labours,  ill  tradition  of 
knowledge  over  from  hand  to  hand,  and  many  other  incon¬ 
veniences  whereunto  the  condition  of  man  is  subject.  For 
that  nothing  parcel  of  the  world  is  denied  to  man’s  inquiry 
and  invention  he  doth  in  another  place  rule  over,  when  he 
saith,  The  spirit  of  man  is  as  the  lamp  of  God,  wherewith  he 
searcheth  the  inwardness  of  all  secrets .  If  then  such  be  the 
capacity  and  receit  of  the  mind  of  man,  it  is  manifest  that 
there  is  no  danger  at  all  in  the  proportion  or  quantity  of 
knowledge,  how  large  soever,  lest  it  should  make  it  swell  or 


266 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


out-compass  itself ;  no,  but  it  is  merely  the  quality  of  know¬ 
ledge,  which  be  it  in  quantity  more  or  less,  if  it  be  taken  with¬ 
out  the  true  corrective  thereof,  hath  in  it  some  nature  of  venom 
or  malignity,  and  some  elfects  of  that  venom,  which  is  vento- 
sity  or  swelling.  This  corrective  spice,  the  mixture  whereof 
maketh  knowledge  so  sovereign,  is  Charity,  which  the  apostle 
immediately  addeth  to  the  former  clause ;  for  so  he  saith, 
knowledge  bloweth  up,  but  charity  buildeth  up  ;  not  unlike  unto 
that  which  he  delivereth  in  another  place :  If  I  spake  (saith  he) 
with  the  tongues  of  men  and  angels,  and  had  not  charity,  it  were 
but  as  a  tinkling  cymbal;  not  but  that  it  is  an  excellent  thing 
to  speak  with  the  tongues  of  men  and  angels,  but  because  if  it 
be  severed  from  charity,  and  not  referred  to  the  good  of  men 
and  mankind,  it  hath  rather  a  sounding  and  unworthy  glory 
than  a  meriting  and  substantial  virtue.  And  as  for  that  cen¬ 
sure  of  Salomon  concerning  the  excess  of  writing  and  read¬ 
ing  books  and  the  anxiety  of  spirit  which  redoundeth  from 
knowledge,  and  that  admonition  of  St.  Paul,  That  we  be  not 
seduced  by  vain  philosophy  ;  let  those  places  be  rightly  under¬ 
stood,  and  they  do  indeed  excellently  set  forth  the  true  bounds 
and  limitations  whereby  human  knowledge  is  confined  and 
circumscribed  ;  and  yet  without  any  such  contracting  or  coarc¬ 
tation,  but  that  it  may  comprehend  all  the  universal  nature  of 
things.  For  these  limitations  are  three.  The  first,  that  we  do 
not  so  place  our  felicity  in  knowledge,  as  we  forget  our  mortality. 
The  second,  that  we  make  application  of  our  knowledge  to  give 
ourselves  repose  and  contentment,  and  not  distaste  or  repining. 
The  third,  that  we  do  not  presume  by  the  contemplation  of  na¬ 
ture  to  attain  to  the  mysteries  of  God.  For  as  touching  the 
first  of  these,  Salomon  doth  excellently  expound  himself  in 
another  place  of  the  same  book,  where  he  saith ;  I  saw  well 
that  knowledge  recedeth  as  far  from  ignorance  as  light  doth 
from  darkness,  and  that  the  wise  mans  eyes  keep  watch  in  his 
head,  whereas  the  fool  roundeth  .about  in  darkness:  but  withal  I 
learned  that  the  same  mortality  involveth  them  both.  And  for 
the  second,  certain  it  is,  there  is  no  vexation  or  anxiety  of 
mind  which  resulteth  from  knowledge  otherwise  than  merely 
by  accident ;  for  all  knowledge  and  wonder  (which  is  the  seed 
of  knowledge)  is  an  impression  of  pleasure  in  itself :  but 
when  men  fall  to  framing  conclusions  out  of  their  knowledge, 
applying  it  to  their  particular,  and  ministering  to  themselves 


THE  FIRST  BOOK. 


267 


thereby  weak  fears  or  vast  desires,  there  groweth  that  careful¬ 
ness  and  trouble  of  mind  which  is  spoken  of :  for  then  know¬ 
ledge  is  no  more  Lumen  siccum  [a  dry  light],  whereof  Hera¬ 
clitus  the  profound  said,  Lumen  siccum  optima  anima1,  [the 
dry  light  is  the  best  soul ;]  but  it  becometh  Lumen  madidum 
or  maceratum.  [a  light  charged  with  moisture,]  being  steeped 
and  infused  in  the  humours  of  the  affections.  And  as  for  the 
third  point,  it  deserveth  to  be  a  little  stood  upon  and  not  to  be 
lightly  passed  over :  for  if  any  man  shall  think  by  view  and 
inquiry  into  these  sensible  and  material  things  to  attain  that 
light  whereby  he  may  reveal  unto  himself  the  nature  or  will  of 
God,  then  indeed  is  he  spoiled  by  vain  philosophy :  for  the 
contemplation  of  God’s  creatures  and  works  produceth  (hav¬ 
ing  regard  to  the  works  and  creatures  themselves)  knowledge ; 
but  having  regard  to  God,  no  perfect  knowledge,  but  wonder, 
which  is  broken  knowledge.  And  *therefore  it  was  most  aptly 
said  by  one  of  Plato’s  school,  That  the  sense  of  man  carrieth  a 
resemblance  with  the  sun,  which  (as  we  see )  openeth  and  revealeth 
all  the  terrestrial  globe;  but  then  again  it  obscureth  and  concealeth 
the  stars  and  celestial  globe :  so  doth  the  sense  discover  natural 
things,  but  it  darkeneth  and  shutteth  up  divine.  And  hence  it  is 
true  that  it  hath  proceeded  that  divers  great  learned  men  have 
been  heretical,  whilst  they  have  sought  to  fly  up  to  the  secrets 
of  the  Deity  by  the  waxen  wings  of  the  senses.  And  as  for  the 
conceit  that  too  much  knowledge  should  incline  a  man  to 
atheism,  and  that  the  ignorance  of  second  causes  should  make  a 
more  devout  dependence  upon  God  which  is  the  first  cause  ; 
first,  it  is  good  to  ask  the  question  which  Job  asked  of  his 
friends.  Will  you  lie  for  God,  as  one  man  will  do  for  another,  to 
gratify  him?  For  certain  it  is  that  God  worketh  nothing  in 
nature  but  by  second  causes ;  and  if  they  would  have  it  otherwise 
believed,  it  is  mere  imposture,  as  it  were  in  favour  towards 
God ;  and  nothing  else  but  to  offer  to  the  author  of  truth  the 
unclean  sacrifice  of  a  lie.  But  farther,  it  is  an  assured  truth 
and  a  conclusion  of  experience,  that  a  little  or  superficial 
knowledge  of  philosophy  may  incline  the  mind  of  man  to 
atheism,  but  a  farther  proceeding  therein  doth  bring  the  mind 


1  auV/  tvpb  faxy  (rotpcoraTT) :  a  corruption,  according  to  the  conjecture  of  Professor 
W.H.  Thompson,  of  avij  co^coTarr} ;  £rjp)i  having  been  first  inserted  by  one 

commentator,  to  explain  the  unusual  word  avrj,  and  so  passed  into  the  text ;  avrj 
having  been  turned  into  avyrj  by  another,  to  make  sense.  See  Remains  of  Professor 
Archer  Butlc rt  vol.  i.  l>.  014. 


268 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


back  again  to  religion  ;  for  in  the  entrance  of  philosophy,  when 
the  second  causes,  which  are  next  unto  the  senses,  do  offer 
themselves  to  the  mind  of  man,  if  it  dwell  and  stay  there,  it 
may  induce  some  oblivion  of  the  highest  cause ;  but  when 
a  man  passeth  on  farther,  and  seeth  the  dependence  of  causes 
and  the  works  of  Providence ;  then,  according  to  the  allegory 
of  the  poets,  he  will  easily  believe  that  the  highest  link  of 
nature’s  chain  must  needs  be  tied  to  the  foot  of  J upiter’s  chair. 
To  conclude  therefore,  let  no  man,  upon  a  weak  conceit  of 
sobriety  or  an  ill-applied  moderation,  think  or  maintain  that 
a  man  can  search  too  far  or  be  too  well  studied  in  the  book  of 
God’s  word  or  in  the  book  of  God’s  works  ;  divinity  or  philo¬ 
sophy  ;  but  rather  let  men  endeavour  an  endless  progress  or 
proficience  in  both ;  only  let  men  beware  that  they  apply  both 
to  charity,  and  not  to  swelling ;  to  use,  and  not  to  ostentation ; 
and  again,  that  they  do  not  unwisely  mingle  or  confound  these 
learnings  together. 

And  as  for  the  disgraces  which  learning  receiveth  from  poli- 
tiques,  they  be  of  this  nature ;  that  learning  doth  soften  men’s 
minds,  and  makes  them  more  unapt  for  the  honour  and  exercise 
of  arms ;  that  it  doth  mar  and  pervert  men’s  dispositions  for 
matter  of  government  and  policy,  in  making  them  too  curious 
and  irresolute  by  variety  of  reading,  or  too  peremptory  or  po¬ 
sitive  by  strictness  of  rules  and  axioms,  or  too  immoderate  and 
overweening  by  reason  of  the  greatness  of  examples,  or  too 
incompatible  and  differing  from  the  times  by  reason  of  the  dis¬ 
similitude  of  examples ;  or  at  least  that  it  doth  divert  men’s 
travails  from  action  and  business,  and  bringeth  them  to  a  love 
of  leisure  and  privateness  ;  and  that  it  doth  bring  into  states 
a  relaxation  of  discipline,  whilst  every  man  is  more  ready  to 
argue  than  to  obey  and  execute.  Out  of  this  conceit  Cato 
surnamed  the  Censor,  one  of  the  wisest  men  indeed  that  ever 
lived,  when  Carneades  the  philosopher  came  in  embassage  to 
Rome,  and  that  the  young  men  of  Rome  began  to  flock  about 
him,  being  allured  with  the  sweetness  and  majesty  of  his  elo¬ 
quence  and  learning,  gave  counsel  in  open  senate  that  they 
should  give  him  his  dispatch  with  all  speed,  lest  he  should  in¬ 
fect  and  inchant  the  minds  and  affections  of  the  youth,  and  at 
unawares  bring  in  an  alteration  of  the  manners  and  customs  of 
the  state.  Out  of  the  same  conceit  or  humour  did  Virgil, 


THE  FIRST  BOOK. 


269 


turning  his  pen  to  the  advantage  of  his  country  and  the  dis¬ 
advantage  of  his  own  profession,  make  a  kind  of  separation  be¬ 
tween  policy  and  government  and  between  arts  and  sciences, 
in  the  verses  so  much  renowned,  attributing  and  challenging 
the  one  to  the  Romans,  and  leaving  and  yielding  the  other  to 
the  Grecians ;  Tu  regere  imperio  populos,  Romane,  memento,  Hce 
tibi  erunt  artes,  &c. 

[Be  thine,  O  Rome, 

With  arts  of  government  to  rule  the  nations.] 

So  likewise  we  see  that  Anytus,  the  accuser  of  Socrates,  laid 
it  as  an  article  of  charge  and  accusation  against  him  that  he 
did  with  the  variety  and  power  of  his  discourses  and  disputa¬ 
tions  withdraw  young  men  from  due  reverence  to  the  laws  and 
customs  of  their  country ;  and  that  he  did  profess  a  dangerous 
and  pernicious  science,  which  was  to  make  the  worse  matter 
seem  the  better,  and  to  suppress  truth  by  force  of  eloquence 
and  speech. 

But  these  and  the  like  imputations  have  rather  a  countenance 
of  gravity  than  any  ground  of  justice :  for  experience  doth 
warrant  that  both  in  persons  and  in  times  there  hath  been  a 
meeting  and  concurrence  in  learning  and  arms,  flourishing  and 
excelling  in  the  same  men  and  the  same  ages.  For  as  for  men, 
there  cannot  be  a  better  nor  the  like  instance,  as  of  that  pair, 
Alexander  the  Great  and  Julius  Cassar  the  dictator;  whereof 
the  one  was  Aristotle’s  scholar  in  philosophy,  and  the  other  was 
Cicero’s  rival  in  eloquence ;  or  if  any  man  had  rather  call  for 
scholars  that  were  great  generals  than  generals  that  were  great 
scholars,  let  him  take  Epaminondas  the  Theban,  or  Xenophon 
the  Athenian ;  whereof  the  one  was  the  first  that  abated  the 
power  of  Sparta,  and  the  other  was  the  first  that  made  way  to 
the  overthrow  of  the  monarchy  of  Persia.  And  this  concur¬ 
rence  is  yet  more  visible  in  times  than  in  persons,  by  how  much 
an  age  is  greater  object  than  a  man.  For  both  in  TEgypt, 
Assyria,  Persia,  Graecia,  and  Rome,  the  same  times  that  are 
most  renowned  for  arms  are  likewise  most  admired  for  learn¬ 
ing;  so  that  the  greatest  authors  and  philosophers  and  the 
greatest  captains  and  governors  have  lived  in  the  same  ages. 
Neither  can  it  otherwise  be :  for  as  in  man  the  ripeness  of 
strength  of  the  body  and  mind  cometh  much  about  an  age,  save 
that  the  strength  of  the  body  cometh  somewhat  the  more  early  ; 
so  in  states,  arms  and  learning,  whereof  the  one  correspondeth 


270 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


to  the  body,  the  other  to  the  soul  of  man,  have  a  concurrence 
or  near  sequence  in  times. 

And  for  matter,  of  policy  and  government,  that  learning 
should  rather  hurt  than  enable  thereunto,  is  a  thing  very  im¬ 
probable.  We  see  it  is  accounted  an  error  to  commit  a  natural 
body  to  empiric  physicians,  which  commonly  have  a  few  pleas¬ 
ing  receits  whereupon  they  are  confident  and  adventurous, 
but  know  neither  the  causes  of  diseases,  nor  the  complexions  of 
patients,  nor  peril  of  accidents,  nor  the  true  method  of  cures. 
We  see  it  is  a  like  error  to  rely  upon  advocates  or  lawyers 
which  are  only  men  of  practice  and  not  grounded  in  their  books, 
who  are  many  times  easily  surprised  when  matter  falleth  out 
besides  their  experience,  to  the  prejudice  of  the  causes  they 
handle.  So  by  like  reason  it  cannot  be  but  a  matter  of  doubt¬ 
ful  consequence,  if  states  be  managed  by  empiric  statesmen, 
pot  well  mingled  with  men  grounded  in  learning.  But  contra¬ 
riwise,  it  is  almost  without  instance  contradictory,  that  ever 1 
any  government  was  disastrous  that  was  in  the  hands  of  learned 
governors.  For  howsoever  it  hath  been  ordinary  with  politic 
men  to  extenuate  and  disable  learned  men  by  the  names  of 
Pedantes ;  yet  in  the  records  of  time  it  appeareth  in  many 
particulars,  that  the  governments  of  princes  in  minority  (not¬ 
withstanding  the  infinite  disadvantage  of  that  kind  of  state) 
have  nevertheless  excelled  the  government  of  princes  of  mature 
age,  even  for  that  reason  which  they  seek  to  traduce,  which 
is,  that  by  that  occasion  the  state  hath  been  in  the  hands  of 
Pedantes :  for  so  was  the  state  of  Rome  for  the  first  five  years, 
which  are  so  much  magnified,  during  the  minority  of  Nero,  in 
the  hands  of  Seneca,  a  Pedanti :  so  it  was  again  for  ten  years 
space  or  more,  during  the  minority  of  Gordianus  the  younger, 
with  great  applause  and  contentation  in  the  hands  of  Misitheus, 
a  Pedanti:  so  was  it  before  that,  in  the  minority  of  Alexander 
Severus,  in  like  happiness,  in  hands  not  much  unlike,  by 
reason  of  the  rule  of  the  women,  who  were  aided  by  the 
teachers  and  preceptors.  Nay  let  a  man  look  into  the  govern¬ 
ment  of  the  bishops  of  Rome,  as  by  name  into  the  government 
of  Pius  Quintus  and  Sextus  Quintus  in  our  times,  who  were 
both  at  their  entrance  esteemed  but  as  pedantical  friars,  and  he 
shall  find  that  such  popes  do  greater  things,  and  proceed  upon 


1  So  in  all  the  editions. 


THE  FIRST  BOOK. 


271 


truer  principles  of  estate,  than  those  which  have  ascended  to 
the  papacy  from  an  education  and  breeding  in  affairs  of  estate 
and  courts  of  princes ;  for  although  men  bred  in  learning 
are  perhaps  to  seek  in  points  of  convenience  and  accommo¬ 
dating  for  the  present,  which  the  Italians  call  ragioni  di  stato, 
whereof  the  same  Pius  Quintus  could  not  hear  spoken  with 
patience,  terming  them  inventions  against  religion  and  the 
moral  virtues ;  yet  on  the  other  side,  to  recompense  that,  they 
are  perfect  in  those  same  plain  grounds  of  religion,  justice, 
honour,  and  moral  virtue ;  which  if  they  be  well  and  watch¬ 
fully  pursued,  there  will  be  seldom  use  of  those  other,  no  more 
than  of  physic  in  a  sound  or  well-dieted  body.  Neither  can 
the  experience  of  one  man’s  life  furnish  examples  and  prece¬ 
dents  for  the  events  of  one  man’s  life :  for  as  it  happeneth 
sometimes  that  the  grandchild  or  other  descendant  resembleth 
the  ancestor  more  than  the  son ;  so  many  times  occurrences 
of  present  times  may  sort  better  with  ancient  examples  than 
with  those  of  the  later  or  immediate  times  :  and  lastly,  the  wit 
of  one  man  can  no  more  countervail  learning  than  one  man’s 
means  can  hold  way  with  a  common  purse. 

And  as  for  those  particular  seducements  or  indispositions  of 
the  mind  for  policy  and  government,  which  learning  is  pre¬ 
tended  to  insinuate ;  if  it  be  granted  that  any  such  thing  be, 
it  must  be  remembered  withal,  that  learning  ministereth  in 
every  of  them  greater  strength  of  medicine  or  remedy,  than  it 
offereth  cause  of  indisposition  or  infirmity.  For  if  by  a  secret 
operation  it  make  men  perplexed  and  irresolute,  on  the  other 
side  by  plain  precept  it  teacheth  them  when  and  upon  what 
ground  to  resolve ;  yea,  and  how  to  carry  things  in  suspense 
without  prejudice  till  they  resolve.  If  it  make  men  positive 
and  regular,  it  teacheth  them  what  things  are  in  their  nature 
demonstrative,  and  what  are  conjectural ;  and  as  well  the  use  of 
distinctions  and  exceptions,  as  the  latitude  of  principles  and 
rules.  If  it  mislead  by  disproportion  or  dissimilitude  of  ex¬ 
amples,  it  teacheth  men  the  force  of  circumstances,  the  errors 
of  comparisons,  and  all  the  cautions  of  application ;  so  that  in 
all  these  it  doth  rectify  more  effectually  than  it  can  pervert. 
And  these  medicines  it  conveyeth  into  men’s  minds  much 
more  forcibly  by  the  quickness  and  penetration  of  examples. 
For  let  a  man  look  into  the  errors  of  Clement  the  seventh,  so 
lively  described  by  Guicciardine,  who  served  under  him,  or 


272 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


into  the  errors  of  Cicero  painted  out  by  his  own  pencil  in 
his  epistles  to  Atticus,  and  he  will  fly  apace  from  being  irreso¬ 
lute.  Let  him  look  into  the  errors  of  Phocion,  and  he  will 
beware  how  he  be  obstinate  or  inflexible.  Let  him  but  read 
the  fable  of  Ixion,  and  it  will  hold  him  from  being  vaporous  or 
imaginative.  Let  him  look  into  the  errors  of  Cato  the  second, 
and  he  will  never  be  one  of  the  Antipodes,  to  tread  opposite  to 
the  present  world. 

And  for  the  conceit  that  learning  should  dispose  men  to 
leisure  and  privateness,  and  make  men  slothful;  it  were  a 
strange  thing  if  that  which  accustometh  the  mind  to  a  perpetual 
motion  and  agitation  should  induce  slothfulness ;  whereas  con¬ 
trariwise  it  may  be  truly  affirmed  that  no  kind  of  men  love 
business  for  itself  but  those  that  are  learned ;  for  other  per¬ 
sons  love  it  for  profit,  as  an  hireling  that  loves  the  work  for 
the  wages ;  or  for  honour,  as  because  it  beareth  them  up  in  the 
eyes  of  men,  and  refresheth  their  reputation  which  otherwise 
would  wear ;  or  because  it  putteth  them  in  mind  of  their  for¬ 
tune,  and  giveth  them  occasion  to  pleasure  and  displeasure; 
or  because  it  exerciseth  some  faculty  wherein  they  take  pride, 
and  so  entertaineth  them  in  good  humour  and  pleasing  conceits 
toward  themselves ;  or  because  it  advanceth  any  other  their 
ends.  So  that  as  it  is  said  of  untrue  valours  that  some  men’s 
valours  are  in  the  eyes  of  them  that  look  on,  so  such  men’s 
industries  are  in  the  eyes  of  others,  or  at  least  in  regard  of 
their  own  designments 1 ;  only  learned  men  love  business  as 
an  action  according  to  nature,  as  agreeable  to  health  of  mind 
as  exercise  is  to  health  of  body,  taking  pleasure  in  the  action 
itself,  and  not  in  the  purchase :  so  that  of  all  men  they  are  the 
most  indefatigable,  if  it  be  towards  any  business  which  can 
hold  or  detain  their  mind. 

And  if  any  man  be  laborious  in  reading  and  study  and  yet 
idle  in  business  and  action,  it  groweth  from  some  weakness  of 
body  or  softness  of  spirit,  such  as  Seneca  speaketh  of ;  Quidam 
tarn  sunt  umbratiles,  ut  putent  in  turbido  esse  quicquid  in  luce 
est,  [there  are  some  men  so  fond  of  the  shade,  that  they  think 
they  are  in  trouble  whenever  they  are  in  the  light ;]  and  not  of 
learning.  Well  may  it  be  that  such  a  point  of  a  man’s  nature 

1  i.  e.  they  have  for  their  object  either  the  applause  of  others  or  some  inward  grati¬ 
fication  of  their  own.  (hoc  videntur  agere,  aut  ut  alii  plaudant,  aut  ut  ipsi  intra  se 
gestiant. 


THE  FIRST  BOOK. 


273 


may  make  him  give  himself  to  learning,  but  it  is  not  learning 
that  breedeth  any  such  point  in  his  nature. 

And  that  learning  should  take  up  too  much  time  or  leisure; 
I  answer,  the  most  active  or  busy  man  that  hath  been  or  can 
be  hath  (no  question)  many  vacant  times  of  leisure,  while  he 
expecteth  the  tides  and  returns  of  business,  (except  he  be  either 
tedious  and  of  no  dispatch,  or  lightly  and  unworthily  ambitious 
to  meddle  in  things  that  may  be  better  done  by  others ;) 
and  then  the  question  is  but  how  those  spaces  and  times 
of  leisure  shall  be  filled  and  spent ;  whether  in  pleasures  or  in 
studies ;  as  was  well  answered  by  Demosthenes  to  his  adversary 
Aeschines ',  that  was  a  man  given  to  pleasure,  and  told  him 
that  his  orations  did  smell  of  the  lamp  :  Indeed  (said  Demo¬ 
sthenes)  there  is  a  great  difference  hetiveen  the  things  that  you 
and  I  do  by  lamp-light.  So  as  no  man  need  doubt  that  learn¬ 
ing  will  expulse  business ;  but  rather  it  will  keep  and  defend 
the  possession  of  the  mind  against  idleness  and  pleasure,  which 
otherwise  at  unawares  may  enter  to  the  prejudice  of  both. 

Again,  for  that  other  conceit  that  learning  should  undermine 
the  reverence  of  laws  and  government,  it  is  assuredly  a  mere 
depravation  and  calumny  without  all  shadow  of  truth.  For  to 
say  that  a  blind  custom  of  obedience  should  be  a  surer  obliga¬ 
tion  than  duty  taught  and  understood,  it  is  to  affirm  that  a 
blind  man  may  tread  surer  by  a  guide  than  a  seeing  man  can 
by  a  light.  And  it  is  without  all  controversy  that  learning 
doth  make  the  minds  of  men  gentle,  generous,  maniable,  and 
pliant  to  government ;  whereas  ignorance  makes  them  churlish, 
thwart,  and  mutinous :  and  the  evidence  of  time  doth  clear 
this  assertion,  considering  that  the  most  barbarous,  rude,  and 
unlearned  times  have  been  most  subject  to  tumults,  seditions, 
and  changes. 

And  as  to  the  judgment  of  Cato  the  Censor,  he  was  well 
punished  for  his  blasphemy  against  learning,  in  the  same  kind 
wherein  he  offended j  for  when  he  was  past  threescore  years 
old,  he  was  taken  with  an  extreme  desire  to  go  to  school 
again  and  to  learn  the  Greek  tongue,  to  the  end  to  peruse 
the  Greek  authors  ;  which  doth  well  demonstrate,  that  his  for¬ 
mer  censure  of  the  Grecian  learning  was  rather  an  affected 
gravity,  than  according  to  the  inward  sense  of  his  own  opinion. 
And  as  for  Virgil’s  verses,  though  it  pleased  him  to  brave  the 

1  Pythcas,  according  to  Plutarch. 


274 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


world  in  taking  to  the  Romans  the  art  of  empire,  and  leaving 
to  others  the  arts  of  subjects;  yet  so  much  is  manifest,  that  the 
Romans  never  ascended  to  that  height  of  empire  till  the  time 
they  had  ascended  to  the  height  of  other  arts  ;  for  in  the  time 
of  the  two  first  Caesars,  which  had  the  art  of  government  in 
greatest  perfection,  there  lived  the  best  poet,  Virgilius  Maro ; 
the  best  historiographer,  Titus  Livius ;  the  best  antiquary, 
Marcus  Yarro;  and  the  best,  or  second  orator,  Marcus  Cicero, 
that  to  the  memory  of  man  are  known.  As  for  the  accusation 
of  Socrates,  the  time  must  be  remembered  when  it  was  prose¬ 
cuted  ;  which  was  under  the  thirty  tyrants,  the  most  base, 
bloody,  and  envious  persons  that  have  governed  ;  which  revo¬ 
lution  of  state  was  no  sooner  over,  but  Socrates,  whom  they 
had  made  a  person  criminal,  was  made  a  person  heroical,  and 
his  memory  accumulate  with  honours  divine  and  human ;  and 
those  discourses  of  his,  which  were  then  termed  corrupting  of 
manners,  were  after  acknowledged  for  sovereign  medicines  of 
the  mind  and  manners,  and  so  have  been  received  ever  since 
till  this  day.  Let  this  therefore  serve  for  answer  to  politiques, 
which  in  their  humorous  severity  or  in  their  feigned  gravity 
have  presumed  to  throw  imputations  upon  learning ;  which  re- 
dargution  nevertheless  (save  that  we  know  not  whether  our 
labours  may  extend  to  other  ages)  were  not  needful  for  the 
present,  in  regard  of  the  love  and  reverence  towards  learning 
which  the  example  and  countenance  of  two  so  learned  princes* 
queen  Elizabeth  and  your  Majesty,  being  as  Castor  and  Pollux, 
lucida  sidera,  stars  of  excellent  light  and  most  benign  influence, 
hath  wrought  in  all  men  of  place  and  authority  in  our  nation. 

Now  therefore  we  come  to  that  third  sort  of  discredit 
or  diminution  of  credit,  that  groweth  unto  learning  from 
learned  men  themselves,  which  commonly  cleaveth  fastest.  It 
is  either  from  their  fortune,  or  from  their  manners,  or  from  the 
nature  of  their  studies.  For  the  first,  it  is  not  in  their  power; 
and  the  second  is  accidental ;  the  third  only  is  proper  to  be 
handled.  But  because  we  are  not  in  hand  with  true  measure, 
but  with  popular  estimation  and  conceit,  it  is  not  amiss  to  speak 
somewhat  of  the  two  former.  The  derogations  therefore  which 
grow  to  learning  from  the  fortune  or  condition  of  learned  men, 
are  either  in  respect  of  scarcity  of  means,  or  in  respect  of 
privateness  of  life  and  meanness  of  employments. 


THE  FIRST  BOOK. 


275 


Concerning  want,  and  that  it  is  the  case  of  learned  men 
usually  to  begin  with  little  and  not  to  grow  rich  so  fast  as 
other  men,  by  reason  they  convert  not  their  labours  chiefly  to 
lucre  and  increase ;  it  were  good  to  leave  the  common  place 
in  commendation  of  poverty  to  some  friar  to  handle  l,  to  whom 
much  was  attributed  by  Machiavel  in  this  point,  when  he  said. 
That  the  kingdom  of  the  clergy  had  been  long  before  at  an  end, 
if  the  reputation  and  reverence  towards  the  poverty  of  friars  had 
not  borne  out  the  scandal  of  the  superfluities  and  excesses  of  bi¬ 
shops  and  prelates.  So  a  man  might  say  that  the  felicity  and 
delicacy  of  princes  and  great  persons  had  long  since  turned 
to  rudeness  and  barbarism,  if  the  poverty  of  learning  had  not 
kept  up  civility  and  honour  of  life.  But  without  any  such 
advantages,  it  is  worthy  the  observation  what  a  reverend  and 
honoured  thing  poverty  of  fortune  was  for  some  ages  in  the 
Roman  state,  which  nevertheless  was  a  state  without  para¬ 
doxes.  For  we  see  what  Titus  Livius  saith  in  his  introduc¬ 
tion:  Cotterum  aut  me  amor  negotii  suscepti  fallit,  aut  rculla  un- 
quam  respublica  nec  major,  nec  sanctior ,  nec  bonis  exemplis  ditior 
fuit ;  nec  in  quant  tarn  sera:  avaritia  luxuriaque  immigraverint ; 
nec  ubi  tantus  ac  tam  diu  paupertati  ac  parsimonies  honos  fuerit : 
[that  if  affection  for  his  subject  did  not  deceive  him,  there 
was  never  any  state  in  the  world  either  greater  or  purer  or 
richer  in  good  examples;  never  any  into  which  avarice  and  luxury 
made  their  way  so  late ;  never  any  in  which  poverty  and  fru¬ 
gality  were  for  so  long  a  time  held  in  so  great  honour].  We 
see  likewise,  after  that  the  state  of  Rome  was  not  itself  but 
did  degenerate,  how  that  person  that  took  upon  him  to  be  coun¬ 
sellor  to  Julius  Caesar  after  his  victory,  where  to  begin  his 
restoration  of  the  state,  maketh  it  of  all  points  the  most  sum¬ 
mary  to  take  away  the  estimation  of  wealth :  Verum  hcec  et 
omnia  mala  pariter  cum  honore  pecuniae  desinent ;  si  neque  magi¬ 
strate,  neque  alia  vulgo  cupienda,  venalia  erunt :  [but  these  and 
all  other  evils  (he  says)  will  cease  as  soon  as  the  worship  of 
money  ceases  ;  which  will  come  to  pass  when  neither  magistra¬ 
cies  nor  other  things  that  are  objects  of  desire  to  the  vulgar 
shall  be  to  be  had  for  money].  To  conclude  this  point,  as  it 
was  truly  said  that  rubor  est  virtutis  color,  [a  blush  is  virtue  s 
colour,]  though  sometime  it  come  from  vice;  so  it  may  be  fitly 
said  that  paupertas  est  virtutis  fortuna,  [poverty  is  virtue’s  for- 

•  Patribus  mcndicantibus  (pace  eorum  dixerim). —  De  Aug. 


19  Bacon  III 


276 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


tune,]  though  sometime  it  may  proceed  from  misgovernment 
and  accident.  Surely  Salomon  hath  pronounced  it,  both  in  cen¬ 
sure,  Qui  festinat  ad  divitias  non  erit  insons,  [he  that  maketh 
haste  to  be  rich  shall  not  be  innocent ;]  and  in  precept,  Buy  the 
truth,  and  sell  it  not;  and  so  of  wisdom  and  knowledge  ;  judging 
that  means  were  to  be  spent  upon  learning,  and  not  learning 
to  be  applied  to  means.  And  as  for  the  privateness  or  obscure¬ 
ness  (as  it  may  be  in  vulgar  estimation  accounted)  of  life  of 
contemplative  men  ;  it  is  a  theme  so  common  to  extol  a  pri¬ 
vate  life,  not  taxed  with  sensuality  and  sloth,  in  comparison 
and  to  the  disadvantage  of  a  civil  life,  for  safety,  liberty,  plea¬ 
sure,  and  dignity,  or  at  least  freedom  from  indignity,  as  no 
man  handleth  it  but  handleth  it  well ;  such  a  consonancy  it 
hath  to  men’s  conceits  in  the  expressing  and  to  men’s  consents 
in  the  allowing.  This  only  I  will  add,  that  learned  men  for¬ 
gotten  in  states,  and  not  living  in  the  eyes  of  men,  are  like 
the  images  of  Cassius  and  Brutus  in  the  funeral  of  Junia ;  of 
which  not  being  represented,  as  many  others  were,  Tacitus 
saith,  Eo  ipso  praefulgebant ,  quod  non  visebantur  ;  [they  had  the 
preeminence  over  all  —  in  being  left  out]. 

And  for  meanness  of  employment,  that  which  is  most  traduced 
to  contempt  is  that  the  government  of  youth  is  commonly 
allotted  to  them ;  which  age,  because  it  is  the  age  of  least 
authority,  it  is  transferred  to  the  disesteeming  of  those  employ¬ 
ments  wherein  youth  is  conversant,  and  which  are  conversant 
about  youth.  But  how  unjust  this  traducement  is  (if  you  will 
reduce  things  from  popularity  of  opinion  to  measure  of  reason) 
may  appear  in  that  we  see  men  are  more  curious  what  they  put 
into  a  new  vessel  than  into  a  vessel  seasoned,  and  what  mould 
they  lay  about  a  young  plant  than  about  a  plant  corroborate ; 
so  as  the  weakest  terms  and  times  of  all  things  use  to  have  the 
best  applications  and  helps.  And  will  you  hearken  to  the 
Hebrew  Rabbins  ?  Your  young  men  shall  see  visions,  and  your 
old  men  shall  dream  dreams  ;  say  they  1  youth  is  the  worthier 
age,  for  that  visions  are  nearer  apparitions  of  God  than  dreams. 
And  let  it  be  noted,  that  howsoever  the  conditions  of  life  of 
Pedantes  have 9  been  scorned  upon  theatres,  as  the  ape  of 
tyranny ;  and  that  the  modem  looseness  or  negligence  hath 

1  So  the  original.  Edd.  1629  and  1 633  have  the.  The  meaning  is,  “  upon  this  test 
they  observe,”  &c.  ( Ex  hot  textu  co/ligvpt.') 

a  So  ed.  1633.  The  original  has  hath. 


THE  FIRST  BOOK. 


277 


taken  no  due  regard  to  the  choice  of  school-masters  and  tutors; 
yet  the  ancient  wisdom  of  the  best  times  did  always  make  a 
just  complaint  that  states  were  too  busy  with  their  laws  and 
too  negligent  in  point  of  education :  which  excellent  part 
of  ancient  discipline  hath  been  in  some  sort  revived  of  late 
times  by  the  colleges  of  the  Jesuits;  of  whom,  although  in 
regard  of  their  superstition  I  may  say,  quo  meliores,  eo  deteri- 
ores  *,  [the  better  the  worse  ;]  yet  in  regard  of  this,  and  some 
other  points  concerning  human  learning  and  moral  matters,  I 
may  say,  as  Agesilaus  said  to  his  enemy  Pharnabazus,  talis 
quum  sis,  utinam  noster  esses,  [they  are  so  good  that  I  wish 
they  were  on  our  side].  And  thus  much  touching  the  dis¬ 
credits  drawn  from  the  fortunes  of  learned  men. 

As  touching  the  manners  of  learned  men,  it  is  a  thing  per¬ 
sonal  and  individual :  and  no  doubt  there  be  amongst  them,  as 
in  other  professions,  of  all  temperatures :  but  yet  so  as  it  is 
not  without  truth  which  is  said,  that  abeunt  studia  in  mores, 
studies  have  an  influence  and  operation  upon  the  manners  of 
those  that  are  conversant  in  them.2 

But  upon  an  attentive  and  indifferent  review,  I  for  my  part 
cannot  find  any  disgrace  to  learning  can  proceed  from  the 
manners  of  learned  men ;  not  inherent  to  them  as  they  are 
learned 3 ;  except  it  be  a  fault  (which  was  the  supposed  fault 
of  Demosthenes,  Cicero,  Cato  the  second,  Seneca,  and  many 
more)  that  because  the  times  they  read  of  are  commonly  better 
than  the  times  they  live  in,  and  the  duties  taught  better  than 
the  duties  practised,  they  contend  sometimes  too  far  to  bring 
things  to  perfection,  and  to  reduce  the  corruption  of  manners 
to  honesty  of  precepts  or  examples  of  too  great  height.  And 
yet  hereof  they  have  caveats  enough  in  their  own  walks.  For 
Solon,  when  he  was  asked  whether  he  had  given  his  citizens 
the  best  laws,  answered  wisely.  Yea  of  such  as  they  would 


1  This  parenthesis  is  omitted  in  the  translation,  no  doubt  as  offensive  to  the  Roman 
Catholics.  Several  other  passages  of  the  same  kind  occur  m  the  Advancement,  and 
they  are  all  treated  in  the  same  way.  The  motive  for  which  is  sufficiently  explained 
by  Bacon  himself  in  the  letter  which  he  sent  to  the  King  along  with  the  De  Augmentis. 
“  I  have  been  also  (he  says)  mine  own  Index  Expurgatorius,  that  it  may  be  read  in 
all  places.  For  since  my  end  of  putting  it  into  Latin  was  to  have  it  read  everywhere, 
it  had  been  an  absurd  contradiction  to  free  it  in  the  language  and  to  pen  it  up  in  the 
matter.”  Mr.  Ellis  made  a  list  of  these  passages,  which  will  be  noticed  in  their  places. 
The  word  enemy  in  the  next  clause  is  omitted,  probably  from  the  same  motive. 

2  And  that  learning  (the  translation  adds),  unless  the  mind  into  which  it  enters  be 
much  depraved,  corrects  the  natural  disposition  and  changes  it  for  the  better. 

8  e.  not  [I  mean,  from  such  manners  as  are]  inherent,  8cc.  (nullum  occurrit  dedecue 
literis,  ex  literatorum  moribus,  quatenus  sunt  literati,  adhterens.) 


278 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


receive :  and  Plato,  finding  that  his  own  heart  could  not  agree 
with  the  corrupt  manners  of  his  country,  refused  to  bear  place 
or  office ;  saying,  That  a  man's  country  was  to  be  used  as  his 
parents  were,  that  is,  with  humble  persuasions,  and  not  with  con¬ 
testations  :  and  Caesar’s  counsellor  put  in  the  same  caveat,  Non 
ad  vetera  instituta  revocans  quce  jampridem  corruptis  moribus 
ludibrio  sunt :  [not  to  attempt  to  bring  things  baqk  to  the  original 
institution,  now  that  by  reason  of  the  corruption  of  manners 
the  ancient  simplicity  and  purity  had  fallen  into  contempt:] 
and  Cicero  noteth  this  error  directly  in  Cato  the  second,  when 
he  writes  to  his  friend  Atticus ;  Cato  optime  sentit,  sed  nocet 
interdum  reipublicce ;  loquitur  enim  tanquam  in  republica  Pla- 
tonis,  non  tanquam  in  fcece  Romuli :  [Cato  means  excellently 
well ;  but  he  does  hurt  sometimes  to  the  state ;  for  he  talks 
as  if  it  were  Plato’s  republic  that  we  are  living  in,  and  not 
the  dregs  of  Romulus:]  and  the  same  Cicero  doth  excuse  and 
expound  the  philosophers  for  going  too  far  and  being  too  exact 
in  their  prescripts,  when  he  saith,  Isti  ipsi  prceceptores  virtutis 
et  magistri  videntur  fines  officiorum  paulo  longius  quam  natura 
vellet  protulisse,  ut  cum  ad  ultimum  animo  contendissemus,  ibi 
tamen,  ubi  oportet,  consisteremus :  [that  they  had  set  the  points 
of  duty  somewhat  higher  than  nature  would  well  bear ;  mean¬ 
ing  belike  to  allow  for  shortcomings,  and  that  our  endeavours 
aiming  beyond  the  mark  and  falling  short,  should  light  at  the 
right  place :]  and  yet  himself  might  have  said,  Monitis  sum 
minor  ipse  meis,  [that  he  fell  short  of  his  own  precepts]  ;  for  it 
was  his  own  fault,  though  not  in  so  extreme  a  degree. 

Another  fault  likewise  much  of  this  kind  hath  been  incident 
to  learned  men ;  which  is,  that  they  have  esteemed  the  pre¬ 
servation,  good,  and  honour  of  their  countries  or  masters  before 
their  own  fortunes  or  safeties.  For  so  saith  Demosthenes  unto 
the  Athenians  :  If  it  please  you  to  note  it,  my  counsels  unto  you 
are  not  such  whereby  I  should  grow  great  amongst  you,  and  you 
become  little  amongst  the  Grecians  :  but  they  be  of  that  nature,  as 
they  are  sometimes  not  good  for  me  to  give,  but  are  always  good 
for  you  to  follow.  And  so  Seneca,  after  he  had  consecrated 
that  Quinquennium  Neronis  to  the  eternal  glory  of  learned  go¬ 
vernors,  held  on  his  honest  and  loyal  course  of  good  and  free 
counsel,  after  his  master  grew  extremely  corrupt  in  his  go¬ 
vernment.  Neither  can  this  point  otherwise  be ;  for  learning 
endueth  men’s  minds  with  a  true  sense  of  the  frailty  of  their 


THE  FIRST  BOOK. 


279 


persons,  the  casualty  of  their  fortunes,  and  the  dignity  of  their 
soul  and  vocation ;  so  that  it  is  impossible  for  them  to  esteem 
that  any  greatness  of  their  own  fortune  can  be  a  true  or  worthy 
end  of  their  being  and  ordainment ;  and  therefore  are  desirous 
to  give  their  account  to  God,  and  so  likewise  to  their  masters 
under  God  (as  kings  and  the  states  that  they  serve),  in  these 
words ;  Ecce  tibi  lucrefeci,  and  not  Ecce  mihi  lucrefeci,  [c  Lo,  I 
have  gained  for  thee,’  not  c  Lo,  I  have  gained  for  myself :  ’] 
whereas  the  corrupter  sort  of  mere  politiques,  that  have  not 
their  thoughts  established  by  learning  in  the  love  and  appre¬ 
hension  of  duty,  nor  never  look  abroad  into  universality,  do 
refer  all  things  to  themselves,  and  thrust  themselves  into  the 
centre  of  the  world,  as  if  all  lines  should  meet  in  them  and 
their  fortunes ;  never  caring  in  all  tempests  what  becomes  of 
the  ship  of  estates,  so  they  may  save  themselves  in  the  cockboat 
of  their  own  fortune ;  whereas  men  that  feel  the  weight  of 
duty,  and  know  the  limits  of  self-love,  use  to  make  good  their 
places  and  duties,  though  with  peril.  And  if  they  stand  in 
seditious  and  violent  alterations,  it  is  rather  the  reverence  which 
many  times  both  adverse  parts  do  give  to  honesty,  than  any 
versatile  advantage  of  their  own  carriage.  But  for  this  point 
of  tender  sense  and  fast  obligation  of  duty,  which  learning  doth 
endue  the  mind  withal,  howsoever  fortune  may  tax  it  and 
many  in  the  depth  of  their  corrupt  principles  may  despise  it, 
yet  it  will  receive  an  open  allowance,  and  therefore  needs  the 
less  disproof  or  excusation. 

Another  fault  incident  commonly  to  learned  men,  which  may 
be  more  probably  defended  than  truly  denied,  is  that  they  fail 
sometimes  in  applying  themselves  to  particular  persons ;  which 
want  of  exact  application  ariseth  from  two  causes ;  the  one, 
because  the  largeness  of  their  mind  can  hardly  confine  itself  to 
dwell  in  the  exquisite  observation  or  examination  of  the  nature 
and  customs  of  one  person :  for  it  is  a  speech  for  a  lover  and 
not  for  a  wise  man,  Satis  magnum  alter  alteri  theatrum  sumus, 
[each  is  to  other  a  theatre  large  enough].  Nevertheless  I 
shall  yield,  that  he  that  cannot  contract  the  sight  of  his  mind 
as  well  as  disperse  and  dilate  it,  wanteth  a  great  faculty.  But 
there  is  a  second  cause,  which  is  no  inability  but  a  rejection 
upon  choice  and  judgment.  For  the  honest  and  just  bounds  of 
observation  by  one  person  upon  another  extend  no  farther  but 
to  understand  him  sufficiently,  whereby  not  to  give  him  offence, 


280 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


or  whereby  to  be  able  to  give  him  faithful  counsel,  or  whereby 
to  stand  upon  reasonable  guard  and  caution  in  respect  of  a 
man’s  self :  but  to  be  speculative  into  another  man,  to  the  end 
to  know  how  to  work  him  or  wind  him  or  govern  him,  pro¬ 
ceeded  from  a  heart  that  is  double  and  cloven,  and  not  entire 
and  ingenuous ;  which  as  in  friendship  it  is  want  of  integrity, 
so  towards  princes  or  superiors  is  want  of  duty.  For  the 
custom  of  the  Levant,  which  is,  that  subjects  do  forbear  to 
gaze  or  fix  their  eyes  upon  princes,  is  in  the  outward  ceremony 
barbarous ;  but  the  moral  is  good  :  for  men  ought  not  by  cun¬ 
ning  and  bent  observations  to  pierce  and  penetrate  into  the 
hearts  of  kings,  which  the  Scripture  hath  declared  to  be  inscru¬ 
table. 

There  is  yet  another  fault  (with  which  1  will  conclude  this 
part)  which  is  often  noted  in  learned  men,  that  they  do  many 
times  fail  to  observe  decency  and  discretion  in  their  beha¬ 
viour  and  carriage,  and  commit  errors  in  small  and  ordi¬ 
nary  points  of  action ;  so  as  the  vulgar  sort  of  capacities  do 
make  a  judgment  of  them  in  greater  matters  by  that  which 
they  find  wanting  in  them  in  smaller.  But  this  consequence 
doth  oft  deceive  men ;  for  which  I  do  refer  them  over  to  that 
which  was  said  by  Themistocles,  arrogantly  and  uncivilly  being 
applied  to  himself  out  of  his  own  mouth,  but  being  applied  to 
the  general  state  of  this  question  pertinently  and  iustly ;  when 
being  invited  to  touch  a  lute,  he  said  he  could  not  fiddle,  hut  he 
could  make  a  small  town  a  great  state.  So  no  doubt  many  may 
be  well  seen  in  the  passages  of  government  and  policy,  which 
are  to  seek  in  little  and  punctual  occasions.  I  refer  them  also 
to  that  which  Plato  said  of  his  master  Socrates,  whom  he  com¬ 
pared  to  the  gallypots  of  apothecaries,  which  on  the  outside  had 
apes  and  owls  and  antiques,  but  contained  within  sovereign 
and  precious  liquors  and  confections  ;  acknowledging  that  to 
an  external  report  he  was  not  without  superficial  levities  and 
deformities,  but  was  inwardly  replenished  with  excellent  virtues 
and  powers.  And  so  much  touching  the  point  of  manners  of 
learned  men. 

But  in  the  mean  time  I  have  no  purpose  to  give  allowance  to 
some  conditions  and  courses  base  and  unworthy,  wherein  divers 
professors  of  learning  have  wronged  themselves  and  gone  too 
far  ;  such  as  were  those  trencher  philosophers,  which  in  the 
later  age  of  the  Roman  state  were  usually  in  the  houses  of 


THE  FIRST  BOOK. 


281 


great  persons,  being  little  better  than  solemn  parasites  ;  of 
which  kind,  Lucian  maketh  a  merry  description  of  the  philo¬ 
sopher  that  the  great  lady  took  to  ride  with  her  in  her  coach, 
and  would  needs  have  him  carry  her  little  dog,  which  he  doing 
officiously  and  yet  uncomely,  the  page  scoffed,  and  said,  That 
he  doubted  the  philosopher  of  a  Stoic  would  turn  to  be  a  Cynic. 
But  above  all  the  rest,  the  gross  and  palpable  flattery  where- 
unto  many  (not  unlearned)  have  abased  and  abused  their  wits 
and  pens,  turning  fas  Du  Bartas  saith)  Hecuba  into  Helena 
and  Faustina  into  Lucretia,  hath  most  diminished  the  price  and 
estimation  of  learning.  Neither  is  the  moral 1  dedications  of 
books  and  writings,  as  to  patrons,  to  be  commended:  for  that 
books  (such  as  are  worthy  the  name  of  books)  ought  to  have 
no  patrons  but  truth  and  reason;  and  the  ancient  custom  was  to 
dedicate  them  only  to  private  and  equal  friends,  or  to  intitle 
the  books  with  their  names;  or  if  to  kings  and  great  persons, 
it  was  to  some  such  as  the  argument  of  the  book  was  fit  and 
proper  for.  But  these  and  the  like  courses  may  deserve  rather 
reprehension  than  defence. 

Not  that  I  can  tax  or  condemn  the  morigeration  or  applica¬ 
tion  of  learned  men  to  men  in  fortune.  For  the  answer  was 
good  that  Diogenes  made  to  one  that  asked  him  in  mockery. 
How  it  came  to  pass  that  philosophers  were  the  followers  of  rich 
men,  and  not  rich  men  of  philosophers  ?  He  answered  soberly, 
and  yet  sharply,  Because  the  one  sort  knew  what  they  had 
need  of,  and  the  other  did  not.  And  of  the  like  nature  was 
the  answer  which  Aristippus  made,  when  having  a  petition 
to  Dionysius  and  no  ear  given  to  him,  he  fell  down  at  his 
feet,  whereupon  Dionysius  staid  and  gave  him  the  hearing  and 
granted  it ;  and  afterward  some  person  tender  on  the  behalf 
of  philosophy,  reproved  Aristippus  that  he  would  offer  the  pro¬ 
fession  of  philosophy  such  an  indignity,  as  for  a  private  suit 
to  fall  at  a  tyrant’s  feet :  but  he  answered.  It  was  not  his  fault, 
but  it  was  the  fault  of  Dionysius,  that  had  his  ears  in  his  feet. 
Neither  was  it  accounted  weakness,  but  discretion,  in  him  that 
would  not  dispute  his  best  with  Adrianus  Caesar;  excusing 
himself,  That  it  was  reason  to  yield  to  him  that  commanded  thirty 
legions.  These  and  the  like  applications  and  stooping  to  points 
of  necessity  and  convenience  cannot  be  disallowed  ;  for  though 

1  i.  e.  customary.  Morem  ilium  receptum  libros  patronis  nuncupandi.  —  De  Aug. 
Ed.  1629  has  moderne. 


282 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


they  may  have  some  outward  baseness,  yet  in  a  judgment 
truly  made  they  are  to  be  accounted  submissions  to  the  occa¬ 
sion  and  not  to  the  person. 

Now  I  proceed  to  those  errors  and  vanities  which  have  in¬ 
tervened  amongst  the  studies  themselves  of  the  learned ;  which 
is  that  which  is  principal  and  proper  to  the  present  argument ; 
wherein  my  purpose  is  not  to  make  a  justification  of  the  er¬ 
rors,  but,  by  a  censure  and  separation  of  the  errors,  to  make 
a  justification  of  that  which  is  good  and  sound,  and  to  deliver 
that  from  the  aspersion  of  the  other.  For  we  see  that  it  is  the 
manner  of  men  to  scandalize  and  deprave  that  which  retaineth 
the  state  and  virtue,  by  taking  advantage  upon  that  which  is 
corrupt  and  degenerate :  as  the  Heathens  in  the  primitive  church 
used  to  blemish  and  taint  the  Christians  with  the  faults  and 
corruptions  of  heretics.  But  nevertheless  I  have  no  meaning 
at  this  time  to  make  any  exact  animadversion  of  the  errors 
and  impediments  in  matters  of  learning  which  are  more  secret 
and  remote  from  vulgar  opinion ;  but  only  to  speak  unto  such 
as  do  fall  under,  or  near  unto,  a  popular  observation. 

There  be  therefore  chiefly  three  vanities  in  studies,  whereby 
learning  hath  been  most  traduced.  For  those  things  we  do 
esteem  vain,  which  are  either  false  or  frivolous,  those  which 
either  have  no  truth  or  no  use :  and  those  persons  we  esteem 
vain,  which  are  either  credulous  or  curious ;  and  curiosity  is 
either  in  matter  or  words:  so  that  in  reason  as  well  as  in 
experience,  there  fall  out  to  be  these  three  distempers  (as  I 
may  term  them)  of  learning ;  the  first,  fantastical  learning ; 
the  second,  contentious  learning ;  and  the  last,  delicate  learn¬ 
ing  ;  vain  imaginations,  vain  altercations,  and  vain  affectations; 
and  with  the  last  I  will  begin.1  Martin  Luther,  conducted  (no 
doubt)  by  an  higher  Providence,  but  in  discourse  of  reason 
finding  what  a  province  he  had  undertaken  against  the  Bishop 
of  Rome  and  the  degenerate  traditions  of  the  church,  and 
finding  his  own  solitude,  being  no  ways  aided  by  the  opinions 


1  The  passage  which  follows  is  much  curtailed  in  the  translation  ;  no  doubt  for  the 
reason  mentioned  in  note  p.  277.  All  allusion  to  the  “  higher  Providence,”  the  “  de¬ 
generate  traditions  ”  of  the  church,  the  study  of  the  ancient  authors,  and  the  “  pri¬ 
mitive  but  seeming  new  opinions  ”  is  left  out :  and  we  are  only  told  that  this  dis¬ 
temper  of  luxuriance  of  speech  (though  in  former  times  it  had  been  occasionally  in 
request)  began  to  prevail  very  much  about  the  time  of  Luther ;  chiefly  on  account  of 
the  demand  for  fervour  and  efficacy  of  preaching,  &c.  The  remarks  on  the  style  of 
the  schoolmen,  and  the  hatred  which  at  that  time  began  to  be  conceived  against  them 
are  retained. 


THE  FIRST  BOOK. 


283 


of  his  own  time,  was  enforced  to  awake  all  antiquity,  and  to 
call  former  times  to  his  succors  to  make  a  party  against  the 
present  time  ;  so  that  the  ancient  authors,  both  in  divinity  and 
in  humanity,  which  had  long  time"  ^stept"  m  "libraries,  began 


mg  tinae  slept  m  libraries, 
generally  to  be  read  and  revolved.  This  by  consequence  did 
draw  on  a  necessity  of  a  more  exquisite  travail  in  the  languages 
original  wherein  those  authors  did  write,  for  the  better  under¬ 
standing  of  those  authors  and  the  better  advantage  of  pressing 
and  applying  their  words.  And  thereof  grew  again  a  delight 
in  their  manner  of  style  and  phrase,  and  an  admiration  of  that 
kind  of  writing ;  which  was  much  furthered  and  precipitated 
by  the  enmity  and  opposition  that  the  propounders  of  thosq 
(primitive  but  seeming  new)  opinions  had  against  the  schoolmen; 
who  were  generally  of  the  contrary  part,  and  whose  writings 
were  altogether  in  a  differing  style  and  form ;  taking  liberty 
to  coin  and  frame  new  terms  of  art  to  express  their  own  sense 
and  to  avoid  circuit  of  speech,  without  regard  to  the  pureness, 
pleasantness,  and  (as  I  may  call  it)  lawfulness  of  the  phrase  or 
word.  And  again,  because  the  great  labour  then  1  was  with  the 
people,  (of  whom  the  Pharisees  were  wont  to  say,  Execrabilis 
ista  turba,  quee  non  novit  legem,)  [the  wretched  crowd  that  has 
not  known  the  law,]  for  the  winning  and  persuading  of  them, 
there  grew  of  necessity  in  chief  price  and  request  eloquence 
and  variety  of  discourse,  as  the  fittest  and  forciblest  access  into 
the  capacity  of  the  vulgar  sort.  So  that  these  four  causes 
concurring,  the  admiration  of  ancient  authors,  the  hate  of  the 
schoolmenTthe  exact  study  of  languages,  and  the  efficacy  of 
preaching]  did  bring  in  an  affectionate  study  of  eloquence  and 
copie  of  speech,  which  then  began  to  flourish.  This  grew 
speedily  to  an  excess ;  for  men  began  to  hunt  more  after  words 
than  matter  ;  and  more  after  the  choiceness  of  the  phrase,  and 
the  round  and  clean  composition  of  the  sentence,  and  the  sweet 
falling  of  the  clauses,  and  the  varying  and  illustration  of  their 
works  with  tropes  and  figures,  than  after  the  weight  of  matter, 
worth  of  subject,  soundness  of  argument,  life  of  invention,  or 
depth  of  judgment.  Then  grew  the  flowing  and  watery  vein 
of  Osorius,  the  Portugal  bishop,  to  be  in  price.  Then  did 
Sturmiu3  spend  such  infinite  and  curious  pains  upon  Cicero 
the  orator  and  Hermogenes  the  rhetorician,  besides  his  own 


1  So  edd.  1629  and  1633.  The  original  has  that  then. 


284 


OP  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


V 


books  of  periods  and  imitation  and  the  like.  Then  did  Car 
of  Cambridge,  and  Ascham,  with  their  lectures  and  writings, 
almost  deify  Cicero  and  Demosthenes,  and  allure  all  young 
men  that  were  studious  unto  that  delicate  and  polished  kind 
of  learning.  Then  did  Erasmus  take  occasion  to  make  the 
scoffing  echo ;  Decern  annos  consumpsi  in  legendo  Cicerone,  [I 
have  spent  ten  years  in  reading  Cicero:]  and  the  echo  answered 
in  Greek,  one,  Asine.  Then  grew  the  learning  of  the  school¬ 
men  to  be  utterly  despised  as  barbarous.  In  sum,  the  whole, 
inclination  and  bent  of  those  times  was  rather  towards  copie 
than  weight. 

Here  therefore  [is]  the  first  distemper  of  learning,  when 
men  study  words  and  not  matter:  whereof  though  I  have 
represented  an  example  of  late  times,  yet  it  hath  been  and 
will  be  secundum  majus  et  minus  in  all  time.  And  how  is  it 
possible  but  this  should  have  an  operation  to  discredit  learn¬ 
ing,  even  with  vulgar  capacities,  when  they  see  learned  men’s 
works  like  the  first  letter  of  a  patent  or  limned  book ;  which 
though  it  hath  large  flourishes,  yet  it  is  but  a  letter  ?  It  seems 
to  me  that  Pygmalion’s  frenzy  is  a  good  emblem  or  portraiture 
of  this  vanity :  for  words  are  but  the  images  of  matter ;  and 
except  they  have  life  of  reason  and  invention,  to  fall  in  love 
with  them  is  all  one  as  to  fall  in  love  with  a  picture. 

But  yet  notwithstanding  it  is  a  thing  not  hastily  to  be  con¬ 
demned,  to  clothe  and  adorn  the  obscurity  even  of  philosophy 
itself  with  sensible  and  plausible  elocution.  For  hereof  we  have 
great  examples  in  Xenophon,  Cicero,  Seneca,  Plutarch,  and  of 
Plato  also  in  some  degree ;  and  hereof  likewise  there  is  great 
use ;  for  surely  to  the  severe  inquisition  of  truth,  and  the  deep 
progress  into  philosophy,  it  is  some  hinderance ;  because  it  is 
too  early  satisfactory  to  the  mind  of  man,  and  quencheth  the 
desire  of  further  search,  before  we  come  to  a  just  period ;  but 
then  if  a  man  be  to  have  any  use  of  such  knowledge  in  civil 
occasions,  of  conference,  counsel,  persuasion,  discourse,  or  the 
like;  then  shall  he  find  it  prepared  to  his  hands  in  those 
authors  which  write  in  that  manner.  But  the  excess  of  this 
is  so  justly  contemptible,  that  as  Hercules,  when  he  saw  the 
image  of  Adonis,  Venus’  minion,  in  a  temple,  said  in  disdain. 
Nil  sacri  es,  [you  are  no  divinity ;]  so  there  is  none  of  Her¬ 
cules’  followers  in  learning,  that  is,  the  more  severe  and  la¬ 
borious  sort  of  inquirers  into  truth,  but  will  despise  those 


THE  FIRST  BOOK. 


285 


delicacies  and  affectations,  as  indeed  capable  of  no  divineness. 1 
And  thus  much  of  the  first  disease  or  distemper  of  learning. 

The  second,  which  followeth,  is  in  nature  worse  than  the 
former;  for  as  substance  of  matter  is  better  than  beauty  of 
words,  so  contrariwise  vain  matter  is  worse  than  vain  words : 
wherein  it  seemeth  the  reprehension  of  St.  Paul  was  not  only 
proper  for  those  times,  but  prophetical  for  the  times  following  ; 
and  not  only  respective  to  divinity,  but  extensive  to  all  know¬ 
ledge  :  Devita  prof  anas  vocum  novitates,  et  oppositiones  falsi 
nominis  scientice :  [shun  profane  novelties  of  terms  and  op¬ 
positions  of  science  falsely  so  called].  For  he  assigneth  two 
marks  and  badges  of  suspected  and  falsified  science ;  the  one, 
the  novelty  and  strangeness  of  terms ;  the  other,  the  strictness 
of  positions,  which  of  necessity  doth  induce  oppositions,  and  so 
questions  and  altercations.  Surely,  like  as  many  substances 
in  nature  which  are  solid  do  putrefy  and  corrupt  into  worms, 
so  it  is  the  property  of  good  and  sound  knowledge  to  putrefy 
and  dissolve  into  a  number  of  subtile,  idle,  unwholesome,  and 
(as  I  may  term  them)  vermiculate  questions,  which  have  in¬ 
deed  a  kind  of  quickness  and  life  of  spirit,  but  no  soundness 
of  matter  or  goodness  of  quality.  This  kind  of  degenerate 
learning  did  chiefly  reign  amongst  the  schoolmen ;  who  having 
sharp  and  strong  wits,  and  abundance  of  leisure,  and  small 
variety  of  reading ;  but  their  wits  being  shut  up  in  the  cells  of 
a  few  authors  (chiefly  Aristotle  their  dictator)  as  their  persons 
were  shut  up  in  the  cells  of  monasteries  and  colleges;  and 
knowing  little  history,  either  of  nature  or  time ;  did  out  of  no 
great  quantity  of  matter,  and  infinite  agitation  of  wit,  spin  out 
unto  us  those  laborious  webs  of  learning  which  are  extant  in 
their  books.  For  the  wit  and  mind  of  man,  if  it  work  upon 
matter,  which  is  the  contemplation  of  the  creatures  of  God, 
worketh  according  to  the  stuff,  and  is  limited  thereby ;  but  if 
it  work  upon  itself,  as  the  spider  worketh  his  web,  then  it  is 

1  In  the  translation  he  mentions  another  vanity  of  style,  though  not  of  so  bad 
a  kind,  as  commonly  succeeding  the  last  in  point  of  time, — a  style  in  which  all  the 
study  is  to  have  the  words  pointed,  the  sentences  concise,  and  the  whole  composition 
rather  twisted  into  shape  than  allowed  to  flow  ( oratio  denique  potius  versa  quamfusa ) : 
a  trick  which  has  the  effect  of  making  everything  seem  more  ingenious  than  It  really 
is.  Such  a  style  (he  says)  is  found  largely  in  Seneca,  less  in  Tacitus  and  the  second 
Pliny,  and  has  found  favour  of  late  with  the  ears  of  our  own  time ;  but  though  it  is 
agreeable  to  ordinary  understandings  and  so  procures  some  respect  for  literature,  yet 
to  more  exact  judgments  it  is  deservedly  distasteful,  and  may  be  set  down  among  the 
distempers  of  learning,  being,  a3  well  as  the  other,  a  kind  of  hunting  after  words  and 
verbal  prettiness. 


286 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


endless,  and  brings  forth  indeed  cobwebs  of  learning,  admirable 
for  the  fineness  of  thread  and  work,  but  of  no  substance  or 
profit. 

This  same  unprofitable  subtility  or  curiosity  is  of  two  sorts ; 
either  in  the  subject  itself  that  they  handle,  when  it  is  a  fruitless 
speculation  or  controversy,  (whereof  there  are  no  small  number 
both  in  divinity  and  philosophy,)  or  in  the  manner  or  method 
of  handling  of  a  knowledge ;  which  amongst  them  was  this ; 
upon  every  particular  position  or  assertion  to  frame  objections, 
and  to  those  objections,  solutions;  which  solutions  were  for  the 
most  part  not  confutations,  but  distinctions :  whereas  indeed 
the  strength  of  all  sciences  is,  as  the  strength  of  the  old  man’s 
faggot,  in  the  bond.  F or  the  harmony  of  a  science,  supporting 
each  part  the  other,  is  and  ought  to  be  the  true  and  brief  con¬ 
futation  and  suppression  of  all  the  smaller  sort  of  objections ; 
but  on  the  other  side,  if  you  take  out  every  axiom,  as  the 
sticks  of  the  faggot,  one  by  one,  you  may  quarrel  with  them 
and  bend  them  and  break  them  at  your  pleasure :  so  that  as 
was  said  of  Seneca,  Verborum  minutiis  rerum  frangit  pondera, 
[that  he  broke  up  the  weight  and  mass  of  the  matter  by  verbal 
points  and  niceties ;]  so  a  man  may  truly  say  of  the  schoolmen, 
Qucestionum  minutiis  scientiarum  frangunt  soliditatem ;  [they 
broke  up  the  solidity  and  coherency  of  the  sciences  by  the 
minuteness  and  nicety  of  their  questions].  For  were  it  not 
better  for  a  man  in  a  fair  room  to  set  up  one  great  light,  or 
branching  candlestick  of  lights,  than  to  go  about  with  a  small 
watch  candle  into  every  corner?  And  such  is  their  method, 
that  rests  not  so  much  upon  evidence  of  truth  proved  by  argu¬ 
ments,  authorities,  similitudes,  examples,  as  upon  particular 
confutations  and  solutions  of  every  scruple,  cavillation,  and  ob¬ 
jection;  breeding  for  the  most  part  one  question  as  fast  it 
solveth  another ;  even  as  in  the  former  resemblance,  when  you 
carry  the  light  into  one  corner,  you  darken  the  rest :  so  that 
the  fable  and  fiction  of  Scylla  seemeth  to  be  a  lively  image  of 
this  kind  of  philosophy  or  knowledge  ;  which  was  transformed 
into  a  comely  virgin  for  the  upper  parts;  but  then  Candida 
succinctam  latrantibus  inguina  monstris,  [there  were  barking 
monsters  all  about  her  loins:]  so  the  generalities  of  the  school¬ 
men  are  for  a  while  good  and  proportionable ;  but  then  when 
you  descend  into  their  distinctions  and  decisions,  instead  of  a 
fruitful  womb  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  man’s  life,  they  end 


THE  FIRST  BOOK. 


287 


in  monstrous  altercations  and  barking  questions.  So  as  it  is 
not  possible  but  this  quality  of  knowledge  must  fall  under 
popular  contempt,  the  people  being  apt  to  contemn  truth  upon 
occasion  of  controversies  and  altercations,  and  to  think  they 
are  all  out  of  their  way  which  never  meet :  and  when  they  see 
such  digladiation  about  subtilities  and  matter  of  no  use  nor 
moment,  they  easily  fall  upon  that  judgment  of  Dionysius  of 
Syracusa,  Verba  ista  sunt  senum  otiosorum,  [it  is  the  talk  of  old 
men  that  have  nothing  to  do]. 

Notwithstanding  certain  it  is,  that  if  those  schoolmen  to 
their  great  thirst  of  truth  and  unwearied  travail  of  wit  had 
joined  variety  and  universality  of  reading  and  contemplation, 
they  had  proved  excellent  lights,  to  the  great  advancement  of 
all  learning  and  knowledge.  But  as  they  are,  they  are  great 
undertakers  indeed,  and  fierce  with  dark  keeping  1 ;  but  as  in 
the  inquiry  of  the  divine  truth  their  pride  inclined  to  leave 
the  oracle  of  God’s  word  and  to  vanish  in  the  mixture  of  their 
own  inventions,  so  in  the  inquisition  of  nature  they  ever  left 
the  oracle  of  God’s  works  and  adored  the  deceiving  and  de¬ 
formed  images  which  the  unequal  mirror  of  their  own  minds 
or  a  few  received  authors  or  principles  did  represent  unto  them. 
And  thus  much  for  the  second  disease  of  learning. 

For  the  third  vice  or  disease  of  learning,  which  concerneth 
deceit  or  untruth,  it  is  of  all  the  rest  the  foulest;  as  that 
which  doth  destroy  the  essential  form  of  knowledge,  which  is 
nothing  but  a  representation  of  truth  :  for  the  truth  of  being 
and  the  truth  of  knowing  are  one,  differing  no  more  than  the 
direct  beam  and  the  beam  reflected.  This  vice  therefore 
brancheth  itself  into  two  sorts ;  delight  in  deceiving,  and  aptness 
to  be  deceived ;  imposture  and  credulity ;  which,  although  they 
appear  to  be  of  a  diverse  nature,  the  one  seeming  to  proceed  of 
cunning,  and  the  other  of  simplicity,  yet  certainly  they  do  for 
the  most  part  concur :  for  as  the  verse  noteth, 

Percontatorem  fugito,  nam  garrulus  idem  est, 

an  inquisitive  man  is  a  prattler,  so  upon  the  like  reason  a  cre¬ 
dulous  man  is  a  deceiver:  as  we  see  it  in  fame,  that  he  that 

1  That  is,  fierce  from  being  kept  in  the  dark ;  the  allusion  being,  as  we  see  more 
clearly  from  a  corresponding  passage  in  an  early  Latin  fragment  [ferocitatem  autem  et 
conjidentiam  qua  illos  qui  pauca  norunt  sequi  solet ,  (uf  animalia  in  tenebris  educata ,) 
&c  —Cog.  de  Sci.  Hum.  1st  fragm.  §  10.],  to  the  effect  of  darkness  on  the  temper  of 
animals.—  R.  L.  E.  The  rest  of  this  sentence,  from  “  but  as  they  are  ”  is  omitted  in 
the  translation.  See  note  p.  277. 


288 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


will  easily  believe  rumours  will  as  easily  augment  rumours 
and  add  somewhat  to  them  of  his  own  ;  which  Tacitus  wisely 
noteth,  when  he  saith,  Fingunt  simul  creduntque,  [as  fast  as  they 
believe  one  tale  they  make  another  1 :]  so  great  an  affinity  hath 
fiction  and  belief. 

This  facility  of  credit,  and  accepting  or  admitting  things 
weakly  authorized  or  warranted,  is  of  two  kinds,  according  to 
the  subject:  for  it  is  either  a  belief  of  history  (as2  the  lawyers 
speak,  matter  of  fact),  or  else  of  matter  of  art  and  opinion. 
As  to  the  former,  we  see  the  experience  and  inconvenience 
of  this  error  in  ecclesiastical  history;  which  hath  too  easily 
received  and  registered  reports  and  narrations  of  miracles 
wrought  by  martyrs,  hermits,  or  monks  of  the  desert,  and 
other  holy  men,  and  their  relics,  shrines,  chapels,  and  images 3 : 
which  though  they  had  a  passage  for  a  time,  by  the  ignorance 
of  the  people,  the  superstitious  simplicity  of  some,  and  the 
politic  toleration  of  others,  holding  them  but  as  divine  poe¬ 
sies  ;  yet  after  a  period  of  time,  when  the  mist  began  to  clear 
up,  they  grew  to  be  esteemed  but  as  old  wives’  fables,  im¬ 
postures  of  the  clergy,  illusions  of  spirits,  and  badges  of  an¬ 
tichrist,  to  the  great  scandal  and  detriment  of  religion. 

So  in  natural  history,  we  see  there  hath  not  been  that  choice 
and  judgment  used  as  ought  to  have  been ;  as  may  appear  in 
the  writings  of  Plinius,  Cardanus,  Albertus,  and  divers  of  the 
Arabians ;  being  fraught  with  much  fabulous  matter,  a  great 
part  not  only  untried  but  notoriously  untrue,  to  the  great 
derogation  of  the  credit  of  natural  philosophy  with  the  grave 
and  sober  kind  of  wits.  Wherein  the  wisdom  and  integrity 
of  Aristotle  is  worthy  to  be  observed ;  that  having  made  so 
diligent  and  exquisite  a  history  of  living  creatures,  hath  min¬ 
gled  it  sparingly  with  any  vain  or  feigned  matter  ;  and  yet  on 
the  other  side 4  hath  cast  all  prodigious  narrations  which  he 
thought  worthy  the  recording  into  one  book ;  excellently  dis¬ 
cerning  that  matter  of  manifest  truth,  such  whereupon  obser¬ 
vation  and  rule  was  to  be  built,  was  not  to  be  mingled  or 
weakened  with  matter  of  doubtful  credit ;  and  yet  again  that 

1  I  think  this  is  the  sense  in  which  Bacon  must  have  understood  these  words ;  but 
it  is  not  the  sense  in  which  Tacitus  employs  them  (An.  v.  10.).  He  meant  that  they 
at  once  invented  the  tale  and  believed  it :  they  “  credited  their  own  lie.”  —  J.  S. 

2  So  the  original.  Edd.  1629  and  1633  have  or  as. 

3  The  rest  of  the  paragraph  is  omitted  in  the  translation.  See  note  p.  277. 

*  Sake  in  the  original,  and  also  in  cdd.  1629  and  1633. 


THE  FIRST  BOOK. 


289 


rarities  and  reports  that  seem  uncredible  are  not  to  be  sup¬ 
pressed  or  denied  to  the  memory  of  men. 

And  as  for  the  facility  of  credit  which  is  yielded  to  arts 
and  opinions,  it  is  likewise  of  two  kinds ;  either  when  too 
much  belief  is  attributed  to  the  arts  themselves,  or  to  certain 
authors  in  any  art.  The  sciences  themselves  which  have  had 
better  intelligence  and  confederacy  with  the  imagination  of  man 
than  with  his  reason,  are  three  in  number;  Astrology,  Natural 
Magic,  and  Alchemy  ;  of  which  sciences  nevertheless  the  ends 
or  pretences  are  noble.  For  astrology  pretendeth  to  discover 
that  correspondence  or  concatenation  which  is  between  the 
superior  globe  and  the  inferior  :  natural  magic  pretendeth  to  / 
call  and  reduce  natural  philosophy  from  variety  of  speculations 
to  the  magnitude  of  works :  and  alchemy  pretendeth  to  make 
separation  of  all  the  unlike  parts  of  bodies  which  in  mixtures 
of  nature  are  incorporate.  But  the  derivations  and  prosecu¬ 
tions  to  these  ends,  both  in  the  theories  and  in  the  practices,  are 
full  of  error  and  vanity ;  which  the  great  professors  themselves 
have  sought  to  veil  over  and  conceal  by  enigmatical  writings, 
and  referring  themselves  to  auricular  traditions,  and  such  other 
devices  to  save  the  credit  of  impostures.  And  yet  surely  to  al¬ 
chemy  this  right  is  due,  that  it  may  be  compared  to  the  hus¬ 
bandman  whereof  AUsop  makes  the  fable,  that  when  he  died 
told  his  sons  that  he  had  left  unto  them  gold  buried  under 
ground  in  his  vineyard ;  and  they  digged  over  all  the  ground, 
and  gold  they  found  none,  but  by  reason  of  their  stirring  and 
digging  the  mould  about  the  roots  of  their  vines,  they  had  a  great 
vintage  the  year  following :  so  assuredly  the  search  and  stir  to 
make  gold  hath  brought  to  light  a  great  number  of  good  and 
fruitful  inventions  and  experiments,  as  well  for  the  disclosing 
of  nature  as  for  the  use  of  man’s  life. 

And  as  for  the  overmuch  credit  that  hath  been  given  unto 
authors  in  sciences,  in  making  them  dictators,  that  their  words 
should  stand,  and  not  counsels'  to  give  advice;  the  damage  is 
infinite  that  sciences  have  received  thereby,  as  the  principal 
cause  that  hath  kept  them  low,  at  a  stay  without  growth  or 
advancement.  For  hence  it  hath  comen  that  in  arts  mecha¬ 
nical  the  first  deviser  comes  shortest,  and  time  addeth  and  per- 

1  So  the  original.  Edd.  1629  and  1633  have  consuls.  The  translation  has  dicta- 
toria  quadam  potentate  munivit  ut  edicant ,  non  senatoria  ut  consultant.  Bacon  probably 
wrote  counself \ 


290 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


fecteth ;  but  in  sciences  the  first  author  goeth  furthest,  and  time 
leeseth  and  corruptet.h.  So  we  see,  artillery,  sailing,  printing, 
and  the  like,  were  grossly  managed  at  the  first,  and  by  time  ac¬ 
commodated  and  refined;  but  contrariwise  the  philosophies  and 
sciences  of  Aristotle,  Plato,  Democritus,  Hippocrates,  Euclides, 
Archimedes,  of  most  vigour  at  the  first,  and  by  time  dege¬ 
nerate  and  imbased;  whereof  the  reason  is  no  other,  but  that 
in  the  former  many  wits  and  industries  have  contributed  in  one; 
and  in  the  later  many  wits  and  industries  have  been  spent 
about  the  wit  of  some  one,  whom  many  times  they  have  rather 
depraved  than  illustrated.  For  as  water  will  not  ascend  higher 
(than  the  level  of  the  first  spring-head  from  whence  it  descendeth, 
so  knowledge  derived  from  Aristotle,  and  exempted  from  liberty 
®f  examination,  will  not  rise  again  higher  than  the  knowledge 
of  Aristotle.  And  therefore,  although  the  position  be  good, 
Oportet  discentem  credere,  [a  man  who  is  learning  must  be  con¬ 
tent  to  believe  what  he  is  told,]  yet  it  must  be  coupled  with 
this,  Oportet  edoctum  judicare,  [when  he  has  learned  it  he  must 
exercise  his  judgment  and  see  whether  it  be  worthy  of  belief ;] 
for  disciples  do  owe  unto  masters  only  a  temporary  belief  and  a 
suspension  of  their  own  judgment  until  they  be  fully  instructed, 
and  not  an  absolute  resignation  or  perpetual  captivity :  and 
therefore  to  conclude  this  point,  I  will  say  no  more  but,  so  let 
great  authors  have  their  due,  as  time  which  is  the  author  of 
authors  be  not  deprived  of  his  due,  which  is  further  and  further 
to  discover  truth.  Thus  have  I  gone  over  these  three  diseases 
of  learning ;  besides  the  which,  there  are  some  other  rather 
peccant  humours  than  formed  diseases,  which  nevertheless  are 
not  so  secret  and  intrinsic  but  that  they  fall  under  a  popular 
observation  and  traducement,  and  therefore  are  not  to  be 
passed  over. 

The  first  of  these  is  the  extreme  affecting  of  two  ex¬ 
tremities;  the  one  Antiquity,  the  other  Novelty :  wherein  it 
seemeth  the  children  of  time  do  take  after  the  nature  and 
malice  of  the  father.  For  as  he  devoureth  his  children,  so  one 
of  them  seeketh  to  devour  and  suppress  the  other ;  while  an¬ 
tiquity  envieth  there  should  be  new  additions,  and  novelty 
cannot  be  content  to  add  but  it  must  deface.  Surely  the 
advice  of  the  prophet  is  the  true  direction  in  this  matter,  State 
super  vias  antiquas,  et  videte  queenam  sit  via  recta  et  bona,  et 
ambulate  in  ea :  [stand  ye  in  the  old  ways,  and  see  which  is  the 


THE  FIRST  BOOK. 


291 


good  way,  and  walk  therein].  Antiquity  deserveth  that  re¬ 
verence,  that  men  should  make  a  stand  thereupon,  and  discover 
what  is  the  best  way ;  but  when  the  discovery  is  well  taken, 
then  to  make  progression.  And  to  speak  truly,  Antiquitas 
sceculi  juventus  mundi.  These  times  are  the  ancient  times, 
when  the  world  is  ancient,  and  not  those  which  we  account 
ancient  ordine  retrogrado,  by  a  computation  backward  from 
ourselves. 

Another  error,  induced  by  the  former,  is  a  distrust  that  any 
thing  should  be  now  to  be  found  out,  which  the  world  should 
have  missed  and  passed  over  so  long  time;  as  if  the  same 
objection  were  to  be  made  to  time  that  Lucian  maketh  to 
Jupiter  and  other  the  heathen  gods,  of  which  he  wondereth 
that  they  begot  so  many  children  in  old  time  and  begot  none  in 
his  time,  and  asketh  whether  they  were  become  septuagenary, 
or  whether  the  law  Pappia,  made  against  old  men’s  marriages, 
had  restrained  them.  So  it  seemeth  men  doubt  lest  time  is 
become  past  children  and  generation  ;  wherein  contrariwise  we 
see  commonly  the  levity  and  unconstancy  of  men’s  judgments, 
which,  till  a  matter  be  done,  wonder  that  it  can  be  done ;  and 
as  soon  as  it  is  done,  wonder  again  that  it  was  no  sooner  done  ; 
as  we  see  in  the  expedition  of  Alexander  into  Asia,  which  at 
first  was  prejudged  as  a  vast  and  impossible  enterprise;  and  yet 
afterwards  it  pleaseth  Livy  to  make  no  more  of  it  than  this. 
Nil  aliud  quam  bene  ausus  vana  contemnere :  [it  was  but  taking 
courage  to  despise  vain  apprehensions].  And  the  same  hap¬ 
pened  to  Columbus  in  the  western  navigation.  But  in  intellec¬ 
tual  matters  it  is  much  more  common  ;  as  may  be  seen  in  most 
of  the  propositions  of  Euclid,  which  till  they  be  demonstrate, 
they  seem  strange  to  our  assent ;  but  being  demonstrate,  our 
mind  accepteth  of  them  by  a  kind  of  relation  (as  the  lawyers 
speak)  as  if  we  had  known  them  before. 

Another  error,  that  hath  also  some  affinity  with  the  former, 
is  a  conceit  that  of  former  opinions  or  sects,  after  variety  and 
examination,  the  best  hath  still  prevailed  and  suppressed  the 
rest;  so  as  if  a  man  should  begin  the  labour  of  a  new  search, 
he  were  but  like  to  light  upon  somewhat  formerly  rejected, 
and  by  rejection  brought  into  oblivion :  as  if  the  multitude,  or 
the  wisest  for  the  multitude’s  sake,  were  not  ready  to  give 
passage  rather  to  that  which  is  popular  and  superficial  than  to 
that  which  is  substantial  and  profound ;  for  the  truth  is,  that 


20  Bacon  III 


292 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


time  seemeth  to  be  of  the  nature  of  a  river  or  stream,  which 
carrieth  down  to  us  that  which  is  light  and  blown  up,  and 
sinketh  and  drowneth  that  which  is  weighty  and  solid. 

Another  error,  of  a  diverse  nature  from  all  the  former,  is 
the  over-early  and  peremptory  reduction  of  knowledge  into 
arts  and  methods ;  from  which  time  commonly  sciences  receive 
small  or  no  augmentation.  But  as  young  men,  when  they  knit 
and  shape  perfectly,  do  seldom  grow  to  a  further  stature ;  so 
knowledge,  while  it  is  in  aphorisms  and  observations,  it  is  in 
growth;  but  when  it  once  is  comprehended  in  exact  methods, 
it  may  perchance  be  further  polished  and  illustrate ',  and  ac¬ 
commodated  for  use  and  practice ;  but  it  increaseth  no  more 
in  bulk  and  substance. 

Another  error,  which  doth  succeed  that  which  we  last  men¬ 
tioned,  is  that  after  the  distribution  of  particular  arts  and 
sciences,  men  have  abandoned  universality,  or  philosophia  pri- 
ma  ;  which  cannot  but  cease  and  stop  all  progression.  For  no 
perfect  discovery  can  be  made  upon  a  flat  or  a  level :  neither 
is  it  possible  to  discover  the  more  remote  and  deeper  parts  of 
any  science,  if  you  stand  but  upon  the  level  of  the  same  science, 
and  ascend  not  to  a  higher  science. 

Another  error  hath  proceeded  from  too  great  a  reverence, 
and  a  kind  of  adoration  of  the  mind  and  understanding  of  man ; 
by  means  whereof  men  have  withdrawn  themselves  too  much 
from  the  contemplation  of  nature  and  the  observations  of  ex¬ 
perience,  and  have  tumbled  up  and  down  in  their  own  reason 
and  conceits.  Upon  these  intellectualists,  which  are  notwith¬ 
standing  commonly  taken  for  the  most  sublime  and  divine  phi¬ 
losophers,  Heraclitus  gave  a  just  censure,  saying,  Men  sought 
truth  in  their  own  little  worlds,  and  not  in  the  great  and  common 
world;  for  they  disdain  to  spell  and  so  by  degrees  to  read 
in  the  volume  of  God’s  works ;  and  contrariwise  by  continual 
meditation  and  agitation  of  wit  do  urge  and  as  it  were  invocate 
their  own  spirits  to  divine  and  give  oracles  unto  them,  whereby 
they  are  deservedly  deluded. 

Another  error  that  hath  some  connexion  with  this  later  is, 
that  men  have  used  to  infect  their  meditations,  opinions,  and 
doctrines,  with  some  conceits  which  they  have  most  admired, 
or  some  sciences  which  they  have  most  applied ;  and  given  all 
things  else  a  tincture  according  to  them,  utterly  untrue  and 

1  So  the  original.  Ed.  1633  has  illustrated. 


THE  FIRST  BOOK. 


293 


unproper.  So  hath  Plato  intermingled  his  philosophy  with 
theology,  and  Aristotle  with  logic,  and  the  second  school  of 
Plato,  Proclus  and  the  rest,  with  the  mathematics.  For  these 
were  the  arts  which  had  a  kind  of  primogeniture  with  them  se¬ 
verally.  So  have  the  alchemists  made  a  philosophy  out  of  a  few 
experiments  of  the  furnace ;  and  Gilbertus,  our  countryman, 
hath  made  a  philosophy  out  of  the  observations  of  a  loadstone. 
So  Cicero,  when,  reciting  the  several  opinions  of  the  nature  of 
the  soul,  he  found  a  musician  that  held  the  soul  was  but  a  har¬ 
mony,  saith  pleasantly,  Hie  ab  arte  sua  non  recessit,  8fc.  [he 
was  constant  to  his  own  art].  But  of  these  conceits  Aristotle 
speaketh  seriously  and  wisely,  when  he  saith,  Qui  respiciunt  ad 
pauca  de  facili  pronunciant :  [they  who  take  only  few  points 
into  account  find  it  easy  to  pronounce  judgment]. 

Another  error  is  an  impatience  of  doubt,  and  haste  to  asser¬ 
tion  without  due  and  mature  suspension  'of  judgment.  For 
the  two  ways  of  contemplation  are  not  unlike  the  two  ways  of 
action  commonly  spoken  of  by  the  ancients ;  the  one  plain  and 
smooth  in  the  beginning,  and  in  the  end  impassable ;  the  other 
rough  and  troublesome  in  the  entrance,  but  after  a  while  fair 
and  even.  So  it  is  in  contemplation ;  if  a  man  will  begin  with 
certainties,  he  shall  end  in  doubts ;  but  if  he  will  be  content  to 
begin  with  doubts,  he  shall  end  in  certainties. 

Another  error  is  in  the  manner  of  the  tradition  and  delivery 
of  knowledge,  which  is  for  the  most  part  magistral  and  peremp¬ 
tory,  and  not  ingenuous  and  faithful ;  in  a  sort  as  may  be  soon¬ 
est  believed,  and  not  easiliest  examined.  It  is  true  that  in 
compendious  treatises  for  practice  that  form  is  not  to  be  dis¬ 
allowed.  But  in  the  true  handling  of  knowledge,  men  ought 
not  to  fall  either  on  the  one  side  into  the  vein  of  Velleius  the 
Epicurean,  Nil  tam  metuens,  quam  ne  dubitare  aliqua  de  re 
videretur,  [who  feared  nothing  so  much  as  the  seeming  to  be  in 
doubt  about  anything,]  nor  on  the  other  side  into  Socrates  his 
ironical  doubting  of  all  things;  but  to  propound  things  sincerely, 
with  more  or  less  asseveration,  as  they  stand  in  a  man’s  own 
judgment  proved  more  or  less. 

Other  errors  there  are  in  the  scope  that  men  propound  to 
themselves,  whereunto  they  bend  their  endeavours;  for  whereas 
the  more  constant  and  devote1  kind  of  professors  of  any  science 
ought  to  propound  to  themselves  to  make  some  additions  to 

1  So  the  original.  E(1.  i  633  ha<  devoute. 


294 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


their  science,  they  convert  their  labours  to  aspire  to  certain 
second  prizes ;  as  to  be  a  profound  interpreter  or  commenter, 
to  be  a  sharp  champion  or  defender,  to  be  a  methodical  com¬ 
pounder  or  abridger ;  and  so  the  patrimony  of  knowledge 
cometh  to  be  sometimes  improved,  but  seldom  augmented. 

But  the  greatest  error  of  all  the  rest  is  the  mistaking  or 
misplacing  of  the  last  or  furthest  end  of  knowledge.  For 
men  have  entered  into  a  desire  of  learning  and  knowledge, 
sometimes  upon  a  natural  curiosity  and  inquisitive  appetite ; 
sometimes  to  entertain  their  minds  with  variety  and  delight ; 
sometimes  for  ornament  and  reputation ;  and  sometimes  to 
enable  them  to  victory  of  wit  and  contradiction;  and  most 
times  for  lucre  and  profession  ;  and  seldom  sincerely  to  give  a 
true  account  of  their  gift  of  reason,  to  the  benefit  and  use  of 
men :  as  if  there  were  sought  in  knowledge  a  couch,  where¬ 
upon  to  rest  a  searching  and  restless  spirit ;  or  a  terrace,  for 
a  wandering  and  variable  mind  to  walk  up  and  down  with 
a  fair  prospect ;  or  a  tower  of  state,  for  a  proud  mind  to  raise 
itself  upon;  or  a  fort  or  commanding  ground,  for  strife  and 
contention ;  or  a  shop,  for  profit  or  sale ;  and  not  a  rich  store¬ 
house,  for  the  glory  of  the  Creator  and  the  relief  of  man’s 
estate.  But  this  is  that  which  will  indeed  dignify  and  exalt 
knowledge,  if  contemplation  and  action  may  be  more  nearly 
and  straitly  conjoined  and  united  together  than  they  have 
been  ;  a  conjunction  like  unto  that  of  the  two  highest  planets, 
Saturn  the  planet  of  rest  and  contemplation,  and  Jupiter  the 
planet  of  civil  society  and  action.  Howbeit,  I  do  not  mean, 
when  I  speak  of  use  and  action,  that  end  before-mentioned 
of  the  applying  of  knowledge  to  lucre  and  profession :  for  I 
am  not  ignorant  how  much  that  diverteth  and  interrupted 
the  prosecution  and  advancement  of  knowledge ;  like  unto  the 
golden  ball  thrown  before  Atalanta,  which  while  she  goeth 
aside  and  stoopeth  to  take  up,  the  race  is  hindered, 

Declinat  cursus,  aurumque  volubile  tollit. 

Neither  is  my  meaning,  as  was  spoken  of  Socrates,  to  call 
philosophy  down  from  heaven  to  converse  upon  the  earth ; 
that  is,  to  leave  natural  philosophy  aside,  and  to  apply  know¬ 
ledge  only  to  manners  and  policy.  But  as  both  heaven  and 
earth  do  conspire  and  contribute  to  the  use  and  benefit  of  man, 
so  the  end  ought  to  be,  from  both  philosophies  to  separate  and 


THE  FIRST  BOOK. 


295 


reject  vain-  speculations  and  whatsoever  is  empty  and  void, 
and  to  preserve  and  augment  whatsoever  is  solid  and  fruit¬ 
ful  ;  that  knowledge  may  not  be  as  a  curtesan,  for  pleasure 
and  vanity  only,  or  as  a  bond-woman,  to  acquire  and  gain  to 
her  master’s  use ;  but  as  a  spouse,  for  generation,  fruit,  and 
comfort. 

Thus  have  I  described  and  opened,  as  by  a  kind  of  dis¬ 
section,  those  peccant  humours  (the  principal  of  them)  which 
have1  not  only  given  impediment  to  the  proficience  of  learn¬ 
ing,  but  have  given  also  occasion  to  the  traducement  thereof : 
wherein  if  I  have  been  too  plain,  it  must  be  remembered  Fi¬ 
delia  vulnera  amantis ,  sed  dolosa  oscula  malignantis :  [faithful 
are  the  wounds  of  a  friend,  but  the  kisses  of  an  enemy  are 
deceitful].  This  I  think  I  have  gained,  that  I  ought  to  be 
the  better  believed  in  that  which  I  shall  say  pertaining  to 
commendation,  because  I  have  proceeded  so  freely  in  that 
which  concerneth  censure.  And  yet  I  have  no  purpose  to 
enter  into  a  laudative  of  learning,  or  to  make  a  hymn  to  the 
muses,  (though  I  am  of  opinion  that  it  is  long  since  their  rites 
were  duly  celebrated :)  but  my  intent  is,  without  varnish  or 
amplification,  justly  to  weigh  the  dignity  of  knowledge  in  the 
balance  with  other  things,  and  to  take  the  true  value  thereof 
by  testimonies  and  arguments  divine  and  human. 

First  therefore,  let  us  seek  the  dignity  of  knowledge  in  the 
arch-type  or  first  platform,  which  is  in  the  attributes  and  acts 
of  God,  as  far  as  they  are  revealed  to  man  and  may  be  observed 
with  sobriety ;  wherein  we  may  not  seek  it  by  the  name  of 
learning  ;  for  all  learning  is  knowledge  acquired,  and  all  know¬ 
ledge  in  God  is  original :  and  therefore  we  must  look  for  it  by 
another  name,  that  of  wisdom  or  sapience,  as  the  Scriptures 
call  it. 

It  is  so  then,  that  in  the  work  of  the  creation  we  see  a 
double  emanation  of  virtue  from  God ;  the  one  referring  more 
properly  to  power,  the  other  to  wisdom ;  the  one  expressed  in 
making  the  subsistence  of  the  matter,  and  the  other  in  dis¬ 
posing  the  beauty  of  the  form.  This  being  supposed,  it  is  to  be 
observed,  that  for  any  thing  which  appeareth  in  the  history  of 
the  creation,  the  confused  mass  and  matter  of  heaven  and 
earth  was  made  in  a  moment,  and  the  order  and  disposition  of 
that  chaos  or  mass  was  the  work  of  six  days;  such  a  note 


hath  ill  all  the  old  editions. 


296 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


of  difference  it  pleased  God  to  put  upon  the  works  of  power 
and  the  works  of  wisdom ;  wherewith  concurrcth,  that  in  the 
former  it  is  not  set  down  that  God  said.  Let  there  be  heaven 
and  earth,  as  it  is  set  down  of  the  works  following  ;  but  actu¬ 
ally,  that  God  made  heaven  and  earth :  the  one  carrying  the 
style  of  a  manufacture,  and  the  other  of  a  law,  decree,  or 
counsel. 

To  proceed  to  that  which  is  next  in  order,  from  God  to 
spirits ;  we  find,  as  far  as  credit  is  to  be  given  to  the  celestial 
hierarchy  of  that  supposed  Dionysius  the  senator  of  Athens', 
the  first  place  or  degree  is  given  to  the  angels  of  love,  which 
are  termed  Seraphim ;  the  second  to  the  angels  of  light,  which 
are  termed  Cherubim ;  and  the  third  and  so  following  places 
to  thrones,  principalities,  and  the  rest,  which  are  all  angels  of 
power  and  ministry  ;  so  as  the  angels  of  knowledge  and  illumi¬ 
nation  are  placed  before  the  angels  of  office  and  domination. 

To  descend  from  spirits  and  intellectual  forms  to  sensible 
and  material  forms ;  we  read  the  first  form  that  was  created 
was  light,  which  hath  a  relation  and  correspondence  in  nature 
and  corporal  things,  to  knowledge  in  spirits  and  incorporal 
tilings. 

So  in  the  distribution  of  days,  we  see  the  day  wherein  God 
did  rest  and  contemplate  his  own  works,  was  blessed  above  all 
the  days  wherein  he  did  effect  and  accomplish  them. 

After  the  creation  was  finished,  it  is  set  down  unto  us  that 
man  was  placed  in  the  garden  to  work  therein ;  which  work 
so  appointed  to  him  could  be  no  other  than  work  of  con¬ 
templation  ;  that  is,  when  the  end  of  work  is  but  for  exercise 
and  experiment,  not  for  necessity;  for  there  being  then  no 
reluctation  of  the  creature,  nor  sweat  of  the  brow,  man’s  em¬ 
ployment  must  of  consequence  have  been  matter  of  delight  in 
the  experiment,  and  not  matter  of  labour  for  the  use.  Again, 
the  first  acts  which  man  performed  in  Paradise  consisted  of 
the  two  summary  parts  of  knowledge ;  the  view  of  creatures, 
and  the  imposition  of  names.  As  for  the  knowledge  which 
induced  the  fall,  it  was,  as  was  touched  before,  not  the  natural 
knowledge  of  creatures,  but  the  moral  knowledge  of  good  and 
evil ;  wherein  the  supposition  was,  that  God’s  commandments 
or  prohibitions  were  not  the  originals  of  good  and  evil,  but 

1  qua  Dionysii  Areopagitce  nomine  evvlgatur,  are  the  words  of  the  translation  :  the 
insinuation  implied  in  the  word  supposed,  being  withdrawn,  or  at  least  not  so  strongly 
expressed.  See  note  p.  277. 


THE  FIRST  BOOK. 


297 


that  they  had  other  beginnings,  which  man  aspired  to  know,  to 
the  end  to  make  a  total  defection  from  God,  and  to  depend 
wholly  upon  himself. 

To  pass  on :  in  the  first  event  or  occurrence  after  the  fall  of 
man,  we  see  (as  the  Scriptures  have  infinite  mysteries,  not 
violating  at  all  the  truth  of  the  story  or  letter,)  an  image  of 
the  two  estates,  the  contemplative  state  and  the  active  state, 
figured  in  the  two  persons  of  Abel  and  Cain,  and  in  the  two 
simplest  and  most  primitive  trades  of  life ;  that  of  the  shepherd, 
(who,  by  reason  of  his  leisure,  rest  in  a  place,  and  living  in 
view  of  heaven,  is  a  lively  image  of  a  contemplative  life,)  and 
that  of  the  husbandman :  where  we  see  again  the  favour  and 
election  of  God  went  to  the  shepherd,  and  not  to  the  tiller  of 
the  ground. 

So  in  the  age  before  the  flood,  the  holy  records  within  those 
few  memorials  which  are  there  entered  and  registered  have 
vouchsafed  to  mention  and  honour  the  name  of  the  inventors 
and  authors  of  music  and  works  in  metal.  In  the  age  after  the 
flood,  the  first  great  judgment  of  God  upon  the  ambition  of 
man  was  the  confusion  of  tongues;  whereby  the  open  trade  and 
intercourse  of  learning  and  knowledge  was  chiefly  imbarred. 

To  descend  to  Moses  the  lawgiver,  and  God’s  first  pen :  he  is 
adorned  by  the  Scriptures  with  this  addition  and  commendation, 
that  he  was  seen  in  all  the  learning  of  the  Egyptians ;  which 
nation  we  know  was  one  of  the  most  ancient  schools  of  the 
world :  for  so  Plato  brings  in  the  Egyptian  priest  saying  unto 
Solon  :  You  Grecians  are  ever  children ;  you  have  no  knowledge 
of  antiquity ,  nor  antiquity  of  knowledge.  Take  a  view  of  the 
ceremonial  law  of  Moses  ;  you  shall  find,  besides  the  prefigura¬ 
tion  of  Christ,  the  badge  or  difference  of  the  people  of  God,  the 
exercise  and  impression  of  obedience,  and  other  divine  uses  and 
fruits  thereof,  that  some  of  the  most  learned  Rabbins  have  tra¬ 
velled  profitably  and  profoundly  to  observe,  some  of  them  a 
natural,  some  of  them  a  moral,  sense  or  reduction  of  many  of 
the  ceremonies  and  ordinances.  As  in  the  law  of  the  leprosy, 
where  it  is  said.  If  the  whiteness  have  overspread  the  flesh,  the 
patient  may  pass  abroad  for  clean ;  but  if  there  be  any  whole 
flesh  remaining,  he  is  to  be  shut  up  for  unclean  ;  one  of  them 
noteth  a  principle  of  nature,  that  putrefaction  is  more  con¬ 
tagious  before  maturity  than  after :  and  another  noteth  a  po¬ 
sition  of  moral  philosophy,  that  men  abandoned  to  vice  do  not 


298 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


so  much  corrupt  manners,  as  those  that  are  half  good  and  half 
evil.  So  in  this  and  very  many  other  places  in  that  law,  there 
is  to  be  found,  besides  the  theological  sense,  much  aspersion  of 
philosophy. 

So  likewise  in  that  excellent  book  of  Job,  if  it  be  revolved 
with  diligence,  it  will  be  found  pregnant  and  swelling  with  na¬ 
tural  philosophy ;  as  for  example,  cosmography  and  the  round¬ 
ness  of  the  world ;  Qui  extendit  aquilonem  super  vacuum ,  et 
appendit  terram  super  nihilum  ;  [who  stretcheth  out  the  north 
upon  the  empty  space,  and  hangeth  the  earth  upon  nothing  ;] 
wherein  the  pensileness  of  the  earth,  the  pole  of  the  north,  and 
the  finiteness  or  convexity  of  heaven  are  manifestly  touched. 
So  again  matter  of  astronomy ;  Spiritus  ejus  ornavit  ccelos,  et 
obstetricante  manu  ejus  eductus  est  Coluber  tortuosus :  [by  his 
spirit  he  hath  garnished  the  heavens ;  his  hand  hath  formed  the 
crooked  Serpent].  And  in  another  place  ;  Nunquid  conjungere 
valebis  micantes  Stellas  Pleiadas,  aut  gyrum  Arcturi  poteris  dis- 
sipare  ?  [canst  thou  bring  together  the  glittering  stars  of  the 
Pleiades,  or  scatter  the  array  of  Arcturus  ?]  where  the  fixing 
of  the  stars,  ever  standing  at  equal  distance,  is  with  great 
elegancy  noted.  And  in  another  place,  Qui  facit  Arcturum, 
et  Oriona,  et  Hyadas,  et  interiora  Austri ;  [which  maketh  Arc¬ 
turus,  Orion,  and  Hyades,  and  the  secrets  of  the  South  ;]  where 
again  he  takes  knowledge  of  the  depression  of  the  southern 
pole,  calling  it  the  secrets  of  the  south,  because  the  southern 
stars  were  in  that  climate  unseen.  Matter  of  generation ;  Annon 
sicut  lac  mulsisti  me,  et  sicut  caseum  coagulasti  me  ?  &c.  [hast 
thou  not  drawn  me  forth  like  milk,  and  curdled  me  like  cheese  ?] 
Matter  of  minerals ;  Habet  argentum  venarum  suarum  princi- 
pia :  et  auro  locus  est  in  quo  confiatur,  ferrum  de  terra  tollitur,  et 
lapis  solutus  calore  in  ces  vertitur :  [surely  there  is  a  vein  for 
the  silver,  and  a  place  for  gold  where  they  fine  it.  Iron  is 
taken  out  of  the  earth,  and  brass  is  molten  out  of  the  stone :] 
and  so  forwards  in  that  chapter. 

So  likewise  in  the  person  of  Salomon  the  king,  we  see  the 
gift  or  endowment  of  wisdom  and  learning,  both  in  Salomon’s 
petition  and  in  God’s  assent  thereunto,  preferred  before  all 
other  terrene  and  temporal  felicity.  By  virtue  of  which  grant 
or  donative  of  God,  Salomon  became  enabled  not  only  to  write 
those  excellent  parables  or  aphorisms  concerning  divine  and 
moral  philosophy,  but  also  to  compile  a  natural  history  of  all 


THE  FIRST  BOOK. 


299 


verdure from  the  cedar  upon  the  mountain  to  the  moss  upon 
the  wall,  (which  is  but  a  rudiment  between  putrefaction  and  an 
herb,)  and  also  of  all  things  that  breathe  or  move.  Nay,  the 
same  Salomon  the  king,  although  he  excelled  in  the  glory  of 
treasure  and  magnificent  buildings,  of  shipping  and  navigation, 
of  service  and  attendance,  of  fame  and  renown,  and  the  like, 
yet  he  maketh  no  claim  to  any  of  those  glories,  but  only  to  the 
glory  of  inquisition  of  truth;  for  so  he  saith  expressly,  The 
glory  °f  God  is  to  conceal  a  thing,  but  the  glory  of  the  king  is 
to  find  it  out;  as  if,  according  to  the  innocent  play  of  children, 
the  Divine  Majesty  took  delight  to  hide  his  works,  to  the  end  to 
have  them  found  out ;  and  as  if  kings  could  not  obtain  a  greater 
honour  than  to  be  God’s  playfellows  in  that  game,  considering 
the  great  commandment  of  wits  and  means,  whereby  nothing 
needeth  to  be  hidden  from  them. 

Neither  did  the  dispensation  of  God  vary  in  the  times  after 
our  Saviour  came  into  the  world ;  for  our  Saviour  himself  did 
first  shew  his  power  to  subdue  ignorance,  by  his  conference 
with  the  priests  and  doctors  of  the  law,  before  he  shewed  his 
power  to  subdue  nature  by  his  miracles.  And  the  coming  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  was  chiefly  figured  and  expressed  in  the  simi¬ 
litude  and  gift  of  tongues,  which  are  but  vehicula  scientiee , 
[carriers  of  knowledge]. 

So  in  the  election  of  those  instruments  which  it  pleased  God 
to  use  for  the  plantation  of  the  faith,  notwithstanding  that  at 
the  first  he  did  employ  persons  altogether  unlearned  otherwise 
than  by  inspiration,  more  evidently  to  declare  his  immediate 
working,  and  to  abase  all  human  wisdom  or  knowledge ;  yet 
nevertheless  that  counsel  of  his  was  no  sooner  performed,  but 
in  the  next  vicissitude  and  succession  he  did  send  his  divine 
truth  into  the  world  waited  on  with  other  learnings  as  with 
servants  or  handmaids :  for  so  we  see  St.  Paul,  who  was  only 
learned  amongst  the  apostles,  had  his  pen  most  used  in  the 
scriptures  of  the  New  Testament. 

So  again  we  find  that  many  of  the  ancient  bishops  and 
fathers  of  the  Church  were  excellently  read  and  studied  in  all 
the  learning  of  the  heathen;  insomuch  that  the  edict  of  the 
emperor  Julianus,  (whereby  it  was  interdicted  unto  Christians 
to  be  admitted  into  schools,  lectures,  or  exercises  of  learning,) 

1  verdor  in  edd.  1605,  1629,  1633  ;  which  perhaps  ought  to  be  retained,  as  another 
form  of  the  word  rather  than  another  way  of  spelling  it. 


300 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


was  esteemed  and  accounted  a  more  pernicious  engine  and 
machination  against  the  Christian  faith,  than  were  all  the 
sanguinary  prosecutions  of  his  predecessors  ;  neither  could  the 
emulation  and  jealousy  of  Gregory  the  first  of  that  name,  bishop 
of  Rome,  ever  obtain  the  opinion  of  piety  or  devotion ;  but 
contrariwise  received  the  censure  of  humour,  malignity,  and 
pusillanimity  *,  even  amongst  holy  men ;  in  that  he  designed 
to  obliterate  and  extinguish  the  memory  of  heathen  antiquity 
and  authors.  But  contrariwise  it  was  the  Christian  Church, 
which  amidst  the  inundations  of  the  Scythians  on  the  one  side 
from  the  north-west,  and  the  Saracens  from  the  east,  did  pre¬ 
serve  in  the  sacred  lap  and  bosom  thereof  the  precious  relics 
even  of  heathen  learning,  which  otherwise  had  been  extin¬ 
guished  as  if  no  such  thing  had  ever  been. 

And  we  see  before  our  eyes,  that  in  the  age  of  ourselves  and 
our  fathers,  when  it  pleased  God  to  call  the  church  of  Rome 
to  account  for  their  degenerate  manners  and  ceremonies,  and 
sundry  doctrines  obnoxious  and  framed  to  uphold  the  same 
abuses;  at  one  and  the  same  time  it  was  ordained  by  the 
Divine  Providence  that  there  should  attend  withal  a  renova¬ 
tion  and  new  spring  of  all  other  knowledges 2 :  and  on  the 
other  side  we  see  the  Jesuits,  who  partly  in  themselves  and 
partly  by  the  emulation  and  provocation  of  their  example,  have 
much  quickened  and  strengthened  the  state  of  learning, — we 
see  (I  say)  what  notable  service  and  reparation  they  have  done 
to  the  Roman  see. 

Wherefore  to  conclude  this  part,  let  it  be  observed  that 
there  be  two  principal  duties  and  services,  besides  ornament 
and  illustration,  which  philosophy  and  human  learning  do  per- 
form  tcTJaith  and  religion.  ^The  one,  because  they  are  an 
effectual  inducement  to  the  exaltation  of  the  glory  of  God : 
For  as  the  Psalms  and  other  Scriptures  do  often  invite  us  to 
consider  and  magnify  the  great  and  wonderful  works  of  God, 

I  so  if  we  should  rest  only  in  the  contemplation  of  the  exterior 
/  of  them  as  fheyvfiTst  offer  themselves  to  our  senses,  we  should 
do  a  like  injury  unto  the  majesty  of  God  as~  if  we  should  judge 
or  construe  of  the  store  of  some 'excellent  jeweller  by  that  only 
which  is  set  out  toward  the  street  in  his  shop.  The  other, 

This  clause  is  omitted  in  the  translation ;  and  the  words  ccctcvcL  vivi  egvegii  are 
introduced  after  the  name  of  Gregory.  See  note  p.  277. 

2  All  this,  from  the  beginning  of  the  paragraph,  is  omitted  in  the  translation 
See  note  p.  277- 


THE  FIRST  BOOK. 


301 


because  they  minister  a  singular  help  and  preservative  against 
unbelief  and  error:  For  our  Saviour  saith,  You  err,  not  know¬ 
ing  the  Scriptures,  nor  the  power  of  God ;  laying  before  us 
two  books  or  volumes  to  study,  if  we  will  be  secured  from 
error ;  first  the  Scriptures,  revealing  the  will  of  God,  and  then 
the  creatures  expressing  his  power  ;  whereof  the  later  is  a  key 
unto  the  former ;  not  only  opening  our  understanding  to  con¬ 
ceive  the  true  sense  of  the  Scriptures,  by  the  general  notions 
of  reason  and  rules  of  speech ;  but  chiefly  opening  our  belief, 
in  drawing  us  into  a  due  meditation  of  the  omnipotency  of 
God,  which  is  chiefly  signed  and  engraven  upon  his  works. 
Thus  much  therefore  for  divine  testimony  and  evidence  con¬ 
cerning  the  true  dignity  and  value  of  learning. 

As  for  human  proofs,  it  is  so  large  a  field,  as  in  a  discourse 
of  this  nature  and  brevity  it  is  fit  rather  to  use  choice  of  those 
things  which  we  shall  produce,  than  to  embrace  the  variety 
of  them.  First  therefore,  in  the  degrees  of  human  honour 
amongst  the  heathen  it  was  the  highest,  to  obtain  to  a  venera¬ 
tion  and  adoration  as  a  God.  This  unto  the  Christians  is  as  the 
forbidden  fruit.  But  we  speak  now  separately  of  human  testi¬ 
mony  :  according  to  which  that  which  the  Grecians  call  apotheosis, 
and  the  Latins  relatio  inter  divos,  was  the  supreme  honour  which 
man  could  attribute  unto  man ;  specially  when  it  was  given, 
not  by  a  formal  decree  or  act  of  state,  as  it  was  used  among  the 
Roman  emperors,  but  by  an  inward  assent  and  belief;  which 
honour  being  so  high,  had  also  a  degree  or  middle  term ;  for 
there  were  reckoned  above  human  honours,  honours 1  heroical 
and  divine ;  in  the  attribution  and  distribution  of  which  honours 
we  see  antiquity  made  this  difference :  that  whereas  founders 
and  uniters  of  states  and  cities,  lawgivers,  extirpers  of  tyrants, 
fathers  of  the  people,  and  other  eminent  persons  in  civil  merit, 
were  honoured  but  with  the  titles  of  worthies  or  demi-gods ; 
such  as  were  Hercules,  Theseus,  Minos,  Romulus,  and  the  like ; 
on  the  other  side,  such  as  were  inventors  and  authors  of  new 
arts,  endowments,  and  commodities  towards  man’s  life,  were 
ever  consecrated  amongst  the  gods  themselves ;  as  was  Ceres, 
Bacchus,  Mercurius,  Apollo,  and  others ;  and  justly ;  for  the 
merit  of  the  former  is  confined  within  the  circle  of  an  age  or 
a  nation ;  and  is  like  fruitful  showers,  which  though  they  be 
profitable  and  good,  yet  serve  but  for  that  season,  and  for  a 

1  honour  in  edd.  1605,  1629,  1633. 


302 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


latitude  of  ground  where  they  fall ;  but  the  other  is  indeed  like 
the  benefits  of  heaven,  which  are  permanent  and  universal. 
The  former  again  is  mixed  with  strife  and  perturbation ;  but 
the  later  hath  the  true  character  of  divine  presence,  coming1  in 
aura  leni,  without  noise  or  agitation. 

Neither  is  certainly  that  other  merit  of  learning,  in  repress¬ 
ing  the  inconveniencies  which  grow  from  man  t,p  man,  much 
inferior  to  the  former,  of  relieving  the  necessities  which  arise 
from  nature  ;  which  merit  was  lively  set  forth  by  the  ancients 
in  that  feigned  relation  of  Orpheus  theatre ;  where  all  beasts 
and  birds  assembled,  and  forgetting  their  several  appetites, 
some  of  prey,  some  of  game,  some  of  quarrel,  stood  all  sociably 
together  listening  unto  the  airs  and  accords  of  the  harp ;  the 
sound  whereof  no  sooner  ceased,  or  was  drowned  by  some 
louder  noise,  but  every  beast  returned  to  his  own  nature : 
wherein  is  aptly  described  the  nature  and  condition  of  men ; 
who  are  full  of  savage  and  unreclaimed  desires,  of  profit,  of 
lust,  of  revenge,  which  as  long  as  they  give  ear  to  precepts,  to 
laws,  to  religion,  sweetly  touched  with  eloquence  and  persua¬ 
sion  of  books,  of  sermons,  of  harangues,  so  long  is  society  and 
peace  maintained ;  but  if  these  instruments  be  silent,  or  that 
sedition  and  tumult  make  them  not  audible,  all  things  dissolve 
into  anarchy  and  confusion. 

— 'But  this  appeareth  more  manifestly,  when  kings  themselves, 
j  or  persons  of  authority  under  them,  or  other  governors  in  com- 
/  monwealths  and  popular  estates,  are  endued  with  learning.  For 
although  he  might  be  thought  partial  to  his  own  profession,  that 
said  Then  should  people  and  estates  be  happy ,  when  either  kings 
were  philosophers,  or  philosophers  kings  ;  yet  so  much  is  verified 
by  experience,  that  under  learned  princes  and  governors  there 
have  been  ever  the  best  times :  for  howsoever  kings  may  have 
their  imperfections  in  their  passions  and  customs,  yet  if  they 
be  illuminate  by  learning,  they  have  those  notions  of  religion, 
policy,  and  morality,  which  do.  preserve  them  and  refrain  them 
from  all  ruinous  and  peremptory  errors  and  excesses ;  whisper¬ 
ing  evermore  in  their  ears,  when  counsellors  and  servants  stand 
mute  and  silent.  And  senators  or  counsellors  likewise  which 
be  learned,  do  proceed  upon  more  safe  and  substantial  princi¬ 
ples  than  counsellors  which  are  only  men  of  experience ;  the 


commonly  in  edd.  1629  and  1633.  In  the  original,  com-  ends  a  line  and  the  rest 
the  word  has  accidentally  dropped  out. 


THE  FIRST  BOOK. 


303 


one  sort  keeping  dangers  afar  off',  whereas  the  other  discover 
them  not  till  they  come  near  hand,  and  then  trust  to  the  agility 
of  their  wit  to  ward  or  avoid  them. 

Which  felicity  of  times  under  learned  princes  (to  keep  still 
the  law  of  brevity,  by  using  the  most  eminent  and  selected 
examples)  doth  best  appear  in  the  age  which  passed  from  the 
death  of  Domitianus  the  emperor  until  the  reign  of  Commo- 
dus  ;  comprehending  a  succession  of  six  princes  *,  all  learned  or 
singular  favourers  and  advancers  of  learning ;  which  age,  for 
temporal  respects,  was  the  most  happy  and  flourishing  that  ever 
the  Homan  empire  (which  then  was  a  model  of  the  world)  en¬ 
joyed  :  a  matter  revealed  and  prefigured  unto  Domitian  in  a 
dream  the  night  before  he  was  slain ;  for  he  thought  there  was 
grown  behind  upon  his  shoulders  a  neck  and  a  head  of  gold, 
which  came  accordingly  to  pass  in  those  golden  times  which 
succeeded :  of  which  princes  we  will  make  some  commemora¬ 
tion  ;  wherein  although  the  matter  will  be  vulgar,  and  may  be 
thought  fitter  for  a  declamation  than  agreeable  to  a  treatise  in¬ 
folded  as  this  is,  yet  because  it  is  pertinent  to  the  point  in  hand, 
neque  semper  arcum  tendit  Apollo,  [and  Apollo  does  not  keep 
his  bow  always  bent,]  and  to  name  them  only  were  too  naked 
and  cursory,  I  will  not  omit  it  altogether. 2 

The  first  was  Nerva ;  the  excellent  temper  of  whose  govern¬ 
ment  is  by  a  glance  in  Cornelius  Tacitus  touched  to  the  life  : 
Postquam  divus  Nerva  res  olim  insociabiles  miscuisset,  imperium 
et  libertatem  :  [he  united  and  reconciled  two  things  which  used 
not  to  go  together — government  and  liberty].3  And  in  token 
of  his  learning,  the  last  act  of  his  short  reign  left  to  memory 
was  a  missive  to  his  adopted  son  Trajan,  proceeding  upon  some 
inward  discontent  at  the  ingratitude  of  the  times,  comprehended 
in  a  verse  of  Homer’s ; 

Telis,  Phoebe,  tuis  lacrymas  ulciscere  nostras. 

[O  Phoebus,  with  thy  shafts  avenge  these  tears.] 

’  So  edd.  1629  and  1633.  The  original  has  sciences. 

2  In  the  De  Augmentis  he  merely  says  “  de  quibus ,”  i.  e.  the  golden  times,  st- 
gillatim  sed  brevissime  verba  faciam.”  And  the  next  five  paragraphs  are  condensed 
into  one. 

3  Agric.  3.  :  Quanquam  ....  Nerva  Caesar  res  olim  dissociabiles  miscuerity  priti- 
cipatum  ac  libertatem.  This  quotation  is  omitted  in  the  translation,  where  nothing  is 
said  of  the  character  of  Nerva’s  government  except  that  he  was  dementis  simus  impe- 
rator ,  quique ,  si  nihil  aliud ,  orbi  Trajanum  dedit ;  from  which  it  would  almost  seem 
that  Bacon  thought  it  hardly  deserved  the  praise  which  Tacitus  bestows  upon  it.  In 
evidence  of  his  learning  he  adds  that  he  was  the  friend,  and  as  it  were  the  disciple,  of 
Apollonius  the  Pythagorean. 


304 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


Trajan,  who  succeeded,  was  for  his  person  not  learned :  but 
if  we  will  hearken  to  the  speech  of  our  Saviour,  that  saith,  He 
that  receiveth  a  prophet  in  the  name  of  a  prophet,  shall  have  at 
prophet's  reward,  he  deserveth  to  be  placed  amongst  the  most 
learned  princes  :  for  there  was  not  a  greater  admirer  of  learn¬ 
ing  or  benefactor  of  learning ;  a  founder  of  famous  libraries,  a 
perpetual  advancer  of  learned  men  to  office,  and  a  familiar  con- 
verser  with  learned  professors  and  preceptors,  who  were  noted 
to  have  then  most  credit  in  court.  On  the  other  side,  how 
much  Trajan’s  virtue  and  government  was  admired  and  re¬ 
nowned,  surely  no  testimony  of  grave  and  faithful  history  doth 
more  lively  set  forth,  than  that  legend  tale  of  Gregorius  Mag¬ 
nus,  bishop  of  Rome,  who  was  noted  for  the  extreme  envy  he 
bare  towards  all  heathen  excellency :  and  yet  he  is  reported, 
out  of  the  love  and  estimation  of  Trajan’s  moral  virtues,  to 
have  made  unto  God  passionate  and  fervent  prayers  for  the 
delivery  of  his  soul  out  of  hell ;  and  to  have  obtained  it,  with  a 
caveat  that  he  should  make  no  more  such  petitions.1  In  this 
prince’s  time  also  the  persecutions  against  the  Christians  re¬ 
ceived  intermission,  upon  the  certificate  of  Plinius  Secundus, 
a  man  of  excellent  learning  and  by  Trajan  advanced. 

Adrian,  his  successor,  was  the  most  curious  man  that  lived, 
and  the  most  universal  inquirer ;  insomuch  as  it  was  noted  for 
an  error  in  his  mind,  that  he  desired  to  comprehend  all  things, 
and  not  to  reserve  himself  for  the  worthiest  things ;  falling 
into  the  like  humour  that  was  long  before  noted  in  Philip  of 
Macedon,  who  when  he  would  needs  over-rule  and  put  down 
an  excellent  musician  in  an  argument  touching  music,  was  well 
answered  by  him  again,  God  forbid,  Sir,  (saith  he,)  that  your 
fortune  should  be  so  bad,  as  to  know  these  things  better  than  I.2 

1  To  this  story  Dante  alludes  in  the  tenth  canto  of  Purgatory  ,•  taking  it  apparently 
from  the  life  of  Gregory  by  Paul  the  Deacon.  It  seems  first  to  have  been  mentioned 
by  John  Damascene  in  his  discourse  “  De  iis  qui  in  fide  dormierunt from  whom 
St.  Thomas  Aquinas  quotes  it  in  his  Supplementary  Questions,  71.5.  The  hymn 
sung  in  the  fourteenth  century  in  the  Cathedral  of  Mantua  on  St.  Paul's  day,  is 
another  curious  instance  of  the  appreciation  of  Heathen  worth  in  the  middle  ages.  It 
is  there  said  of  St.  Paul, 

Ad  Maronis  mausoleum 
Ductus  fudit  super  eum 
Pise  rorem  lacrymae ; 

Quem  te,  inquit,  reddidissem 
Si  te  vivum  invenissem 
Poetarum  maxime  I 

See  Schoell’s  Hisioire  de  la  LiUirature  Romaine _ R.  L.  E.  This  whole  passage  is 

omitted  in  the  translation. 
a  Plutarch,  Apoph. 


THE  FIRST  BOOK. 


305 


It  pleased  God  likewise  to  use  the  curiosity  of  this  emperor  as 
au  inducement  to  the  peace  of  his  church  in  those  days.  For 
having  Christ  in  veneration,  not  as  a  God  or  Saviour,  but  as 
a  wonder  or  novelty,  and  having  his  picture  in  his  gallery 
matched  with  Appollonius  (with  whom  in  his  vain  imagination 
he  thought  he  had  some  conformity),  yet  it  served  the  turn  to 
allay  the  bitter  hatred  of  those  times  against  the  Christian 
name;  so  as  the  church  had  peace  during  his  time.1  And  for 
his  government  civil,  although  he  did  not  attain  to  that  of 
Trajan’s2  in  glory  of  arms  or  perfection  of  justice,  yet  in  de¬ 
serving  of  the  weal  of  the  subject  he  did  exceed  him.  For 
Trajan  erected  many  famous  monuments  and  buildings ;  inso¬ 
much  as  Constantine  the  Great  in  emulation  was  wont  to  call 
him  Parietaria,  wall  flower,  because  his  name  was  upon  so 
many  walls :  but  his  buildings  and  works  were  more  of  glory 
and  triumph  than  use  and  necessity.  But  Adrian  spent  his 
whole  reign,  which  was  peaceable,  in  a  perambulation  or  survey 
of  the  Roman  empire ;  giving  order  and  making  assignation 
where  he  went  for  re-edifying  of  cities,  towns,  and  forts  de¬ 
cayed,  and  for  cutting  of  rivers  and  streams,  and  for  making 
bridges  and  passages,  and  for  policing3  of  cities  and  common¬ 
alties  with  new  ordinances  and  constitutions,  and  granting  new 
franchises  and  incorporations ;  so  that  his  whole  time  was  a 
very  restoration  of  all  the  lapses  and  decays  of  former  times. 

Antoninus4  Pius,  who  succeeded  him,  was  a  prince  ex¬ 
cellently  learned ;  and  had  the  patient  and  subtile  wit  of  a 
schoolman ;  insomuch  as  in  common  speech  (which  leaves  no 
virtue  untaxed)  he  was  called  cymini  sector,  a  carver  or  di¬ 
vider  of  cummin  seed,  which  is  one  of  the  least  seeds ;  such  a 
patience  he  had  and  settled  spirit  to  enter  into  the  least  and 
most  exact  differences  of  causes ;  a  fruit  no  doubt  of  the  ex¬ 
ceeding  tranquillity  and  serenity  of  his  mind ;  which  being  no 
ways  charged  or  incumbered  either  with  fears,  remorses,  or 
scruples,  but  having  been  noted  for  a  man  of  the  purest  good¬ 
ness,  without  all  fiction  or  affectation,  that  hath  reigned  or 

1  There  seems  here  a  confusion  of  two  stories.  It  was  Alexander  Severus  who 
according  to  Lampridius  had  a  picture  of  our  Saviour  “  matched  with  Apollonius” 
and  with  some  others.  Hadrian  however  did  honour  Apollonius  and  is  said  to  have 
thought  of  dedicating  a  temple  to  Christ,  which,  if  I  remember  rightly,  Alexander 
actually  did.  —  R.  L.  E. 

1  So  in  all  three  editions.  Qy.  Trajan  ? 

3  pointing,  edd.  1005  and  1629.  pollishing,  ed.  1633. 

4  Antonias,  edd.  1605,  1629,  1633. 


306 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


lived,  made  his  mind  continually  present  and  entire.  He  like¬ 
wise  approached  a  degree  nearer  unto  Christianity,  and  became, 
as  Agrippa  said  unto  St.  Paul,  half  a  Christian ;  holding  their 
religion  and  law  in  good  opinion,  and  not  only  ceasing  persecu¬ 
tion,  but  giving  way  to  the  advancement  of  Christians. 

There  succeeded  him  the  first  Dim  fratres,  the  two  adoptive 
brethren,  Lucius  Commodus  Yerus,  son  to  Ailius  Yerus,  who 
delighted  much  in  the  softer  kind  of  learning,  and  was  wont 
to  call  the  poet  Martial  his  Virgil ;  and  Marcus  Aurelius  An¬ 
toninus  ;  whereof  the  later,  who  obscured  his  colleague 1  and 
survived  him  long,  was  named  the  Philosopher :  who  as  he  ex¬ 
celled  all  the  rest  in  learning,  so  he  excelled  them  likewise  in 
perfection  of  all  royal  virtues;  insomuch  as  Julianus  the  em¬ 
peror,  in  his  book  intitled  Cazares,  being  as  a  pasquil  or  satire 
to  deride  all  his  predecessors,  feigned  that  they  were  all  invited 
to  a  banquet  of  the  gods,  and  Silenus  the  jester  sat  at  the 
nether  end  of  the  table  and  bestowed  a  scoff  on  every  one  as 
they  came  in  ;  but  when  Marcus  Philosophus  came  in,  Silenus 
was  gravelled  and  out  of  countenance,  not  knowing  where  to 
carp  at  him ;  save  at  the  last  he  gave  a  glance  at  his  patience 
towards  his  wife.  And  the  virtue  of  this  prince,  continued 
with  that  of  his  predecessor,  made  the  name  of  Antoninus  so 
sacred  in  the  world,  that  though  it  were  extremely  dishonoured 
in  Commodus,  Caracalla,  and  Heliogabalus,  who  all  bare  the 
name,  yet  when  Alexander  Severus  refused  the  name  because 
he  was  a  stranger  to  the  family,  the  Senate  with  one  acclama¬ 
tion  said,  Quomodo  Augustus,  sic  et  Antoninus :  [let  the  name 
of  Antoninus  be  as  the  name  of  Augustus :]  in  such  renown 
and  veneration  was  the  name  of  these  two  princes  in  those 
days,  that  they  would  have  it  as  a  perpetual  addition  in  all  the 
emperors’  style.  In  this  emperor’s  time  also  the  church  for 
the  most  part  was  in  peace;  so  as  in  this  sequence  of  six 
princes  we  do  see  the  blessed  effects  of  learning  in  sovereignty, 
painted  forth  in  the  greatest  table  of  the  world. 

But  for  a  tablet  or  picture  of  smaller  volume,  (not  presuming 
to  speak  of  your  Majesty  that  liveth,)  in  my  judgment  the 
most  excellent  is  that  of  queen  Elizabeth,  your  immediate  pre¬ 
decessor  in  this  part  of  Britain ;  a  prince  that,  if  Plutarch  were 

1  In  the  translation  he  says  that  Lucius  though  not  so  good  as  his  brother  was 
better  than  most  of  the  other  emperors.  (  Frutri  quidt.u  bunitate  cedens ,  reliquos  im - 
peratores  plurimos  superans* ) 


THE  FIRST  BOOK. 


307 


now  alive  to  write  lives1  by  parallels,  would  trouble  him,  I 
think,  to  find  for  her  a  parallel  amongst  women.  This  lady 
was  endued  with  learning  in  her  sex  singular,  and  rare2  even 
amongst  masculine  princes;  whether  we  speak  of  learning 
of 3  language  or  of  science ;  modern  or  ancient ;  divinity  or 
humanity.  And  unto  the  very  last  year  of  her  life  she 
accustomed  to  appoint  set  hours  for  reading,  scarcely  any 
young  student  in  an  university  more  daily  or  more  duly.  As 
for  her 4  government,  I  assure  myself  I  shall  not  exceed  if  I  do 
affirm  that  this  part  of  the  island  never  had  forty-five  years  of 
better  times ;  and  yet  not  through  the  calmness  of  the  sea¬ 
son,  but  through  the  wisdom  of  her  regiment.  For  if  there  be 
considered  of  the  one  side,  the  truth  of  religion  established; 
the  constant  peace  and  security ;  the  good  administration  of 
justice;  the  temperate  use  of  the  prerogative,  not  slackened, 
nor  much  strained;  the  flourishing  state  of  learning,  sortable 
to  so  excellent  a  patroness ;  the  convenient  estate  of  wealth 
and  means,  both  of  crown  and  subject ;  the  habit  of  obedience, 
and  the  moderation  of  discontents ;  and  there  be  considered  on 
the  other  side,  the  differences  of  religion,  the  troubles  of  neigh¬ 
bour  countries,  the  ambition  of  Spain,  and  opposition  of  Home ; 
and  then  that  she  was  solitary  and  of  herself:  these  things  I 
say  considered,  as  I  could  not  have  chosen  an  instance  so  recent 
and  so  proper,  so  I  suppose  I  could  not  have  chosen  one  more 
remarkable  or  eminent,  to  the  purpose  now  in  hand ;  which  is 
concerning  the  conjunction  of  learning  in  the  prince  with  felicity 
in  the  people.5 

Neither  hath  learning  an  influence  and  operation  only  upon 
civil  merit  and  moral  virtue,  and  the  arts  or  temperature  of 
peace  and  peaceable  government ;  but  likewise  it  hath  no  less 
power  and  efficacy  in  enablement  towards  martial  and  military 
virtue  and  prowess;  as  may  be  notably  represented  in  the 
examples  of  Alexander  the  Great  and  Caesar  the  Dictator, 
mentioned  before,  but  now  in  fit  place  to  be  resumed;  of 
whose  virtues  and  acts  in  war  there  needs  no  note  or  recital, 

1  Ignes,  ed.  1605  and  1629.  lines  ed.  1633. 

2  So  edd.  1629  and  1633.  Ed.  1605  has  grace. 

3  Edd.  1629  and  1633  have  or;  with  a  semicolon  after  learning,  where  the  original 
has  a  comma  ;  the  omission  of  which  makes  the  meaning  and  construction  clear. 

*  So  edd.  1629  and  1633.  The  original  has  the. 

5  This  paragraph  is  entirely  omitted  in  the  De  Augmentis ;  no  doubt  as  one  which 
would  not  be  allowed  at  Rome  and  might  lead  to  the  proscription  of  the  book.  See 
note  p.  277. 


21  Bacon  III 


308 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


having  been  the  wonders  of  time  in  that  kind;  hut  of  their 
affections  towards  learning,  and  perfections  in  learning,  it  is 
pertinent  to  say  somewhat. 

Alexander  was  bred  and  taught  under  Aristotle  the  great 
philosopher,  who  dedicated  divers  of  his  books  of  philosophy 
unto  him.  He  was  attended  with  Callisthenes  and  divers  other 
learned  persons,  that  followed  him  in  camp,  throughout  his 
journeys  and  conquests.  What  price  and  estimation  he  had 
learning  in  doth  notably  appear  in  these  three  particulars :  first, 
in  the  envy  he  used  to  express  that  he  bare  towards  Achilles, 
in  this  that  he  had  so  good  a  trumpet  of  his  praises  as  Homer’s 
verses;  secondly,  in  the  judgment  or  solution  he  gave  touching 
that  precious  cabinet  of  Darius,  which  was  found  among  his 
jewels,  whereof  question  was  made  what  thing  was  worthy  to 
be  put  into  it,  and  he  gave  his  opinion  for  Homer’s  works ; 
thirdly,  in  his  letter  to  Aristotle,  after  he  had  set  forth  his 
books  of  nature,  wherein  he  expostulateth  with  him  for  pub¬ 
lishing  the  secrets  or  mysteries  of  philosophy,  and  gave  him  to 
understand  that  himself  esteemed  it  more  to  excel  other  men  iti 
learning  and  knowledge  than  in  power  and  empire.  And  what 
use  lie  had  of  learning  doth  appear,  or  rather  shine,  in  all  his 
speeches  and  answers,  being  full  of  science  and  use  of  science, 
and  that  in  all  variety. 

And  herein  again  it  may  seem  a  thing  scholastical,  and 
somewhat  idle,  to  recite  things  that  every  man  knoweth ;  but 
yet  since  the  argument  I  handle  leadeth  me  thereunto,  I  am 
glad  that  men  shall  perceive  I  am  as  willing  to  flatter  (if  they 
will  so  call  it)  an  Alexander  or  a  Caesar  or  an  Antoninus,  that 
are  dead  many  hundred  years  since,  as  any  that  now  liveth: 
for  it  is  the  displaying  of  the  glory  of  learning  in  sovereignty 
that  I  propound  to  myself,  and  not  an  humour  of  declaiming 
in  any  man’s  praises.1  Observe  then  the  speech  he  used  of 
Diogenes,  and  see  if  it  tend  not  to  the  true  state  of  one  of  the 
greatest  questions  of  moral  philosophy ;  whether  the  enjoying 
of  outward  things  or  the  contemning  of  them  be  the  greatest 
happiness ;  for  when  he  saw  Diogenes  so  perfectly  contented 
with  so  little,  he  said  to  those  that  mocked  at  his  condition. 
Were  I  not  Alexander,  I  would  wish  to  be  Diogenes.  But  Seneca 
inverteth  it,  and  saith,  Plus  erat  quod  hie  nollet  accipere,  qudm 
quod  ille  posset  dare.  There  were  more  things  which  Diogenes 

1  AH  this  from  the  beginning  of  the  paragraph  is  omitted  In  the  translation. 


THE  FIRST  BOOK. 


309 


would  have  refused,  than  those  were  which  Alexander  could 
have  given  or  enjoyed. 

Observe  again  that  speech  which  was  usual  with  him,  That 
he  felt  his  mortality  chiefly  in  two  things,  sleep  and  lust ;  and  see 
if  it  were  not  a  speech  extracted  out  of  the  depth  of  natural 
philosophy,  and  Ulcer  to  have  comen  out  of  the  mouth  of  Ari¬ 
stotle  or  Democritus  than  from  Alexander.1 

See  again  that  speech  of  humanity  and  poesy ;  when  upon 
the  bleeding  of  his  wounds,  he  called  unto  him  one  of  his  flat¬ 
terers  that  was  wont  to  ascribe  to  him  divine  honour,  and  said. 
Look,  this  is  very  blood ;  this  is  not  such  a  liquor  as  Homer 
speaketh  of,  which  ran  from  Venus'  hand  when  it  was  pierced  by 
Diomedes. 

See  likewise  his  readiness  in  reprehension  of  logic,  in  the 
speech  he  used  to  Cassander  upon  a  complaint  that  was  made 
against  his  father  Antipater :  for  when  Alexander  happed  to 
say.  Do  you  think  these  men  would  have  come  from  so  far  to 
complain,  except  they  had  just  cause  of  grief  '. P  and  Cassander 
answered,  Yea,  that  was  the  matter,  because  they  thought  they 
should  not  be  disproved;  said  Alexander  laughing,  See  the 
subtilties  of  Aristotle,  to  take  a  matter  both  ways,  pro  et  contra, 
&c. 

But  note  again  how  well  he  could  use  the  same  art  which  he 
reprehended,  to  serve  his  own  humour,  when  bearing  a  secret 
crrudo-e  to  Callisthenes  because  he  was  against  the  new  cere- 
mony  of  his  adoration,  feasting  one  night  where  the  same  Cal¬ 
listhenes  was  at  the  table,  it  was  moved  by  some  after  supper, 
for  entertainment  sake,  that  Callisthenes  who  was  an  eloquent 
man  might  speak  of  some  theme  or  purpose  at  his  own  choice ; 
which  Callisthenes  did ;  choosing  the  praise  of  the  Macedonian 
nation  for  his  discourse,  and  performing  the  same  with  so  good 
manner  as  the  hearers  were  much  ravished ;  whereupon  Alex¬ 
ander,  nothing  pleased,  said.  It  was  easy  to  be  eloquent  upon  so 
good  a  subject:  but  saith  he,  Turn  your  style,  and  let  us  hear  ivliat 
you  can  say  against  us :  which  Callisthenes  presently  undertook, 
and  did  with  that  sting  and  life,  that  Alexander  interrupted 
him,  and  said,  The  goodness  of  the  cause  made  him  eloquent 
before,  and  despite  made  him  eloquent  then  again. 

1  cum  t am  indigentia  tam  redundantia  natures,  per  ilia  duo  designata,  mortis  sin. 
tanquam  arrhabones;  the  two  opposite  imperfections  of  nature,  deficiency  and  super¬ 
fluity,  exhaustion  and  incontinence,  being  as  it  were  earnests  of  mortality. 


310 


OF  TIIE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


Consider  further,  for  tropes  of  rhetoric,  that  excellent  use  of 
a  metaphor  or  translation,  wherewith  he  taxed  Antipater,  who 
was  an  imperious  and  tyrannous  governor:  for  when  one  of 
Antipater’s  friends  commended  him  to  Alexander  for  his  mo¬ 
deration,  that  he  did  not  degenerate,  as  his  other  lieutenants 
did,  into  the  Persian  pride,  in  use  of  purple,  but  kept  the 
ancient  habit  of  Macedon,  of  black ;  True,  (saith  Alexander,) 
but  Antipater  is  all  purple  within.  Or  that  other,  when  Par- 
menio  came  to  him  in  the  plain  of  Arbella,  and  shewed  him  the 
innumerable  multitude  of  his  enemies,  specially  as  they  ap¬ 
peared  by  the  infinite  number  of  lights,  as  it  had  been  a  new 
firmament  of  stars,  and  thereupon  advised  him  to  assail  them 
by  night :  whereupon  he  answered,  That  he  would  not  steal  the 
victory. 

For  matter  of  policy,  weigh  that  significant  distinction,  so 
much  in  all  ages  embraced,  that  he  made  between  his  two 
friends  Hephasstion  and  Craterus,  when  he  said,  That  the  one 
loved  Alexander,  and  the  other  loved  the  king  ;  describing  the 
principal  difference  of  princes’  best  servants,  that  some  in  affec¬ 
tion  love  their  person,  and  others  in  duty  love  their  crown. 

Weigh  also  that  excellent  taxation  of  an  error  ordinary  with 
counsellors  of  princes,  that  they  counsel  their  masters  according 
to  the  model  of  their  own  mind  and  fortune,  and  not  of  their 
masters;  when  upon  Darius’  great  offers  Parmenio  had  said. 
Surely  I  would  accept  these  offers,  were  I  as  Alexander ;  saith 
Alexander,  So  would  I,  were  I  as  Parmenio. 

Lastly,  weigh  that  quick  and  acute  reply  which  he  made 
when  he  gave  so  large  gifts  to  his  friends  and  servants,  and  was 
asked  what  he  did  reserve  for  himself,  and  he  answered,  Hope ; 
weigh,  I  say,  whether  he  had  not  cast  up  his  account  aright, 
because  hope  must  be  the  portion  of  all  that  resolve  upon  great 
enterprises.  For  this  was  Caesar's  portion  when  he  went  first 
into  Gaul,  his  estate  being  then  utterly  overthrown  with  lar¬ 
gesses.  And  this  was  likewise  the  portion  of  that  noble  prince, 
howsoever  transported  with  ambition,  Henry  duke  of  Guise,  of 
Avhom  it  was  usually  said,  that  he  was  the  greatest  usurer  in 
France,  because  he  had  turned  all  his  estate  into  obligations. 

To  conclude  therefore :  as  certain  critics  are  used  to  say 
hyperbolically,  That  if  all  sciences  were  lost,  they  might  be  found 
in  Virgil ;  so  certainly  this  may  be  said  truly,  there  are  the 
prints  and  footsteps  of  learning  in  those  few  speeches  which  are 


THE  FIRST  BOOK. 


311 


reported  of  this  prince :  the  admiration  of  whom,  when  I  con¬ 
sider  him  not  as  Alexander  the  Great,  but  as  Aristotle’s  scholar, 
hath  carried  me  too  far. 

As  for  Julius  Caesar,  the  excellency  of  his  learning  needeth 
not  to  be  argued  from  his  education,  or  his  company,  or  his 
speeches ;  but  in  a  further  degree  doth  declare  itself  in  his 
writings  and  works ;  whereof  some  are  extant  and  permanent, 
and  some  unfortunately  perished.  For  first,  we  see  there  is  left 
unto  us  that  excellent  history  of  his  own  wars,  which  he  intitled 
only  a  Commentary,  wherein  all  succeeding  times  have  admired 
the  solid  weight  of  matter,  and  the  real  passages  and  lively 
images  of  actions  and  persons,  expressed  in  the  greatest  pro¬ 
priety  of  words  and  perspicuity  of  narration  that  ever  was; 
which  that  it  was  not  the  effect  of  a  natural  gift,  but  of 
learning  and  precept,  is  well  witnessed  by  that  work  of  his 
intitled  De  Analogia,  being  a  grammatical  philosophy,  wherein 
he  did  labour  to  make  this  same  vox  ad  placitum  to  become 
vox  ad  licitum,  and  to  reduce  custom  of  speech  to  congruity  of 
speech  ;  and  took  as  it  were  the  picture  of  words  from  the  life 
of  reason.1 

So  we  receive  from  him,  as  a  monument  both  of  his  power 
and  learning,  the  then  reformed  computation  of  the  year ;  well 
expressing,  that  he  took  it  to  be  as  great  a  glory  to  himself  to 
observe  and  know  the  law  of  the  heavens  as  to  give  law  to  men 
upon  the  earth. 

So  likewise  in  that  book  of  his  Anti-Cato,  it  may  easily  appear 
that  he  did  aspire  as  well  to  victory  of  wit  as  victory  of  war ; 
undertaking  therein  a  conflict  against  the  greatest  champion 
with  the  pen  that  then  lived,  Cicero  the  orator. 

So  again  in  his  book  of  Apophthegms  which  he  collected,  we 
see  that  he  esteemed  it  more  honour  to  make  himself  but  a 
pair  of  tables  to  take  the  wise  and  pithy  words  of  others,  than 
to  have  every  word  of  his  own  to  be  made  an  apophthegm  or 
an  oracle  ;  as  vain  princes,  by  custom  of  flattery,  pretend  to  do. 
And  yet  if  I  should  enumerate  divers  of  his  speeches,  as  I  did 
those  of  Alexander,  they  are  truly  such  as  Salomon  noteth, 
when  he  saith.  Verba  sapientum  tanquam  aculei,  et  tanquam  clavi 

1  This  passage  i9  translated  without  addition  or  alteration.  But  Bacon  seems  to 
have  changed  his  opinion  afterwards  upon  the  point  in  question.  For  in  the  sixth 
book  of  the  De  Augmentis,  c.  i.,  he  intimates  a  suspicion  that  Cesar’s  book  was  not  a 
grammatical  philosophy,  but  only  a  9et  of  precepts  for  the  formation  of  a  pure,  perfect, 
and  unaffected  style.  See  Vol.  I.  p.  654. 


312 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


in  altum  defixi:  [the  words  of  the  wise  are  as  goads,  and  as 
nails  fixed  deep  in :]  whereof  I  will  only  recite  three,  not  so 
delectable  for  elegancy,  but  admirable  for  vigour  and  efficacy. 

As  first,  it  is  reason  he  be  thought  a  master  of  words,  that 
could  with  one  word  appease  a  mutiny  in  his  army ;  which  was 
thus.  The  Romans,  when  their  generals  did  speak  to  their 
army,  did  use  the  word  Milites;  but  when  the  magistrates  spake 
to  the  people,  they  did  use  the  word  Quirites.  The  soldiers 
were  in  tumult,  and  seditiously  prayed  to  be  cashiered ;  not 
that  they  so  meant,  but  by  expostulation  thereof  to  draw  Caesar 
to  other  conditions ;  wherein  he  being  resolute  not  to  give  way, 
after  some  silence,  he  began  his  speech,  Ego,  Quirites ;  which 
did  admit  them  already  cashiered;  wherewith  they  were  so 
surprised,  crossed,  and  confused,  as  they  would  not  suffer  him 
to  go  on  in  his  speech,  but  relinquished  their  demands,  and 
made  it  their  suit  to  be  again  called  by  the  name  of  Milites. 

The  second  speech  was  thus  :  Caesar  did  extremely  affect  the 
name  of  king ;  and  some  were  set  on,  as  he  passed  by,  in  po¬ 
pular  acclamation  to  salute  him  king;  whereupon,  finding  the 
cry  weak  and  poor,  he  put  it  off  thus  in  a  kind  of  jest,  as  if 
they  had  mistaken  his  surname  ;  Non  Rex  sum,  sed  Ccesar :  [I 
am  not  King,  but  Caesar :]  a  speech,  that  if  it  be  searched,  the 
life  and  fulness  of  it  can  scarce  be  expressed :  for  first  it  was  a 
refusal  of  the  name,  but  yet  not  serious  :  again  it  did  signify 
an  infinite  confidence  and  magnanimity,  as  if  he  presumed 
Caesar  was  the  greater  title  ;  as  by  his  worthiness  it  is  come  to 
pass  till  this  day  :  but  chiefly  it  was  a  speech  of  great  allure¬ 
ment  towards  his  own  purpose ;  as  if  the  state  did  strive  with 
him  but  for  a  name,  whereof  mean  families  were  vested ;  for 
Rex  was  a  surname  with  the  Romans,  as  well  as  King  is 
with  us. 

The  last  speech  which  I  will  mention,  was  used  to  Metellus ; 
when  Caesar,  after  war  declared,  did  possess  himself  of  the  city 
of  Rome ;  at  which  time  entering  into  the  inner  treasury  to 
take  the  money  there  accumulate,  Metellus  being  tribune  for¬ 
bade  him :  whereto  Caesar  said,  That  if  he  did  not  desist,  he 
would  lay  him  dead  in  the  place ;  and  presently  taking  himself 
up,  he  added,  Young  man,  it  is  harder  for  me  to  speak  it  than  to 
do  it.  Adolescens,  durius  est  mihi  hoc  dicere  quam  facere.  A 
speech  compounded  of  the  greatest  terror  and  greatest  clemency 
that  could  proceed  out  of  the  mouth  of  man. 


THE  FIRST  BOOK. 


313 


But  to  return  and  conclude  with  him:  it  is  evident  himself 
knew  well  his  own  perfection  in  learning,  and  took  it  upon 
him  ;  as  appeared  when  upon  occasion  that  some  spake  what  a 
strange  resolution  it  was  in  Lucius  Sylla  to  resign  his  dic- 
tature,  he  scoffing  at  him,  to  his  own  advantage,  answered. 
That  Sylla  could  not  skill  of  letters,  and  therefore  knew  not  hoio 
to  dictate. 

And  here  it  were  fit  to  leave  this  point  touching  the  con¬ 
currence  of  military  virtue  and  learning ;  (for  what  example 
would  come  with  any  grace  after  those  two  of  Alexander  and 
Caisar?)  were  it  not  in  regard  of  the  rareness  of  circumstance 
that  I  find  in  one  other  particular,  as  that  which  did  so  sud¬ 
denly  pass  from  extreme  scorn  to  extreme  wonder ;  and  it  is  of 
Xenophon  the  philosopher,  who  went  from  Socrates’  school 
into  Asia,  in  the  expedition  of  Cyrus  the  younger  against  king 
Artaxerxes.  This  Xenophon  at  that  time  was  very  young, 
and  never  had  seen  the  wars  before  ;  neither  had  any  command 
in  the  army,  but  only  followed  the  war  as  a  voluntary,  for  the 
love  and  conversation  of  Proxenus  his  friend.  He  was  present 
when  Falinus  came  in  message  from  the  great  king  to  the 
Grecians,  after  that  Cyrus  was  slain  in  the  field,  and  they  a 
handful  of  men  left  to  themselves  in  the  midst  of  the  king’s 
territories,  cut  off  from  their  country  by  many  navigable  rivers, 
and  many  hundred  miles.  The  message  imported  that  they 
should  deliver  up  their  arms,  and  submit  themselves  to  the 
king’s  mercy.  To  which  message  before  answer  was  made, 
divers  of  the  army  conferred  familiarly  with  Falinus;  and 
amongst  the  rest  Xenophon  happened  to  say,  Why  Falinus,  we 
have  now  but  these  two  things  left,  our  arms  and  our  virtue  ;  and 
if  we  yield  up  our  arms,  how  shall  we  make  use  of  our  virtue  ? 
Whereto  Falinus  smiling  on  him,  said.  If  I  be  not  deceived, 
young  gentleman,  you  are  an  Athenian  ;  and  I  believe  you  study 
philosophy,  and  it  is  pretty  that  you  say ;  but  you  are  much 
abused  if  you  think  your  virtue  can  withstand  the  king's  power. 
Here  was  the  scorn ;  the  wonder  followed :  which  was,  that 
this  young  scholar  or  philosopher,  after  all  the  captains  were 
murdered  in  parley  by  treason,  conducted  those  ten  thousand 
foot  through  the  heart  of  all  the  king’s  high  countries  from 
Babylon  to  Grsecia  in  safety,  in  despite  of  all  the  king’s  forces, 
to  the  astonishment  of  the  world,  and  the  encouragement  of 
the  Grecians  in  time  succeeding  to  make  invasion  upon  the 


314 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


kings  of  Persia  ;  as  was  after  purposed  by  Jason  the  Thessalian, 
attempted  by  Agesilaus  the  Spartan,  and  achieved  by  Alex¬ 
ander  the  Macedonian ;  all  upon  the  ground  of  the  act  of  that 
young  scholar. 

To  proceed  now  from  imperial  and  military  virtue  to  moral 
and  private  virtue :  first,  it  is  an  assured  truth  which  is  con¬ 
tained  in  the  verses, 

Scilicet  ingenuas  didicisse  fideliter  artes 
Emollit  mores,  nec  sinit  esse  f'eros  ; 

[a  true  proficiency  in  liberal  learning  softens  and  humanises  the 
manners].  It  taketh  away  the  wildness  and  barbarism  and  fierce¬ 
ness  of  men’s  minds  :  but  indeed  the  accent  had  need  be  upon 
fideliter :  [it  must  be  a  true  proficiency  :]  for  a  little  superficial 
learning1  doth  rather  work  a  contrary  effect.  It  taketh  away 
all  levity,  temerity,  and  insolency,  by  copious  suggestion  of  all 
doubts  and  difficulties,  and  acquainting  the  mind  to  balance 
reasons  on  both  sides,  and  to  turn  back  the  first  offers  and 
conceits  of  the  mind,  and  to  accept  of  nothing  but  examined 
and  tried.  It  taketh  away  vain  admiration  of  any  thing, 
which  is  the  root  of  all  weakness.  For  all  things  are  admired, 
either  because  they  are  new,  or  because  they  are  great.  For 
novelty,  no  man  that  wadeth  in  learning  or  contemplation 
throughly,  but  will  find  that  printed  in  his  heart  Nil  novi 
super  terram:  [there  is  nothing  new  under  the  sun].  Neither 
can  any  man  marvel  at  the  play  of  puppets,  that  goetlr  behind 
the  curtain  and  adviseth  well  of  the  motion.  And  for  magni¬ 
tude,  as  Alexander  the  Great  after  that  he  was  used  to  great 
armies  and  the  great  conquests  of  the  spacious  provinces  in 
Asia,  when  he  received  letters  out  of  Greece  of  some  fights 
and  services  there,  which  were  commonly  for  a  passage  or  a 
fort  or  some  walled  town  at  the  most,  he  said.  It  seemed 
to  him  that  he  was  advertised  of  the  battles  of  the  frogs  and 
the  mice,  that  the  old  tales  went  of:  so  certainly  if  a.  man 
meditate  much  upon  the  universal  frame  of  nature,  the  earth 
with  men  upon  it  (the  divineness  of  souls  except)  will 
seem  much  other  than  an  ant-hill,  whereas  some  ants  carry 
corn,  and  some  carry  their  young,  and  some  go  empty, 
and  all  to  and  fro  a  little  heap  of  dust.  It  taketh  away  or 
mitigateth  fear  of  death  or  adverse  fortune;  which  is  one  of 


1  tumultuaria  cognitio. 


THE  FIRST  BOOK. 


315 


the  greatest  impediments  of  virtue  and  imperfections  of  man¬ 
ners-  For  if  a  man’s  mind  be  deeply  seasoned  with  thejyn- 
sideration  of  the  mortality  and  corruptible  nature  of  things,  he 
will  easily  concur  with  Epictetus,  who  went  forth  one  day 
and  saw  a  woman  weeping  for  her  pitcher  of  earth  that  was 
broken,  and  went  forth  the  next  day  and  saw  a  woman  weep¬ 
ing  Tor  her  son  that  was  dead;  and  thereupon  said,  Heri  vidi 
fragitem  frangi,  hodie  vidi  mortalem  mori :  [yesterday  I  saw 
a  brittle  thing  broken,  to-day  a  mortal  dead].  And  therefore 
Virgil  did  excellently  and  profoundly  couple  the  knowledge 
of  causes  and  the  conquest  of  all  fears  together,  as  concomi- 
tantia. 

Felix  qui  potuit  rerum  cognoscere  causas, 

Quique-metus  omnes  et  inexorabile  fatum 
Subjceit  pedibus,  strepitumque  Acherontis  avari. 


It  were  too  long  to  go  over  the  particular  remedies  which 
learning  doth  minister  to  all  the  diseases  of  the  mind ;  some¬ 
times  purging  the  ill  humours,  sometimes  opening  the  obstruc¬ 
tions,  sometimes  helping  digestion,  sometimes  increasing  appe¬ 
tite,  sometimes  healing  the  wounds  and  exulcerations  thereof, 
and  the  like ;  and  therefore  I  will  conclude  with  that  which 
hath  rationem  totius;  which  is,  that  it  disposeth  the  constitution  of 
the  mind  not  to  be  fixed  or  settled  in  the  defects  thereof,  but 
still  to  be  capable  and  susceptible  of  growth  and  reformation. 
For  the  unlearned  man  knows  not  what  it  is  to  descend  into 
himself  or  to  call  himself  to  account,  nor  the  pleasure  of  that 
suavissima  vita ,  indies  sentire  se  fieri  meliorem,  [to  feel  himself 
each  day  a  better  man  than  he  was  the  day  before].  The 
good  parts  he  hath  he  will  learn  to  shew  to  the  full  and 
use  them  dexterously,  but  not  much  to  increase  them :  the 
faults  he  hath  he  will  learn  how  to  hide  and  colour  them,  but 
not  much  to  amend  them ;  like  an  ill  mower,  that  mows  on  still 
and  never  whets  his  scythe :  whereas  with  the  learned  man 
it  fares  otherwise,  that  he  doth  ever  intermix  the  correction 
and  amendment  of  his  mind  with  the  use  and  employment 
thereof.  Nay  further,  in  general  and  in  sum,  certain  it  is  that 
veritas  and  bonitas  differ  but  as  the  seal  and  the  print ;  for 


[Happy  the  man  who  doth  the  causes  know 
Of  all  that  is  :  serene  he  stands,  above 
All  fears  ;  above  the  inexorable  Fate, 
satiate  gulph  that  roars  ’ 


316 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


truth  prints  goodness,  and  they  be  the  clouds  of  error  which 
descend  in  the  storms  of  passions  and  perturbations. 

From  moral  virtue  let  us  pass  on  to  matter  of  power  and 
commandment,  and  consider  whether  in  right  reason  there 
be  any  comparable  with  that  wherewith  knowledge  investeth 
and  crowneth  man’s  nature.  We  see  the  dignity  of  the  com¬ 
mandment  is  according  to  the  dignity  of  the  commanded:  to 
have  commandment  over  beasts,  as  herdsmen  have,  is  a  thing 
contemptible ;  to  have  commandment  over  children,  as  school¬ 
masters  have,  is  a  matter  of  small  honour ;  to  have  command¬ 
ment  over  galley-slaves  is  a  disparagement  rather  than  an 
honour.  Neither  is  the  commandment  of  tyrants  much  better, 
over  people  which  have  put  off  the  generosity  of  their  minds : 
and  therefore  it  was  ever  holden  that  honours  in  free  mo¬ 
narchies  and  commonwealths  had  a  sweetness  more  than  in 
tyrannies ;  because  the  commandment  extendeth  more  over  the 
wills  of  men,  and  not  only  over  their  deeds  and  services.  And 
therefore  when  Virgil  putteth  himself  forth  to  attribute  to 
Augustus  Caesar  the  best  of  human  honours,  he  doth  it  in 
these  words : 

victorque  volentes 

Per  populos  dat  jura,  viamque  affectat  Olympo  : 

[Moving  in  conquest  onward,  at  his  will 
To  willing  peoples  he  gives  laws,  and  shapes 
Through  worthiest  deeds  on  earth  his  course  to  Heaven.] 

But  yet  the  commandment  of  knowledge  is  yet  higher  than  the 
commandment  over  the  will ;  for  it  is  a  commandment  over 
the  reason,  belief,  and  understanding  of  man,  which  is  the 
highest  part  of  the  mind,  and  giveth  law  to  the  will  itself. 
For  there  is  no  power  on  earth  which  setteth  up  a  throne  or 
chair  of  estate  in  the  spirits  and  souls  of  men,  and  in  their 
cogitations,  imaginations,  opinions,  and  beliefs,  but  knowledge 
and  learning.  And  therefore  we  see  the  detestable  and  extreme 
pleasure  that  arch-heretics  and  false  prophets  and  impostors  are 
transported  with,  when  they  once  find  in  themselves  that  they 
have  a  superiority  in  the  faith  and  conscience  of  men ;  so  great, 
that  if  they  have  once  tasted  of  it,  it  is  seldom  seen  that  any 
torture  or  persecution  can  make  them  relinquish  or  abandon 
it.  But  as  this  is  that  which  the  author  of  the  Revelation 
c-alleth  the  depth  or  profoundness  of  Satan ;  so  by  argument 


THE  FIRST  BOOK. 


317 


of  contraries,  the  just  and  lawful  sovereignty  over  men’s 
understanding,  by  force1  of  truth  rightly  interpreted,  is  that 
which  approacheth  nearest  to  the  similitude  of  the  divine 
rule. 

As  for  fortune  and  advancement,  the  beneficence  of  learning 
is  not  so  confined  to  give  fortune  only  to  states  and  common¬ 
wealths,  as  it  doth  not  likewise  give  fortune  to  particular  per¬ 
sons.  For  it  was  well  noted  long  ago,  that  Homer  hath  given 
more  men  their  livings  than  either  Sylla  or  Caesar  or  Augus¬ 
tus  ever  did,  notwithstanding  their  great  largesses  and  dona¬ 
tives  and  distributions  of  lands  to  so  many  legions.  And  no 
doubt  it  is  hard  to  say  whether  arms  or  learning  have  advanced 
greater  numbers.  And  in  case  of  sovereignty,  we  see  that  if 
arms  or  descent  have  carried  away  the  kingdom,  yet  learning 
hath  carried  the  priesthood,  which  ever  hath  been  in  some 
competition  with  empire. 

Again,  for  the  pleasure  and  delight  of  knowledge  and  learn¬ 
ing,  it  far  surpasseth  all  other  in  nature :  for  shall  the  pleasures 
of  the  affections  so  exceed  the  senses,  as  much  as  the  obtaining 
of  desire  or  victory  exceedeth  a  song  or  a  dinner;  and  must  not 
of  consequence  the  pleasures  of  the  intellect  or  understanding 
exceed  the  pleasures  of  the  affections?  We  see  in  all  other 
pleasures  there  is  satiety,  and  after  they  be  used,  their  verdure2 
departeth ;  which  sheweth  well  they  be  but  deceits  of  pleasure, 
and  not  pleasures ;  and  that  it  was  the  novelty  which  pleased, 
and  not  the  quality.  And  therefore  we  see  that  voluptuous  jbro- 
turn  friars,  and  ambitious  princes  turn  melancholy.  But  of 
knowledge  there  is  no  satiety,  but  satisfaction  and  appetite  are 
perpetually  interchangeable ;  and  therefore  appeareth  to  be 
good  in  TtselF  simply,  without  fallacy  or  accident.  Neither  is~ 
that  pleasure' of  small  efficacy  and  contentment  to  the  mind  of 
man,  which  the  poet  Lucretius  describeth  elegantly, 

Suave  mari  magno,  turbantibus  «quora  ventis,  &c. 

It  is  a  view  of  delight  (saith  he)  to  stand  or  walk  upon  the 
shore  side ,  and  to  see  a  ship  tossed  with  tempest  upon  the  sea  ;  or 
to  he  in  a  fortified  tower ,  and  to  see  two  battles  join  upon  a  plain. 
But  it  is  a  pleasure  incomparable,  for  the  mind  of  man  to  be 
settled,  landed,  and  fortified  in  the  certainty  of  truth  ;  and  from 

1  So  edd.  1629  and  1633.  The  original  has  face. 

2  verdour  in  the  original  and  also  In  edd.  1629  and  1633.  See  p.  297. 


318 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


thence  to  descry  and  behold  the  errors,  perturbations,  labours,  and 
wanderings  up  and  down  of  other  men. 

Lastly,  leaving  the  vulgar  arguments,  that  by  learning  man 
excelleth  man  in  that  wherein  man  excelleth  beasts ;  that  by 
learning  man  ascendeth  to  the  heavens  and  their  motions, 
[ — where  in  body  he  cannot  come ;  and  the  like ;  let  us  conclude 
with  the  dignity  and  excellency  of  knowledge  .and  learning  in 
that  whereunto  man’s  nature  doth  most  aspire;  which  is  un¬ 
mortality  or  continuance ;  for  to  this  tendeth  generation,  and 
raising  of  houses  and  families ;  to  this  buildings,  foundations, 
and  monuments ;  to  this  tendeth  the  desire  of  memory,  fame, 
and  celebration ;  and  in  effect,  the  strength  of  all  other  human 
l  desires.  We  see  then  how  far  the  monuments  of  wit  and 


\ 


V 


learning  are  more  durable  than  the  monuments  of  power  or  of 
the  Handi;  For  have  not  the  verses  of  Ilomer  continued 
twenty-five  hundred  years  or  more,  without  the  loss  of  a  syl¬ 
lable  or  letter;  during  which  time  infinite  palaces,  temples, 
castles,  cities,  have  been  decayed  and  demolished  ?  It  is  not 
possible  to  have  the  true  pictures  or  statuaes  of  Cyrus,  Alex¬ 
ander,  Caesar,  no  nor  of  the  kings  or  great  personages  of  much 
later  years ;  for  the  originals  cannot  last,  and  the  copies  cannot 
but  leese  of  the  life  and  truth.  Hut  the  images  of  men’s  wits 
and  knowledges  remain  in  books,  exempted  from  the  wrong  of 
V  time  and  capable  of  perpetual  renovation.  Neither  are  they 
fitly  to  be  called  images,  because  they  generate  still,  and  cast 
their  seeds  in  the  minds  of  others,  provoking  and  causing  in¬ 
finite  actions  and  opinions  in  succeeding  ages.  So  that  if  the 
invention  of  the  ship  was  thought  so  noble,  which  carrieth 
riches  and  commodities  from  place  to  place,  and  consociateth 
the  most  remote  regions  in  participation  of  their  fruits,  how 
much  more  are  letters  to  be  magnified,  which  as  ships  pass 
through  the  vast  seas  of  time,  and  make  ages  so  distant  to  par¬ 
ticipate  of  the  wisdom,  illuminations,  and  inventions,  the  one  of 
the  other?  Nay  further,  we  see  some  of  the  philosophers 
which  were  least  divine  and,  most  immersed  in  the  senses  and 


V 


denied  generally  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  yet  came  to  this 
point,  that  whatsoever  motions  the  spirit  of  man  could  act  and 
perform  without  the  organs  of  the  body  they  thought  might 
remain  after  death  ;  which  were  only  those  of  the  understand¬ 
ing,  and  not  of  the  affection ;  so  immortal  and  incorruptible  a 
thing  did  knowledge  seem  unto  them  to  be.  But  we,  that 


THE  FIRST  BOOK. 


319 


know  by  divine  revelation  that  not  only  the  understanding  but 
the  affections  purified,  not  only  the  spirit  but  the  body"  changed, 
shall  be  advanced  to  immortality,  do  disclaim  in 1  these  rudiments 
of  the  senses.  But  it  must  be  remembered  both  in  this  last 
point,  and  so  it  may  likewise  be  needful  in  other  places,  that 
in  probation  of  the  dignity  of  knowledge  or  learning  I  did  in 
the  beginning  separate  divine  testimony  from  human  ;  which 
method  I  have  pursued,  and  so  handled  them  both  apart. 

Nevertheless  I  do  not  pretend,  and  I  know  it  will  be  im¬ 
possible  for  me  by  any  pleading  of  mine,  to  reverse  the  judg¬ 
ment,  either  of  .ZEsop’s  cock,  that  preferred  the  barleycorn 
before  the  gem  ;  or  of  Midas,  that  being  chosen  judge  between 
Apollo  president  of  the  Muses,  and  Pan  god  of  the  flocks, 
judged  for  plenty  ;  or  of  Paris,  that  judged  for  beauty  and 
love  against  wisdom  and  power;  or  of  Agrippina,  occidat 
matrem,  modo  imperet,  [let  him  kill  his  mother  so  he  be  em¬ 
peror,]  that  preferred  empire  with  condition  never  so  de¬ 
testable  ;  or  of  Ulysses,  qui  vetulam  pratulit  immortalitati,  [that 
preferred  an  old  woman  to  an  immortality,]  being  a  figure  of 
those  which  prefer  custom  and  habit  before  all  excellency ;  or 
of  a  number  of  the  like  popular  judgments.  For  these  things 
continue  as  they  have  been :  but  so  will  that  also  continue 
whereupon  learning  hath  ever  relied,  and  which  faileth  not : 
Justificata  est  sapientia  a  Jiliis  suis :  [wisdom  is  justified  of  her 
children]. 


1  So  all  three  editions.  The  translation  has  nos  aulern  ....  conculcantes  luce 
rudimenta  atque  offucias  sensuum,  novimus  &c. 


321 


THE 

SECOND  BOOK  OF  FRANCIS  BACON 

or  THE 

PROFICIENCE  AND  ADVANCEMENT  OF 
LEARNING 


DIVINE  AND  HUMAN. 


TO  THE  KING. 

It  might  seem  to  have  more  convenience,  though  it  come  often 
otherwise  to  pass,  (excellent  King,)  that  those  which  are  fruit¬ 
ful  in  their  generations,  and  have  in  themselves  the  foresight 
of  immortality  in  their  descendants,  should  likewise  be  more 
careful  of  the  good  estate  of  future  times ;  unto  which  they 
know  they  must  transmit  and  commend  over  their  dearest 
pledges.  Queen  Elizabeth  was  a  sojourner  in  the  world  in  re¬ 
spect  of  her  unmarried  life ;  and  was  a  blessing  to  her  own 
times ;  and  yet  so  as  the  impression  of  her  good  government, 
besides  her  happy  memory,  is  not  without  some  effect  which 
doth  survive  her.1  But  to  your  Majesty,  whom  God  hath 
already  blessed  with  so  much  royal  issue,  worthy  to  continue 
and  represent  you  for  ever,  and  whose  youthful  and  fruitful 
bed  doth  yet  promise  many  the  like  renovations,  it  is  proper 
and  agreeable  to  be  conversant  not  only  in  the  transitory  parts 
of  good  government,  but  in  those  acts  also  which  are  in  their 
nature  permanent  and  perpetual.  Amongst  the  which  (if  affec¬ 
tion  do  not  transport  me)  there  is  not  any  more  worthy  than 
the  further  endowment  of  the  world  with  sound  and  fruitful 
knowledge :  for  why  should  a  few  received  authors  stand  up 
like  Hercules’  Columns,  beyond  which  there  should  be 
ing  or  discovering,  since  we  have  so  bright  and  benig 

1  This  last  clause  is  omitted  in  the  translation.  See  notei>-  2?7- 


322  OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 

as  your  Majesty  to  conduct,  and  prosper  us?  |  To  return  there¬ 
fore  where  we  left,  it  remaineth  to  consider  of  what  kind  those 
acts  are,  which  have  been  undertaken  and  performed  by  kings 
and  others  for  the  increase  and  advancement  of  learning : 
wherein  I  purpose  to  speak  actively  without  digressing  or 
dilating. 

Let  this  ground  therefore  bo  laid,  that  all  works  are  over¬ 
comen  by  amplitude  of  reward,  by  soundness  of  direction,  and 
by  the  conjunction  of  labours.  The  first  multiplieth  endea¬ 
vour,  the  second  preventeth  error,  and  the  third  supplieth  the 
frailty  of  man.  But  the  principal  of  these  is  direction :  for 
claudus  in  via  antevertit  cursorem  extra  viam ;  [the  cripple  that 
keeps  the  way  gets  to  the  end  of  the  journey  sooner  than  the 
runner  who  goes  aside ;]  and  Salomon  excellently  setteth  it 
down.  If  the  iron  be  not  sharp,  it  requireth  more  strength  ;  but 
wisdom  is  that  which  prevaileth ;  signifying  that  the  invention 
or  election  of  the  mean  is  more  effectual  than  any  inforcement 
or  accumulation  of  endeavours.  This  I  am  induced  to  speak, 
for  that  (not  derogating  from  the  noble  intention  of  any  that 
have  been  deservers  towards  the  state  of  learning)  I  do  observe 
nevertheless  that  their  works  and  acts  are  rather  matters  of 
magnificence  and  memory  than  of  progression  and  proficience, 
and  tend  rather  to  augment  the  mass  of  learning  in  the  multi¬ 
tude  of  learned  men  than  to  rectify  or  raise  the  sciences  them¬ 
selves. 

The  works  or  acts  of  merit  towards  learning  are  conversant 
about  three  objects ;  the  places  of  learning,  the  books  of  learn¬ 
ing,  and  the  persons  of  the  learned.  For  as  water,  whether  it 
be  the  dew  of  heaven  or  the  springs  of  the  earth,  doth  scatter 
and  leese  itself  in  the  ground,  except  it  be  collected  into  some 
receptacle,  where  it  may  by  union  comfort  and  sustain  itself; 
and  for  that  cause  the  industry  of  man  hath  made  and  framed 
spring-heads,  conduits,  cisterns,  and  pools,  which  men  have  ac¬ 
customed  likewise  to  beautify  and  adorn  with  accomplishments 
of  magnificence  and  state,  as  well  as  of  use  and  necessity ;  so 
this  excellent  liquor  of  knowledge,  whether  it  descend  from 
divine  inspiration  or  spring  from  human  sense,  would  soon 
perish  and  vanish  to  oblivion,  if  it  were  not  preserved  in  books, 
traditions,  conferences,  and  places  appointed,  as  universities, 
colleges,  and  schools,  for  the  receipt  and  comforting  of  the 
same. 


/ 


THE  SECOND  BOOK.  323 

The  works  which  concern  the  seats  and  places  of  learning 
are  four ;  foundations  and  buildings,  endowments  with  reve¬ 
nues,  endowments  with  franchises  and  privileges,  institutions 
and  ordinances  for  government;  all  tending  to  quietness  and 
privateness  of  life,  and  discharge  of  cares  and  troubles ;  much 
like  the  stations  which  Virgil  prescribeth  for  the  hiving  of 
bees : 

Principio  sedes  apibus  statioque  petenda. 

Quo  neque  sit  ventis  aditus,  &c. 

[First  for  thy  bees  a  quiet  station  find, 

And  lodge  them  under  covert  of  the  wind.1] 

The  works  touching  books  are  two:  first  libraries,  which 
are  as  the  shrines  where  all  the  relics  of  the  ancient  saints,  full 
of  true  virtue  and  that  without  delusion  or  imposture 2,  are 
preserved  and  reposed ;  secondly,  new  editions  of  authors,  with 
more  correct  impressions,  more  faithful  translations,  more  pro¬ 
fitable  glosses,  more  diligent  annotations,  and  the  like. 

The  works  pertaining  to  the  persons  of  learned  men  (be¬ 
sides  the  advancement  and  countenancing  of  them  in  general) 
are  two :  the  reward  and  designation  of  readers  in  sciences  al¬ 
ready  extant  and  invented ;  and  the  reward  and  designation  of 
writers  and  inquirers  concerning  any  parts  of  learning  not  suf¬ 
ficiently  laboured  and  prosecuted. 

These  are  summarily  the  works  and  acts,  wherein  the  merits 
of  many  excellent  princes  and  other  worthy  personages  have 
been  conversant.  As  for  any  particular  commemorations,  I 
call  to  mind  what  Cicero  said,  when  he  gave  general  thanks ; 
Difficile  non  aliquem,  ingratum  quenquam  preeterire :  [it  were 
hard  to  remember  all,  and  yet  ungracious  to  forget  any].  Let 
us  rather,  according  to  the  Scriptures,  look  unto  that  part  of 
the  race  which  is  before  us  than  look  back  to  that  which  is 
already  attained. 

First  therefore,  amongst  so  many  great  foundations  of  col¬ 
leges  in  Europe,  I  find  it  strange  that  they  are  all  dedicated  to 
professions,  and  none  left  free  to  arts  and  sciences  at  large. 
For  if  men  judge  that  learning  should  be  referred  to  action, 
they  judge  well;  but  in  this  they  fall  into  the  error  described 
in  the  ancient  fable ;  in  which  the  other  parts  of  the  body  did 
suppose  the  stomach  had  been  idle,  because  it  neither  per- 

1  Dryden.  8  This  clause  is  omitted  in  the  De  Augrnentis.  See  note  p.  277. 


22  Bacon  III 


324 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


formed  the  office  of  motion,  as  the  limbs  do,  nor  of  sense,  as 
the  head  doth ;  but  yet  notwithstanding  it  is  the  stomach  that 
digesteth  and  distributeth  to  all  the  rest.  So  if  any  man  think 
philosophy  and  universality  to  be  idle  studies,  he  doth  not  con¬ 
sider  that  all  professions  are  from  thence  served  and  supplied. 
And  this  I  take  to  he  a  great  cause  that  hath  hindered  the 
progression  of  learning,  because  these  fundamental  knowledges 
have  been  studied  but  in  passage.  For  if  you  will  have  a  tree 
bear  more  fruit  than  it  hath  used  to  do,  it  is  not  any  thing  you 
can  do  to  the  boughs,  but  it  is  the  stirring  of  the  earth  and 
putting  new  mould  about  the  roots  that  must  work  it.  Neither 
is  it  to  be  forgotten  that  this  dedicating  of  foundations  and  dota- 
tions  to  professory  learning  hath  not  only  had  a  malign  aspect 
and  influence  upon  the  growth  of  sciences,  but  hath  also  been 
prejudicial  to  states  and  governments.  For  hence  it  proceedeth 
that  princes  find  a  solitude  in  regard  of  able  men  to  serve  them 
in  causes  of  estate,  because  there  is  no  education  collegiate 
which  is  free ;  where  such  as  were  so  disposed  might  give 
themselves  to  histories,  modern  languages,  books  of  policy  and 
civil  discourse,  and  other  the  like  enablements  unto  service  of 
estate. 

And  because  founders  of  colleges  do  plant  and  founders  of 
lectures  do  water,  it  followeth  well  in  order  to  speak  of  the 
defect  which  is  in  public  lectures  ;  namely,  in  the  smallness  and 
meanness  of  the  salary  or  reward  which  in  most  places  is 
assigned  unto  them  1 ;  whether  they  be  lectures  of  arts,  or  of 
professions.  For  it  is  necessary  to  the  progression  of  sciences 
that  readers2  be  of  the  most  able  and  sufficient  men  ;  as  those 
which  are  ordained  for  generating  and  propagating  of  sciences, 
and  not  for  transitory  use.  This  cannot  be,  except  their  con¬ 
dition  and  endowment  be  such  as  may  content  the  ablest  man 
to  appropriate  his  whole  labour  and  continue  his  whole  age 
in  that  function  and  attendance ;  and  therefore  must  have  a 
proportion  answerable  to  that  mediocrity  or  competency  ot 
advancement  which  may  be  expected  from  a  profession  or  the 
practice  of  a  profession.  So  as,  if  you  will  have  sciences 
flourish,  you  must  observe  David’s  military  law,  which  was, 
That  those  which  staid  with  the  carriage  should  have  equal  part 
with  those  which  were  in  the  action ;  else  will  the  carriages  be 


1  In  the  De  Augmentis  he  adds  p rasertim  apud  nos. 


2  i.  e  lecturers. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


325 


ill  attended  :  So  readers  in  sciences  are  indeed  the  guardians  of 
the  stores  and  provisions  of  sciences  whence  men  in  active 
courses  are  furnished,  and  therefore  ought  to  have  equal  enter¬ 
tainment  with  them  ;  otherwise  if  the  fathers  in  sciences  be  of 
the  weakest  sort  or  be  ill-maintained, 

Et  patrum  invalidi  referent  jejunia  nati : 

[the  poor  keeping  of  the  parents  will  appear  in  the  poor  con¬ 
stitution  of  the  offspring.] 

Another  defect  I  note,  wherein  I  shall  need  some  alchemist 
to  help  me,  who  call  upon  men  to  sell  their  books  and  to  build 
furnaces ;  quitting  and  forsaking  Minerva  and  the  Muses  as 
barren  virgins,  and  relying  upon  Vulcan.  But  certain  it  is 
that  unto  the  deep,  fruitful,  and  operative  study  of  many 
sciences,  specially  natural  philosophy  and  physic  *,  books  be 
not  only  the  instrumentals;  wherein  also  the  beneficence  of  men 
hath  not  been  altogether  wanting ;  for  we  see  spheres,  globes, 
astrolabes,  maps,  and  the  like,  have  been  provided  as  appur¬ 
tenances  to  astronomy  and  cosmography,  as  well  as  books :  we 
see  likewise  that  some  places  instituted  for  physic  have  annexed 
the  commodity  of  gardens  for  simples  of  all  sorts,  and  do  like¬ 
wise  command  the  use  of  dead  bodies  for  anatomies.  But  these 
do  respect  but  a  few  things.  In  general,  there  will  hardly  be 
any  main  proficience  in  the  disclosing  of  nature,  except  there 
be  some  allowance  for  expenses  about  experiments;  whether 
they  be  experiments  appertaining  to  Vulcanus  or  Da;dalus, 
furnace  or  engine,  or  any  other  kind ;  and  therefore  as  secre¬ 
taries  and  spials  of  princes  and  states  bring  in  bills  for  in¬ 
telligence,  so  you  must  allow  the  spials  and  intelligencers  of 
nature  to  bring  in  their  bills,  or  else  you  shall  be  ill  ad¬ 
vertised. 

And  if  Alexander  made  such  a  liberal  assignation  to  Ari¬ 
stotle  of  treasure  for  the  allowance  of  hunters,  fowlers,  fishers, 
and  the  like,  that  he  might  compile  an  History  of  nature,  much 
better  do  they  deserve  it  that  travail2  in  Arts  of  nature.3 

Another  defect  which  I  note,  is  an  intermission  or  neglect  in 

1  i.  e.  medicine. 

2  travailes  in  the  original,  and  also  in  edd.  1 629  and  1 633. 

8  i.  e.  in  working  upon  and  altering  nature  by  art.  The  meaning  is  expressed  more 
clearly  in  the  translation :  mnjus  quiddum  debetur  iis  qui  non  in  sultibns  nutura  per- 
errant,  sed  in  lubyrinthis  artium  viu.ni  aperiunt :  the  compiler  of  a  history  of  nature 
being  likened  to  a  wanderer  through  the  woods,  the  “  travailer  in  arts  of  nature”  to 
one  who  makes  his  way  through  a  labyrinth. 


326 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


those  which  are  governors  in  universities  of  consultation,  and  in 
princes  or  superior  persons  of  visitation ;  to  enter  into  account 
and  consideration,  whether  the  readings,  exercises,  and  other 
customs  appertaining  unto  learning,  anciently  begun  and  since 
continued,  be  well  instituted  or  no ;  and  thereupon  to  ground 
an  amendment  or  reformation  in  that  which  shall  be  found  in¬ 
convenient.  For  it  is  one  of  your  Majesty’s  own  most  wise 
and  princely  maxims,  that  in  all  usages  and  precedents,  the  times 
be  considered  wherein  they  first  began  ;  which  if  they  were  weak 
or  ignorant,  it  derogateth  from  the  authority  of  the  usage,  and 
leavetli  it  for  suspect.  And  therefore  in  as  much  as  most  of  the 
usages  and  orders  of  the  universities  were  derived  from  more 
obscure  times,  it  is  the  more  requisite  they  be  re-examined. 
In  this  kind  I  will  give  an  instance  or  two  for  example  sake,  of 
things  that  are  the  most  obvious  and  familiar.  The  one  is  a 
matter  which  though  it  be  ancient  and  general,  yet  I  hold  to 
be  an  error;  which  is,  that  scholars  in  universities  come  too 
soon  and  too  unripe  to  logic  and  rhetoric ;  arts  fitter  for  gradu¬ 
ates  than  children  and  novices :  for  these  two,  rightly  taken, 
are  the  gravest  of  sciences  ;  being  the  arts  of  arts,  the  one  for 
judgment,  the  other  for  ornament ;  and  they  be  the  rules  and 
directions  how  to  set  forth  and  dispose  matter ;  and  therefore 
for  minds  empty  and  unfraught  with  matter,  and  which  have 
not  gathered  that  which  Cicero  calleth  sylva  and  supellex,  stuff 
and  variety,  to  begin  with  those  arts,  (a3  if  one  should  learn  to 
weigh  or  to  measure  or  to  paint  the  wind,)  doth  work  but  this 
effect,  that  the  wisdom  of  those  arts,  which  is  great  and  uni¬ 
versal,  is  almost  made  contemptible,  and  is  degenerate  into 
childish  sophistry  and  ridiculous  affectation.  And  further,  the 
untimely  learning  of  them  hath  drawn  on  by  consequence  the 
superficial  and  unprofitable  teaching  and  writing  of  them,  as 
fitteth  indeed  to  the  capacity  of  children.  Another  is  a  lack  I 
find  in  the  exercises  used  in  the  universities,  which  do  make 
too  great  a  divorce  between  invention  and  memory  ;  for  their 
speeches  are  either  premeditate  in  verbis  conceptis,  where  no¬ 
thing  is  left  to  invention,  or  merely  extemporal,  where  little 
is  left  to  memory :  whereas  in  life  and  action  there  is  least  use 
of  either  of  these,  but  rather  of  intermixtures  of  premeditation 
and  invention,  notes  and  memory  ;  so  as  the  exercise  fitteth 
not  the  practice,  nor  the  image  the  life ;  and  it  is  ever  a  true 
rule  in  exercises,  that  they  be  framed  as  near  as  may  be  to  the 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


327 

life  of  practice ;  for  otherwise  they  do  pervert  the  motions 
and  faculties  of  the  mind,  and  not  prepare  them.  The  truth 
whereof  is  not  obscure,  when  scholars  come  to  the  practices  of 
professions,  or  other  actions  of  civil  life ;  which  when  they  set 
into,  this  want  is  soon  found  by  themselves,  and  sooner  by 
others.  But  this  part,  touching  the  amendment  of  the  institu¬ 
tions  and  orders  of  universities,  I  will  conclude  with  the  clause 
of  Caesar’s  letter  to  Oppius  and  Balbus,  Hoc  quemadmodum 
fieri  possit,  nonnulla  mihi  in  mentem  veniunt,  et  multa  reperiri 
possunt ;  de  iis  rebus  rogo  vos  ut  cogitationem  suscipiatis :  [how 
this  may  be  done,  some  things  occur  to  me  and  more  may  be 
thought  of.  I  would  have  you  take  these  matters  into  con¬ 
sideration.] 

Another  defect  which  I  note,  ascendeth  a  little  higher  than 
the  precedent.  For  as  the  proficience  of  learning  consisteth 
much  in  the  orders  and  institutions  of  universities  in  the  same 
states  ahcTkingcloms,  so  it  would  be  yet  more  advanced,  if  there 
were  more  intelligence  mutual  between  the  universities  of 
Europe  than  now  there  is.  We  see  there  be  many  orders  and 
foundations,  which  though  they  be  divided  under  several  so¬ 
vereignties  and  territories,  yet  they  take  themselves  to  have  a 
kind  of  contract,  fraternity,  and  correspondence  one  with  the 
other,  insomuch  as  they  have  Provincials  and  Generals.'  And 
surely  as  nature  createth  brotherhood  in  families,  and  arts 
mechanical  contract  brotherhoods  in  communalties,  and  the 
anointment  of  God  superinduceth  a  brotherhood  in  kings  and 
bishops ;  so  in  like  manner  there  cannot  but  be  a  fraternity  in 
learning  and.  illumination,  relating  to  that  paternity  which  is 
attributed  to  God,  who  is  called  the  Father  of  illuminations  or 
lights. 

The  last  defect  which  I  will  note  is,  that  there  hath  not 
been,  or  very  rarely  been,  any  public  designation  of  writers  or 
inquirers  concerning  such  parts  of  knowledge  as  may  appear 
not  to  have  been  already  sufficiently  laboured  or  undertaken  ; 
unto  which  point  it  is  an  inducement,  to  enter  into  a  view  and 
examination  wrhat  parts  of  learning  have  been  prosecuted,  and 
what  omitted  ;  for  the  opinion  of  plenty  is  amongst  the  causes 
of  want,  and  the  great  quantity  of  books  maketh  a  shew  rather 
pf  superfluity  than  lack  ;  which  surcharge  nevertheless  is  not 
to  be  remedied  by  making  no  more  books,  but  by  making  more 


1  Precfcctos  (alios  provinciates ,  alios  t/enemlps)  qnibus  omnts  parent. — De  Aug. 


328 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


good  books,  which,  as  the  serpent  of  Moses  ’,  might  devour 
the  serpents  of  the  enchanters. 

The  removing  of  all  the  defects  formerly  enumerate,  except 
the  last,  and  of  the  active  part  also  of  the  last,  (which  is  the 
designation  of  writers,)  are  opera  basilica,  [works  for  a  king  ;] 
towards  which  the  endeavours  of  a  private  man  may  he  but  as 
an  image  in  a  crossway,  that  may  point  at  the  \vay  but  cannot 
go  it.  But  the  inducing  part  of  the  latter  (which  is  the  survey 
of  learning)  may  be  set  forward  by  private  travel.  Where¬ 
fore  I  will  now  attempt  to  make  a  general  and  faithful  peram¬ 
bulation  of  learning,  with  an  inquiry  what  parts  thereof  lie 
fresh  and  waste,  and  not  improved  and  converted  by  the  in¬ 
dustry  of  man ;  to  the  end  that  such  a  plot  made  and  recorded 
to  memory  may  both  minister  light  to  any  public  designa¬ 
tion,  and  also  serve  to  excite  voluntary  endeavours ;  wherein 
nevertheless  my  purpose  is  at  this  time  to  note  only  omissions 
and  deficiencies,  and  not  to  make  any  redargution  of  errors  or 
incomplete  prosecutions 2 ;  for  it  is  one  thing  to  set  forth  what 
ground  lieth  unmanured,  and  another  thing  to  correct  ill  hus¬ 
bandry  in  that  which  is  manured.3 

In  the  handling  and  undertaking  of  which  work  I  am  not 
ignorant  what  it  is  that  I  do  now  move  and  attempt,  nor  in¬ 
sensible  of  mine  own  weakness  to  sustain  my  purpose  ;  but  my 
hope  is  that  if  my  extreme  love  to  learning  carry  me  too  far,  I 
may  obtain  the  excuse  of  affection  ;  for  that  it  is  not  granted  to 
man  to  love  and  to  be  wise.  But  I  know  well  I  can  use  no 
other  liberty  of  judgment  than  I  must  leave  to  others ;  and  I 
for  my  part  shall  be  indifferently  glad  either  to  perform  myself 
or  accept  from  another  that  duty  of  humanity,  Nam  qui  erranti 
comiter  monstrat  viam,  &c.  [to  put  the  wanderer  in  the  right 
way].  I  do  foresee  likewise  that  of  those  things  which  I  shall 
enter  and  register  as  deficiencies  and  omissions,  many  will  con¬ 
ceive  and  censure  that  some  of  them  are  already  done  and  ex¬ 
tant  ;  others  to  be  but  curiosities,  and  things  of  no  great  use  ; 
and  others  to  be  of  too  great  difficulty  and  almost  impossibility 
to  be  compassed  and  effected.  But  for  the  two  first,  I  refer 
myself  to  the  particulars.  For  the  last,  touching  impossibility, 
I  take  it  those  things  are  to  be  held  possible  which  may  be 
done  by  some  person,  though  not  by  every  one ;  and  which 

1  Not  Moses,  but  Aaron.  Ex.  i.  17. — It.  L.  E. 

2  infelicitutes.  -  -Do  Aug. 


i.  e.  cultivated. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


329 


may  be  done  by  many,  though  not  by  any  one ;  and  which 
may  be  done  in  succession  of  ages,  though  not  within  the  hour¬ 
glass  of  one  man’s  life ;  and  which  may  be  done  by  public 
designation,  though  not  by  private  endeavour.  But  notwith¬ 
standing,  if  any  man  will  take  to  himself  rather  that  of  Salo¬ 
mon,  Dicit  fiyer,  Leo  est  in  via,  [the  slothful  man  saith  there  is 
a  lion  in  the  path,]  than  that  of  Virgil,  Possunt  quia  posse 
videntur,  [they  find  it  possible  because  they  think  it  possible,] 
I  shall  be  content  that  my  labours  be  esteemed  but  as  the 
better  sort  of  wishes ;  for  as  it  asketh  some  knowledge  to 
demand  a  question  not  impertinent,  so  it  requireth  some  sense 
to  make  a  wish  not  absurd. 


11  1  The  parts  of  human  learning  have  reference  to  the  three 
parts  of  Man’s  Understanding,  which  is  the  seat  of  learning: 
History  to  his  Memory,  Poesy  to  his  Imagination,  and  Phi¬ 
losophy  to  his  Reason.  Divine  learning  receiveth  the  same 
distribution ;  for  the  spirit  of  man  is  the  same,  though  the 
revelation  of  oracle  and  sense  be  diverse  :  so  as  theology  con¬ 
sisted  also  of  History  of  the  Church ;  of  Parables,  which  is 
divine  poesy;  and  of  holy  Doctrine  or  precept.  For  as  for 
that  part  which  seemeth  supernumerary,  which  is  Prophecy,  it 
is  but  divine  history ;  which  hath  that  prerogative  over  human, 
as  the  nai'ration  may  be  before  the  fact  as  well  as  after. 

11 2 History  is  Natural,  Civil,  Ecclesiastical,  and  Literary; 
n, storm  whereof  the  three  first  I  allow  as  extant,  the  fourth 
Literarum.  j  note  as  deficient.  For  no  man  bath  propounded  to 
himself  the  general  state  of  learning  to  be  described  and 
represented  from  age  to  age,  as  many  have  done  the  works  of 
nature  and  the  state  civil  and  ecclesiastical ;  without  which 


1  De  Aug.  ii.  1.  The  substance  of  the  following  paragraph  will  be  found  consider¬ 
ably  expanded  in  the  first  chapter  of  the  Descriptio  Globi  Jntdlertualis ,  and  set  forth 
much  more  clearly  and  orderly  in  the  first  chapter  of  the  second  book  of  the  De  Aug¬ 
ments  ;  which  begins  here  ;  the  previous  observations  being  introductory.  As  it  may 
be  convenient  to  the  reader  to  have  the  means  of  referring  at  once  to  the  correspond¬ 
ing  passages  of  the  more  finished  work,  I  shall  mark  with  a  the  places  where  the 
several  chapters  begin  ;  adding  (where  the  case  admits  of  it)  some  notice,  more  or 
less  complete,  of  the  differences  between  the  two.  See  Preface,  p.  255. 

“  De  Aug.  ii.  4.  In  the  translation  the  divisions  are  altered :  History  being  di¬ 
vided  into  Natural  and  Civil, — History  of  Nature  and  History  of  Man  ;  and  Literary 
and  Ecclesiastical  History  being  considered  as  separate  departments  of  the  latter.  See 
chap.  2.  paragraph  1.  This  alteration  induces  an  alteration  in  the  order  of  treatment ; 
the  precedence  being  given  to  the  History  of  Nature,  which  is  the  subject  of  the 
second  chapter. 


330 


OF  TEE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


the  history  of  the  world  seemeth  to  me  to  be  as  the  statua 
of  Polyphemus  with  his  eye  out;  that  part  being  wanting  which 
doth  most  shew  the  spirit  and  life  of  the  person.  And  yet  I  am 
not  ignorant  that  in  divers  particular  sciences,  as  of  the  juris¬ 
consults,  the  mathematicians,  the  rhetoricians,  the  philosophers, 
there  are  set  down  some  small  memorials  of  the  schools, 
authors,  and  books ;  and  so  likewise  some  barren  relations 
touching  the  invention  of  arts  or  usages.  But  a  just  story  of 
learning,  containing  the  antiquities  and  originals  of  know¬ 
ledges,  and  their  sects ;  their  inventions,  their  traditions ; 
their  diverse  administrations  and  managings ;  their  flourish¬ 
ing^,  their  oppositions,  decays,  depressions,  oblivions,  removes ; 
with  the  causes  and  occasions  of  them,  and  all  other  events  con¬ 
cerning  learning,  throughout  the  ages  of  the  world 1 ;  I  may 
truly  affirm  to  be  wanting.  The  use  and  end  of  which  work  I 
do  not  so  much  design  for  curiosity,  or  satisfaction  of  those 
that  are  the  lovers  of  learning;  but  chiefly  for  a  more  se¬ 
rious  and  grave  purpose,  which  is  this  in  few  words,  that 
it  will  make  learned  men  wise  in  the  use  and  administration 
of  learning.  For  it  is  not  St.  Augustine’s  nor  St.  Ambrose 
works  that  will  make  so  wise  a  divine,  as  ecclesiastical  his¬ 
tory  throughly  read  and  observed ;  and  the  same  reason  is  of 
learning. 

IT 2  History  of  Nature  is  of  three  sorts  ;  of  nature  in  course, 
of  nature  erring  or  varying,  and  of  nature  altered  or  wrought ; 
that  is,  history  of  Creatures,  history  of  Marvels,  and  history  of 
Arts.3  The  first  of  these  no  doubt  is  extant,  and  that  in  good 
perfection;  the  two  later  are  handled  so  weakly  and  unpro- 
fitably,  as  I  am  moved  to  note  them  as  deficient.  For  I  find 
rntoria  no  sufficient  or  competent  collection  of  the  works  of 

Nature  x 

Errantis.  0f  nature  which  have  a  digression  and  deflexion  from 
the  ordinary  course  of  generations,  productions,  and  motions ; 
whether  they  be  singularities  of  place  and  region,  or  the 
strange  events  of  time  and  chance,  or  the  effects  of  yet  un¬ 
known  proprieties,  or  the  instances  of  exception  to  general 
kinds.  It  is  true,  I  find  a  number  of  books  of  fabulous  experi¬ 
ments  and  secrets,  and  frivolous  impostures  for  pleasure  and 

1  The  description  of  the  required  history  is  set  forth  much  more  particularly  in  the 
translation  ;  and  the  whole  paragraph  rewritten  and  enlarged. 

2  De  Aug  ii.  2. 

3  This  division  is  retained  in  the  translation,  but  the  exposition  of  it  is  extended 
into  a  long  paragraph. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


331 


strangeness.  But  a  substantial  and  severe  collection  of  the 
Heteroclites  or  Irregulars  of  nature,  well  examined  and  de¬ 
scribed,  I  find  not;  specially  not  with  due  rejection  of  fables 
and  popular  errors:  for  as  things  now  are,  if  an  untruth  in 
nature  be  once  on  foot,  what  by  reason  of  the  neglect  of  exa¬ 
mination  and  countenance  of  antiquity,  and  what  by  reason  of 
the  use  of  the  opinion  in  similitudes  and  ornaments  of  speech, 
it  is  never  called  down. 

The  use  of  this  work,  honoured  with  a  precedent  in  Aristo¬ 
tle1,  is  nothing  less  than  to  give  contentment  to  the  appetite 
of  curious  and  vain  wits,  as  the  manner  of  Mirabilaries  is  to 
do;  but  for  two  reasons,  both  of  great  weight;  the  one  to 
correct  the  partiality  of  axioms  and  opinions,  which  are  com¬ 
monly  framed  only  upon  common  and  familiar  examples ;  the 
other  because  from  the  wonders  of  nature  is  the  nearest  intel¬ 
ligence  and  passage  towards  the  wonders  of  art  :  for  it  is 
no  more  but  by  following  and  as  it  were  hounding  Nature 
in  her  wanderings,  to  be  able  to  lead  her  afterwards  to  the 
same  place  again.  Neither  am  I  of  opinion,  in  this  His¬ 
tory  of  Marvels,  that  superstitious  narrations  of  sorceries, 
witchcrafts,  dreams,  divinations,  and  the  like,  where  there  is 
an  assurance  and  clear  evidence  of  the  fact,  be  altogether 
excluded.  For  it  is  not  yet  known  in.  what  cases,  and  how 
far,  effects  attributed  to  superstition  do  participate  of  natural 
causes ;  and  therefore  howsoever  the  practice  of  such  things 
is  to  be  condemned,  yet  from  the  speculation  and  considera¬ 
tion  of  them  light  may  be  taken,  not  only  for  the  discern¬ 
ing  of  the  offences,  but  for  the  further  disclosing  of  nature. 
Neither  ought  a  man  to  make  scruple  of  entering  into  these 
things  for  inquisition  of  truth,  as  your  Majesty  hath  shewed  in 
your  own  example;  who  with  the  two  clear  eyes  of  religion 
and  natural  philosophy  have  looked  deeply  and  wisely  into 
these  shadows,  and  yet  proved  yourself  to  be  of  the  nature  of 
the  sun,  which  passeth  through  pollutions  and  itself  remains 
as  pure  as  before.  But  this  I  hold  fit,  that  these  narrations 
which  have  mixture  with  superstition  be  sorted  by  themselves, 
and  not  to  be  mingled  with  the  narrations  which  are  merely 
and  sincerely  natural.  But  as  for  the  narrations  touching  the 

1  De  Miris  Auscultationibus ;  which  is  now  however  generally  admitted  to  be  not 
Aristotle’s. —  R.  L.  E.  See  De  Aug.  ii.  2.  Mr.  Blake-ley  is  of  op’nion  that  the  nucleus 
of  it  was  probably  Aristotle’s,  but  that  it  has  been  added  to  by  subsequent  writers. 


332 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


prodigies  and  miracles  of  religions,  they  are  either  not  true  or 
not  natural ;  and  therefore  impertinent  for  the  story  of  nature. 

For  History  of  Nature  Wrought  or  Mechanical,  I  find 
jj/storia  some  collections  made  of  agriculture,  and  likewise  of 
Mechanics  manua]  arts ;  but  commonly  with  a  rejection  of  ex¬ 
periments  familiar  and  vulgar.  For  it  is  esteemed  a  kind  of 
dishonour  unto  learning  to  descend  to  inquiry  or  meditation 
upon  matters  mechanical,  except  they  he  such  as  may  be 
thought  secrets,  rarities,  and  special  subtilties ;  which  humour 
of  vain  and  supercilious  arrogancy  is  justly  derided  in  Plato ; 
where  he  brings  in  Hippias,  a  vaunting  sophist,  disputing  with 
Socrates,  a  true  and  unfeigned  inquisitor  of  truth ;  where  the 
subject  being  touching  beauty,  Socrates,  after  his  wandering 
manner  of  inductions,  put  first  an  example  of  a  fair  virgin,  and 
then  of  a  fair  horse,  and  then  of  a  fair  pot  well  glazed,  whereat 
Hippias  was  offended,  and  said.  More  than  for  courtesy’s  sake,  he 
did  think  much  to  dispute  with  any  that  did  allege  such  base  and 
sordid  instances  :  whereunto  Socrates  answereth,  You  have  rea¬ 
son,  and  it  becomes  you  well,  being  a  man  so  trim  in  your  vestiments, 
&c.  and  so  goeth  on  in  an  irony.  But  the  truth  is,  they  be  not 
the  highest  instances  that  give  the  securest  information  ;  as  may 
be  well  expressed  in  the  tale  so  common  of  the  philosopher,  that 
while  he  gazed  upwards  to  the  stars  fell  into  the  water ;  for  if 
he  had  looked  down  he  might  have  seen  the  stars  in  the  water, 
but  looking  aloft  he  could  not  see  the  water  in  the  stars.  So  it 
cometh  often  to  pass  that  mean  and  small  things  discover  great 
better  than  great  can  discover  the  small;  and  therefore  Ari¬ 
stotle  noteth  well,  that  the  nature  of  every  thing  is  best  seen  in 
his  smallest  portions,  and  for  that  cause  he  inquireth  the  nature 
of  a  commonwealth,  first  in  a  family,  and  the  simple  conjuga¬ 
tions  of  man  and  wife,  parent  and  child,  master  and  servant, 
which  are  in  every  cottage :  even  so  likewise  the  nature  of 
this  great  city  of  the  world  and  the  policy  thereof  must  be 
first  sought  in  mean  concordances  and  small  portions.  So  we 
see  how  that  secret  of  nature,  of  the  turning  of  iron  touched 
with  the  loadstone  towards  the  north,  was  found  out  in  needles 
of  iron,  not  in  bars  of  iron. 

But  if  my  judgment  be  of  any  weight,  the  use  of  History 
Mechanical  is  of  all  others  the  most  radical  and  fundamental 
towards  natural  philosophy ;  such  natural  philosophy  as  shall 
not  vanish  in  the  fume  of  subtile,  sublime,  or  delectable  specu- 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


333 


hition,  but  such  as  shall  be  operative  to  the  endowment  and 
benefit  of  man’s  life  :  for  it  will  not  only  minister  and  suggest 
for  the  present  many  ingenious  practices  in  all  trades,  by  a 
connexion  and  transferring  of  the  observations  of  one  art  to  the 
use  of  another,  when  the  experiences  of  several  mysteries  shall 
fall  under  the  consideration  of  one  man’s  mind  ;  but  further  it 
will  give  a  more  true  and  real  illumination  concerning  causes 
and  axioms  than  is  hitherto  attained.  For  like  as  a  man’s  dis¬ 
position  is  never  well  known  till  he  be  crossed,  nor  Proteus 
ever  changed  shapes  till  he  was  straitened  and  held  fast ;  so 
the  passages  and  variations  of  nature  cannot  appear  so  fully  in 
the  liberty  of  nature,  as  in  the  trials  and  vexations  of  art. 1 

1 2  For  Civil  History,  it  is  of  three  kinds 3 ;  not  unfitly  to  be 
compared  with  the  three  kinds  of  pictures  or  images.  For  of 
pictures  or  images,  we  see  some  are  unfinished,  some  are  per¬ 
fect4,  and  some  are  defaced.  So  of  histories  we  may  find  three 
kinds,  Memorials,  Perfect  Histories,  and  Antiquities ;  for  Me¬ 
morials  are  history  unfinished,  or  the  first  or  rough  draughts  of 
history,  and  Antiquities  are  history  defaced,  or  some  remnants 
of  history  which  have  casually  escaped  the  shipwrack  of  time. 

Memorials,  or  Preparatory  History,  are  of  two  sorts  ; 
whereof  the  one  may  be  termed  Commentaries,  and  the  other 
Registers.  Commentaries  are  they  which  set  down  a  con¬ 
tinuance  of  the  naked  events  and  actions,  without  the  motives 
or  designs,  the  counsels,  the  speeches,  the  pretexts,  the  occa¬ 
sions,  and  other  passages  of  action :  for  this  is  the  true  nature 
of  a  Commentary ;  though  Caesar,  in  modesty  mixed  with 
greatness,  did  for  his  pleasure  apply  the  name  of  a  Commentary 
to  the  best  history  of  the  world.  Registers  are  collections  of 
public  acts,  as  decrees  of  council,  judicial  proceedings,  declara¬ 
tions  and  letters  of  estate,  orations,  and  the  like,  without  a  per¬ 
fect  continuance  or  contexture  of  the  thread  of  the  narration. 

1  A  paragraph  is  added  in  the  translation,  to  say  that  not  the  mechanical  arts  only 
but  also  the  practical  part  of  the  liberal  sciences,  as  well  as  many  crafts  which  have 
not  grown  into  formal  arts  (such,  he  means,  as  hunting,  fishing,  &c.),  are  to  be  in¬ 
cluded  in  the  History  Mechanical. 

2  De  Aug.  ii.  6.  The  3rd  chapter,  concerning  the  two  uses  of  natural  history,  and 
the  5th  concerning  the  dignity  and  difficulty  of  civil  history,  have  nothing  corre¬ 
sponding  to  them  here. 

*  “  I  am  not  altogether  ignorant  in  the  laws  of  history  and  of  the  kinds.  The 
same  hath  been  taught  by  many,  but  by  no  man  better  and  with  greater  brevity  than 
by  that  excellent  learned  gentleman  Sir  Francis  Bacon.” — Ralegh:  Preface  to  the 
History  of  the  World.  —  R.  L.  E. 

*  parfite  in  the  original ;  the  form  in  which  the  word  was  commonly  written  in 
Bacon’s  time. 


334 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


Antiquities  or  Remnants  of  History  are,  as  was  said,  tan- 
quam  tabula  naufragii,  [like  the  planks  of  a  shipwreck  ;]  when 
industrious  persons  by  an  exact  and  scrupulous  diligence  and 
observation,  out  of  monuments,  names,  words,  proverbs,  tradi¬ 
tions,  private  records  and  evidences,  fragments  of  stories,  pas¬ 
sages  of  books  that  concern  not  story,  and  the  like,  do  save  and 
recover  somewhat  from  the  deluge  of  time. 

In  these  kinds  of  unperfect  histories  I  do  assign  no  deficience, 
for  they  are  tanquam  imperfecte  mista,  [things  imperfectly  com¬ 
pounded  ;]  and  therefore  any  deficience  in  them  is  but  their 
nature.  As  for  the  corruptions  and  moths  of  history,  which 
are  Epitomes,  the  use  of  them  deserveth  to  be  banished,  as  all 
men  of  sound  judgment  have  confessed ;  as  those  that  have 
fretted  and  corroded  the  sound  bodies  of  many  excellent  his¬ 
tories,  and  wrought  them  into  base  and  unprofitable  dregs. 

IT  ‘History  which  may  be  called  Just  and  Perfect  History  is 
of  three  kinds,  according  to  the  object  which  it  propoundeth,  or 
pretendeth  to  represent :  for  it  either  representeth  a  Time,  or 
a  Person,  or  an  Action.  The  first  we  call  Chronicles,  the 
second  Lives,  and  the  third  Narrations  or  Relations.  Of  these, 
although  the  first  be  the  most  complete  and  absolute  kind  of 
history  and  hath  most  estimation  and  glory,  yet  the  second 
excelleth  it  in  profit  and  uSe,  and  the  third  in  verity  and  sin¬ 
cerity.  Por  History  of  Times  representeth  the  magnitude  of 
actions  and  the  public  faces  and  deportments  of  persons,  and 
passeth  over  in  silence  the  smaller  passages  and  motions  of  men 
and  matters.  But  such  being  the  workmanship  of  God  as  he 
doth  hang  the  greatest  weight  upon  the  smallest  wires,  maxima 
e  minimis  suspendens,  it  comes  therefore  to  pass,  that  such  histo¬ 
ries  do  rather  set  forth  the  pomp  of  business  than  the  true  and 
inward  resorts  thereof.2  But  Lives,  if  they  be  well  written  3, 
propounding  to  themselves  a  person  to  represent  in  whom 
actions  both  greater  and  smaller,  public  and  private,  have  a 
commixture,  must  of  necessity  contain  a  more  true,  native,  and 
lively  representation.  So  again  Narrations  and  Relations  of 
actions,  as  the  War  of  Peloponnesus,  the  Expedition  of  Cyrus 

1  De  Aug.  il.  7. 

2  And  even  (he  adds  in  the  translation)  where  they  attempt  to  give  the  counsels  and 
motives,  yet  still  out  of  the  same  love  of  dignity  and  greatness  they  introduce  into 
men’s  actions  more  gravity  and  wisdom  than  they  really  have ;  insomuch  that  you 
may  find  a  truer  picture  of  human  life  in  some  satires  than  in  such  histories. 

8  i.  e.  not  mere  eulogies.  The  translation  adds  ;  “  neque  enim  de  elogiis  et  hujus- 
modi  commemorationibus  jejunis  loquimur.” 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


335 


Minor,  the  Conspiracy  of  Catiline,  cannot  but  be  more  purely 
and  exactly  true  than  Histories  of  Times,  because  they  may 
choose  an  argument  comprehensible  within  the  notice  and  in¬ 
structions  of  the  writer :  whereas  he  that  undertaketh  the 
story  of  a  time,  especially  of  any  length,  cannot  but  meet  with 
many  blanks  and  spaces  which  he  must  be  forced  to  fill  up  out 
of  his  own  wit  and  conjecture.1 

For  the  History  of  Times,  (I  mean  of  civil  history)  the  pro¬ 
vidence  of  God  hath  made  the  distribution  :  for  it  hath  pleased 
God  to  ordain  and  illustrate  two  exemplar  states  of  the  world, 
for  arms,  learning,  moral  virtue,  policy,  and  laws ;  the  state  of 
Graecia,  and  the  state  of  Rome ;  the  histories  whereof  occu¬ 
pying  the  middle  part  of  time,  have  more  ancient  to  them, 
histories  which  may  by  one  common  name  be  termed  the  Anti¬ 
quities  of  the  World;  and  after  them,  histories  which  may  be 
likewise  called  by  the  name  of  Modern  History.2 

Now  to  speak  of  the  deficiencies.  As  to  the  Heathen  Anti¬ 
quities  of  the  world,  it  is  in  vain  to  note  them  for  deficient. 
Deficient  they  are  no  doubt,  consisting  most  of  fables  and 
fragments ;  but  the  deficience  cannot  be  holpen ;  for  antiquity 
is  like  fame,  caput  inter  nubila  condit,  her  head  is  muffled  from 
our  sight.  F or  the  History  of  the  Exemplar  States,  it  is  extant 
in  good  perfection.  Not  but  I  could  wish  there  were  a  perfect 
course  of  history  for  Gracia  from  Theseus  to  Philopocmen, 
(what  time  the  affairs  of  Gracia  drowned  and  extinguished  in 
the  affairs  of  Rome;)  and  for  Rome  from  Romulus  to  Justi- 
nianus,  who  may  be  truly  said  to  be  ultimus  Romanorum.  In 
which  sequences  of  story  the  text  of  Thucydides  and  Xenophon 
in  the  one,  and  the  texts  of  Livius,  Polybius,  Sallustius,  Casar, 
Appianus,  Tacitus,  Herodianus  in  the  other,  to  be  kept  entire 
without  any  diminution  at  all,  and  only  to  be  supplied  and  con¬ 
tinued.  But  this  is  matter  of  magnificence,  rather  to  be  com- 


1  On  the  other  hand  it  must  be  confessed  (he  reminds  us  in  the  translation, — 1  give 
only  the  general  import  of  the  passage,  which  is  of  considerable  length)  that  re¬ 
lations  of  this  kind,  especially  if  published  near  the  time  to  which  they  refer,  are  in 
one  respect  of  all  narratives  the  most  to  be  suspected  ;  being  commonly  written  either 
in  favour  or  in  spite.  But  then  again  it  seldom  happens  that  they  are  all  on  one  side, 
so  that  the  extreme  views  of  each  party  being  represented,  an  honest  and  judicious 
historian  may,  when  the  violence  of  faction  has  cooled  down  with  time,  find  the  truth 
among  them. 

2  This  paragraph  and  the  next  are  omitted  in  the  translation,  and  their  place 
supplied  by  a  general  complaint  that  very  many  particular  histories  are  still  wanting; 
much  to  the  injury  in  honour  and  reputation  of  the  kingdoms  and  commonwealths 
which  they  concern. 


336 


OP  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


mended  than  required  :  and  we  speak  now  of  parts  of  learning 
supplemental,  and  not  of  supererogation. 

But  for  Modern  Histories,  whereof  there  are  some  few  very 
worthy,  but  the  greater  part  beneath  mediocrity,  leaving  the 
care  of  foreign  stories  to  foreign  states,  because  I  will  not  be 
curiosus  in  aliena  republica,  [a  meddler  in  other  nations’  mat¬ 
ters,]  I  cannot  fail  to  represent  to  your  Majesty  the  un¬ 
worthiness  of  the  history  of  England  in  the  main  continuance 
thereof,  and  the  partiality  and  obliquity  of  that  of  Scotland  in 
the  latest  and  largest  author  that  I  have  seen ;  supposing  that 
it  would  be  honour  for  your  Majesty  and  a  work  very  me¬ 
morable,  if  this  island  of  Great  Britain  ',  as  it  is  now  joined  in 
monarchy  for  the  ages  to  come,  so  were  joined  in  one  history 
for  the  times  passed ;  after  the  manner  of  the  sacred  history, 
which  draweth  down  the  story  of  the  Ten  Tribes  and  of  the 
Two  Tribes  as  twins  together.  And  if  it  shall  seem  that  the 
greatness  of  this  work  may  make  it  less  exactly  performed, 
there  is  an  excellent  period  of  a  touch  smaller  compass  of  time, 
as  to  the  story  of  England ;  that  is  to  say,  from  the  Uniting 
of  the  Boses  to  the  Uniting  of  the  Kingdoms;  a  portion  of 
time,  wherein  to  my  understanding,  there  hath  been  the  rarest 
varieties  that  in  like  number  of  successions  of  any  hereditary 
monarchy  hath  been  known.  For  it  beginneth  with  the  mixed 
adeption  of  a  crown,  by  arms  and  title ;  an  entry  by  battle,  an 
establishment  by  marriage  ;  and  therefore  times  answerable, 
like  waters  after  a  tempest,  full  of  working  and  swelling, 
though  without  extremity  of  storm ;  but  well  passed  through 
by  the  wisdom  of  the  pilot,  being  one  of  the  most  sufficient 
kings  of  all  the  number.  Then  followeth  the  reign  of  a  king, 
whose  actions,  howsoever  conducted2,  had  much  intermixture 
with  the  affairs  of  Europe,  balancing  and  inclining  them  va¬ 
riably;  in  whose  time  also  began  that  great  alteration  in  the 
state  ecclesiastical,  an  action  which  seldom  cometh  upon  the 
stage :  then  the  reign  of  a  minor :  then  an  offer  of  an  usur¬ 
pation,  though  it  was  but  as  febris  ephemera,  [a  diary  ague :] 
then  the  reign  of  a  queen  matched  with  a  foreigner :  then 

1  Spelt  Briltanie  in  the  original;  Brittany  in  edd.  >‘129  and  1633. 

2  The  distinction  between  the  father  and  the  son  is  more  clearly  marked  in  the 
translation.  Of  Henry  VII.  he  says  qui  unus  inter  antecessores  reyes  consilio 
eniiuit ;  of  Henry  VIII. ’s  actions,  licet  magis  impetu  quam  consilio  administrates.  Had 
Bacon  gone  on  with  his  history  of  Henry  VIII.  it  would  have  been  curious  to  contrast 
the  portrait  of  the  son  governing  more  by  passion  than  policy,  with  that  of  the  father 
governing  by  policy  without  passion. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


337 


of  a  queen  that  lived  solitary  and  unmarried,  and  yet  her  go¬ 
vernment  so  masculine  as  it  had  greater  impression  and  ope¬ 
ration  upon  the  states  abroad  than  it  any  ways  received  from 
thence  1 :  and  now  last,  this  most  happy  and  glorious  event, 
that  this  island  of  Britain,  divided  from  all  the  world,  should  be 
united  in  itself;  and  that  oracle  of  rest  given  to  2Eneas,  Anti- 
quam  exquirite  matrem,  [seek  out  your  ancient  mother,]  should 
now  be  performed  and  fulfilled  upon  the  nations  of  England 
and  Scotland,  being  now  reunited  in  the  ancient  mother  name 
of  Britain,  as  a  full  period  of  all  instability  and  peregrina¬ 
tions:  so  that  as  it  cometh  to  pass  in  massive  bodies,  that 
they  have  certain  trepidations  and  waverings  before  they  fix 
and  settle ;  so  it  seemeth  that  by  the  providence  of  God  this 
monarchy,  before  it  was  to  settle  in  your  Majesty  and  your 
generations,  (in  which  I  hope  it  is  now  established  for  ever,)  it 
had  these  prelusive  changes  and  varieties. 

For  Lives,  I  do  find  strange  that  these  times  have  so  little 
esteemed  the  virtues  of  the  times,  as  that  the  writing  of  fives 
should  be  no  more  frequent.  For  although  there  be  not 
many  sovereign  princes  or  absolute  commanders,  and  that 
states  are  most  collected  into  monarchies,  yet  are  there  many 
worthy  personages  that  deserve  better  than  dispersed  report  or 
barren  elogies.  For  herein  the  invention  of  one  of  the  late 
poets 2  is  proper,  and  doth  well  enrich  the  ancient  fiction :  for 
he  feigneth  that  at  the  end  of  the  thread  or  web  of  every  man’s 
fife  there  was  a  little  medal  containing  the  person’s  name,  and 
that  Time  waited  upon  the  shears,  and  as  soon  as  the  thread 
was  cut,  caught  the  medals  and  carried  them  to  the  river  of 
Lethe ;  and  about  the  bank  there  were  many  birds  flying  up 
and  down,  that  would  get  the  medals  and  carry  them  in  their 
beak  a  little  while,  and  then  let  them  fall  into  the  river :  only 
there  were  a  few  swans,  which  if  they  got  a  name,  would  carry 
it  to  a  temple  where  it  was  consecrate.  And  although  many 
men  more  mortal  in  their  affections  than  in  their  bodies,  do 
esteem  desire  of  name  and  memory  but  as  a  vanity  and  ven- 
tosity, 

Animi  nil  magnte  laudis  egentes  ; 

[souls  that  have  no  care  for  praise ;]  which  opinion  cometh 

1  This  last  clause  is  omitted  in  the  De  Augmentis.  See  note  p.  277. 

2  Ariosto,  Orlando  Furioso ;  at  the  end  of  the  34th  and  the  beginning  of  the  33th 
books. 


338 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


from  that  root,  non  prius  laudes  contempsimus,  quam  laudanda 
facere  desivimus ;  [men  hardly  despise  praise  till  they  have 
ceased  to  deserve  it;]  yet  that  will  not  alter  Salomon’s  judg¬ 
ment,  Memoria  justi  cum  laudibus,  at  impiorum  nomen  putrescet ; 
[the  memory  of  the  just  is  blessed ;  but  the  name  of  the  wicked 
shall  rot ;]  the  one  llourisheth,  the  other  either  consumeth  to 
present  oblivion,  or  turneth  to  an  ill  odour.  -And  therefore  in 
that  style  or  addition,  which  is  and  hath  been  long  well  received 
and  brought  in  use,  felicis  memoriae,  pice  memoriae,  bonce  me¬ 
moriae,  [of  happy,  of  pious,  of  good  memory,]  we  do  acknow¬ 
ledge  that  which  Cicero  saith,  borrowing  it  from  Demosthenes, 
that  bona  fama  propria  possessio  defunctorum  1 ;  [good  fame  is 
all  that  a  dead  man  can  possess;]  which  possession  I  cannot 
but  note  that  in  our  times  it  lieth  much  waste,  and  that  therein 
there  is  a  deficience. 

For  Narrations  and  Relations  of  particular  actions,  there 
were  also  to  be  wished  a  greater  diligence  therein  ;  for  there  is 
no  great  action  but  hath  some  good  pen  which  attends  it.  And 
because  it  is  an  ability  not  common  to  write  a  good  history,  as 
may  well  appear  by  the  small  number  of  them ;  yet  if  par¬ 
ticularity  of  actions  memorable  were  but  tolerably  reported  as 
they  pass,  the  compiling  of  a  complete  History  of  Times  might 
be  the  better  expected,  when  a  writer  should  arise  that  were  fit 
for  it :  for  the  collection  of  such  relations  might  be  as  a  nursery 
garden,  whereby  to  plant  a  fair  and  stately  garden  when  time 
should  serve. 

IT1  2  There  is  yet  another  portion  of  history  which  Cornelius 
Tacitus  maketh,  which  is  not  to  be  forgotten,  specially  with 
that  application  which  he  accoupleth  it  withal.  Annals  and 
Journals:  appropriating  to  the  former  matters  of  estate,  and  to 
the  later  acts  and  accidents  of  a  meaner  nature.  For  giving 
but  a  touch  of  certain  magnificent  buildings,  he  addeth,  Cum 
ex  clignitate  populi  Romani  repertum  sit,  res  illustres  annalibus, 
talia  diurnis  urbis  actis  mandare :  [that  it  had  been  thought 
suitable  to  the  dignity  of  the  Roman  people  to  enter  in  their 
annals  only  matters  of  note  and  greatness ;  leaving  such  things 
as  these  to  the  journal  records  of  the  city.]  So  as  there  is  a 

1  Compare  Cicero,  Philippic.  9.  5.,  with  the  opening  of  the  A 6yos  i-rrirdtiios, 
13S9-10. 

2  De  Aug.  ii.  9.  Between  this  paragraph  and  the  last  there  is  introduced  in  the 
translation  a  chapter  on  the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  histories  of  the  world, 
as  distinguished  from  histories  of  particular  countries. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


339 


kind  of  contemplative  heraldry,  as  well  as  civil.  And  as 
nothing  doth  derogate  from  the  dignity  of  a  state  more  than 
confusion  of  degrees  ;  so  it  doth  not  a  little  embase  the  autho¬ 
rity  of  an  history,  to  intermingle  matters  of  triumph  or  mat¬ 
ters  of  ceremony  or  matters  of  novelty  with  matters  of  state. 
But  the  use  of  a  Journal  hath  not  only  been  in  the  history 
of  times  *,  but  likewise  in  the  history  of  persons,  and  chiefly  of 
actions ;  for  princes  in  ancient  time  had,  upon  point  of  honour 
and  policy  both,  journals  kept  of  what  passed  day  by  day:  for 
we  see  the  Chronicle  which  was  read  before  Ahasuerus1 2,  when 
he  could  not  take  rest,  contained  matter  of  affairs  indeed,  but 
such  as  had  passed  in  his  own  time,  and  very  lately  before  :  but 
the  Journal  of  Alexander’s  house  expressed  every  small  par¬ 
ticularity,  even  concerning  his  person  and  court 3 ;  and  it  is  yet 
an  use  well  received  in  enterprises  memorable,  as  expeditions 
of  war,  navigations,  and  the  like,  to  keep  diaries  of  that  which 
passeth  continually. 

IT  4  I  cannot  likewise  be  ignorant  of  a  form  of  writing  which 
some  grave  and  wise  men  have  used,  containing  a  scattered 
history  of  those  actions  which  they  have  thought  worthy  of 
memory,  with  politic  discourse  and  observation  thereupon  ;  not 
incorporate  into  the  history,  but  separately,  and  as  the  more 
principal  in  their  intention  ;  which  kind  of  Ruminated  History 
I  think  more  fit  to  place  amongst  books  of  policy,  whereof  we 
shall  hereafter  speak,  than  amongst  books  of  history 5 ;  for  it  is 
the  true  office  of  history  to  represent  the  events  themselves 
together  with  the  counsels,  and  to  leave  the  observations  and 
conclusions  thereupon  to  the  liberty  and  faculty  of  every  man’s 
judgment.  But  mixtures  are  things  irregular,  whereof  no  man 
can  define. 

So  also  is  there  another  kind  of  history  manifoldly  mixed, 

1  time  in  the  original  and  also  in  edd.  1629  and  1633.  The  translation  omits  this 
clause. 

2  Esther,  vi.  1. 

3  Not  that  greater  matters  were  excluded  ;  but  great  and  small  were  entered  promis¬ 
cuously  as  they  occurred.  (  Neque  enim  sicut  annates  tantum  gravia,  ita  diaria  tantum 
levia  complexa  sunt ;  sed  omnia  promisee  et  cursim  diariis  excipiebantur ,  seu  majoris 
seu  minoris  momenti .) 

4  De  Aug.  ii.  10. 

5  This  remark  is  omitted  in  the  translation,  and  another  substituted,  to  the  effect 
that  this  kind  of  ruminated  history  is  an  excellent  thing,  provided  it  be  understood 
that  the  matter  in  hand  is  not  history  but  observations  upon  history  ( modo  hujusmodi 
scriptor  hoc  agat  et  hoc  se  agere  conjiteatur ) ;  for  in  a  regular  history  the  narrative 
ought  not,  he  says,  to  be  interrupted  by  comments  of  this  kind.  It  should  be  pregnant 
with  politic  precepts,  but  the  writer  should  not  play  the  midwife. 


23  Bacon  III 


340 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


and  that  is  History  of  Cosmography  :  being  compounded  of 
natural  history,  in  respect  of  the  regions  themselves ;  of  history 
civil,  in  respect  of  the  habitations,  regiments,  and  manners  of 
the  people ;  and  the  mathematics,  in  respect  of  the  climates 
and  configurations  towards  the  heavens  :  which  part  of  learning 
of  all  others  in  this  latter  time  hath  obtained  most  proficience. 
For  it  may  be  truly  affirmed  to  the  honour  of  these  times,  anch 
in  a  virtuous  emulation  with  antiquity,  that  this  great  building 
of  the  world  had  never  through-lights  made  in  it,  till  the  age 
of  us  and  our  fathers  ;  for  although  they  had  knowledge  of  the 
antipodes, 

Nosque  ubi  primus  equis  oriens  afflavit  anhelis, 

Illic  sera  rubens  accendit  lumina  Vesper  : 

[And  while  on  us  the  fresh  East  breathes  from  far, 

For  them  the  red  West  lights  her  evening  staF:] 

yet  that  might  be  by  demonstration,  and  not  in  fact ;  and  if  by 
travel,  it  requireth  the  voyage  but  of  half  the  globe.  But  to 
circle  the  earth,  as  the  heavenly  bodies  do,  was  not  done  nor 
enterprised  till  these  later  times :  and  therefore  these  times,, 
may  justly  bear  in  their  word,  not  only  plus  ultra ,  in  pre¬ 
cedence  of  the  ancient  non  ultra,  and  imitabile  fulmen  in  pre¬ 
cedence  of  the  ancient  non  imitabile  fulmen. 

Demens  qui  nimbos  et  non  imitabile  fulmen  &c. 
but  likewise  imitabile  caelum ;  in  respect  of  the  many  memo¬ 
rable  voyages,  after  the  manner  of  heaven,  about  the  globe  of 
the  earth. 

And  this  proficience  in  navigation  and  discoveries  may  plant 
also  an  expectation  of  the  further  proficience  and  augmentation 
of  all  sciences  ;  because  it  may  seem  they  are  ordained  by  God 
to  be  coevals,  that  is,  to  meet  in  one  age.  For  so  the  prophet 
Daniel  speaking  of  the  latter  times  foretelleth,  Plurimi  per- 
transibunt,  et  multiplex  erit  scientia :  [many  shall  pass  to  and 
fro,  and  knowledge  shall  be  multiplied  :]  as  if  the  openness  and 
through  passage  of  the  world  and  the  increase  of  knowledge 
were  appointed  to  be  in  the  same  ages;  as  we  see  it  is  already 
performed  in  great  part ;  the  learning  of  these  later  times  not 
much  giving  place  to  the  former  two  periods  or  returns  of 
learning,  the  one  of  the  Grecians,  the  other  of  the  Romans. 

1  1  History  Ecclesiastical  receiveth  the  same  divisions  with 


1  De  Aug.  ii.  11 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


341 


History  Civil:  but  further  in  the  propriety  thereof  may  be 
divided  into  History  of  the  Church.,  by  a  general  name ;  His¬ 
tory  of  Prophecy ;  and  History  of  Providence.  The  first  de- 
scribeth  the  times  of  the  militant  church ;  whether  it  be  fluc¬ 
tuant,  as  the  ark  of  Noah ;  or  moveable,  as  the  ark  in  the 
wilderness ;  or  at  rest,  as  the  ark  in  the  temple ;  that  is,  the 
state  of  the  church  in  persecution,  in  remove,  and  in  peace. 
This  part  I  ought  in  no  sort  to  note  as  deficient ;  only  I  would 
that  the  virtue  and  sincerity  of  it  were  according  to  the  mass 
and  quantity.  But  I  am  not  now  in  hand  with  censures,  but 
with  omissions. 

The  second,  which  is  History  of  Prophecy,  consisteth  of  two 
relatives,  the  prophecy  and  the  accomplishment;  and  therefore 
the  nature  of  such  a  work  ought  to  be,  that  every  prophecy 
of  the  scripture  be  sorted  with  the  event  fulfilling  the  same, 
throughout  the  ages  of  the  world ;  both  for  the  better  confir¬ 
mation  of  faith,  and  for  the  better  illumination  of  the  church 
touching  those  parts  of  prophecies  which  are  yet  unfulfilled ; 
allowing  nevertheless  that  latitude  which  is  agreeable  and 
familiar  unto  divine  prophecies ;  being  of  the  nature  of  their 
author,  with  whom  a  thousand  years  are  but  as  one  day ;  and 
therefore  are  not  fulfilled  punctually  at  once,  but  have  spring¬ 
ing  and  germinant  accomplishment  throughout  many  ages, 
though  the  height  or  fulness  of  them  may  refer  to  some  one 
age.  This  is  a  work  which  I  find  deficient,  but  is  to  Hittoria 
be  done  with  wisdom,  sobriety,  and  reverence,  or  not  Pr°Phe‘,ca- 
at  all. 

The  third,  which  is  History  of  Providence,  containeth  that 
excellent  correspondence  which  is  between  God’s  revealed  will 
and  his  secret  will ;  which  though  it  be  so  obscure  as  for  the 
most  part  it  is  not  legible  to  the  natural  man ;  no,  nor  many 
times  to  those  that  behold  it  from  the  tabernacle  ;  yet  at  some- 
times  it  pleaseth  God,  for  our  better  establishment  and  the  con¬ 
futing  of  those  which  are  as  without  God  in  the  world,  to  write 
it  in  such  text  and  capital  letters  that,  as  the  prophet  saith, 
he  that  runneth  by  may  read  it 1  ;  that  is,  mere  sensual  persons, 
which  hasten  by  God’s  judgments  and  never  bend  or  fix  their 

1  Habak.  ii.  2.  Mr.  Ellis  has  remarked  in  his  note  on  the  corresponding  passage 
in  the  De  Augmentis  that  this  expression,  now  so  familiar  and  almost  proverbial,  is 
in  fact  a  misquotation  of  the  text  and  a  misrepresentation  of  the  meaning  of  the  pro¬ 
phet.  “  Write  the  vision  and  make  it  plain  upon  the  tables  that  he  may  run  that 
readeth  it.”  It  would  be  a  curious  inquiry,  who  first  made  this  mistake. 


342 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


cogitations  upon  them,  are  nevertheless  in  their  passage  and 
race  urged  to  discern  it.  Such  are  the  notable  events  and 
examples  of  God’s  judgments,  chastisements,  deliverances,  and 
blessings.  And  this  is  a  work  which  hath  passed  through  the 
labour  of  many1,  and  therefore  I  cannot  present  as  omitted. 

H  2  There  are  also  other  parts  of  learning  which  are  Appen¬ 
dices  to  history.  For  all  the  exterior  proceedings  of  man  consist 
of  words  and  deeds  ;  whereof  history  doth  properly  receive  and 
retain  in  memory  the  deeds,  and  if  words,  yet  but  as  induce¬ 
ments  and  passages  to  deeds;  so  are  there  other  books  and 
writings,  which  are  appropriate  to  the  custody  and  receit  of 
words  only ;  which  likewise  are  of  three  sorts ;  Orations, 
Letters,  and  Brief  Speeches  or  Sayings.  Orations  are  plead¬ 
ings,  speeches  of  counsel ;  laudatives,  invectives,  apologies,  re¬ 
prehensions  ;  orations  of  formality  or  ceremony,  and  the  like. 
Letters  are  according  to  all  the  variety  of  occasions ;  advertise¬ 
ments,  advices,  directions,  propositions,  petitions,  commenda¬ 
tory,  expostulatory,  satisfactory,  of  compliment,  of  pleasure,  of 
discourse,  and  all  other  passages  of  action.  And  such  as  are 
written  from  wise  men  are,  of  all  the  words  of  man,  in  my 
judgment  the  best ;  for  they  are  more  natural  than  orations  and 
public  speeches,  and  more  advised  than  conferences  or  present 
speeches.  So  again  letters  of  affairs  from  such  as  manage 
them  or  are  privy  to  them  are  of  all  others  the  best  instruc¬ 
tions  for  history,  and  to  a  diligent  reader  the  best  histories  in 
themselves.  For  Apophthegms,  it  is  a  great  loss  of  that  book 
of  C cesar’s ;  for  as  his  history  and  those  few  letters  of  his  which 
we  have  and  those  apophthegms  which  were  of  his  own  excel 
all  men’s  else,  so  I  suppose  would  his  collection  of  Apo¬ 
phthegms  have  done ;  for  as  for  those  which  are  collected  by 
others,  either  I  have  no  taste  in  such  matters,  or  else  their 
choice  hath  not  been  happy.3  But  upon  these  three  kinds  of 
writings  I  do  not  insist,  because  I  have  no  deficiences  to  pro¬ 
pound  concerning  them. 

Thus  much  therefore  concerning  History ;  which  is  that  part 

1  In  the  translation  he  says,  “  sane  in  calamus  nonnvllarum  piornm  virorum  incidit, 
sed  non  sine  partium  studio.”  Indeed  it  is  difficult  to  see  how,  without  partiality, 
such  a  history  of  Providence  could  be  written  at  all.  For  take  any  signal  calamity 
and  look  at  it  in  its  historical  character  only, —  who  shall  say  whether  it  is  a  chastise* 
ment  or  a  martyrdom  ?  a  judgment  upou  the  sinner,  or  a  trial  of  the  saint  1 

2  De  Aug.  ii.  12. 

3  Some  further  remarks  upon  the  value  and  use  of  Apophthegms  are  introduced  in 
the  De  Augmentis  :  of  these,  a  translation  will  be  given  in  my  preface  to  Bacon’s  own 
collection  of  Apophthegms. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


343 


of  learning  which  answereth  to  one  of  the  cells,  domiciles,  or 
offices  of  the  mind  of  man ;  which  is  that  of  the  Memory. 

IT  1  Poesy  is  a  part  of  learning  in  measure  of  words  for  the 
most  part  restrained,  but  in  all  other  points  extremely  licensed, 
and  doth  truly  refer  to  the  Imagination  ;  which,  being  not  tied 
to  the  laws  of  matter,  may  at  pleasure  join  that  which  nature 
hath  severed,  and  sever  that  which  nature  hath  joined,  and  so 
make  unlawful  matches  and  divorces  of  things :  Pictoribus  atque 
poetis,  &c.  [Painters  and  Poets  have  always  been  allowed  to 
take  what  liberties  they  would.]  It  is  taken  in  two  senses,  in 
respect  of  words  or  matter.  In  the  first  sense  it  is  but  a  character 
of  style,  and  belongeth  to  arts  of  speech,  and  is  not  pertinent 
for  the  present.3  In  the  later,  it  is  (as  hath  been  said)  one  of  the 
principal  portions  of  learning,  and  is  nothing  else  but  Feigned 
History,  which  may  be  styled  as  well  in  prose  as  in  verse. 

The  use  of  this  Feigned  History  hath  been  to  give  some 
shadow  of  satisfaction  to  the  mind  of  man  in  those  points 
wherein  the  nature  of  things  doth  deny  it ;  the  world  being  in 
proportion  inferior  to  the  soul ;  by  reason  whereof  there  is 
agreeable  to  the  spirit  of  man  a  more  ample  greatness,  a  more 
exact  goodness,  and  a  more  absolute  variety,  than  can  be  found 
in  the  nature  of  things.  Therefore,  because  the  acts  or  events 
of  true  history  have  not  that  magnitude  which  satisfieth  the 
mind  of  man,  poesy  feigneth  acts  and  events  greater  and  more 
heroical;  because  true  history  propoundeth  the  successes  and 
issues  of  actions  not  so  agreeable  to  the  merits  of  virtue  and 
vice,  therefore  poesy  feigns  them  more  just  in  retribution,  and 
more  according  to  revealed  providence ;  because  true  history 
representeth  actions  and  events  more  ordinary  and  less  inter¬ 
changed,  therefore  poesy  endueth  them  with  more  rareness,  and 
more  unexpected  and  alternative  variations.  So  as  it  appeareth 
that  poesy  serveth  and  conferreth  to  magnanimity,  morality, 
and  to  delectation.  And  therefore  it  was  ever  thought  to  have 
some  participation  of  divineness,  because  it  doth  raise  and  erect 
the  mind,  by  submitting  the  shews  of  things  to  the  desires  of 

1  De  Aug.  ii.  13.  The  arrangement  is  partly  altered  in  the  translation,  and  much 
new  matter  introduced :  among  the  rest,  a  whole  paragraph  concerning  the  true  use 
and  dignity  of  dramatic  poetry,  as  a  vehicle  of  moral  instruction  ;  which  is  connected 
in  a  striking  manner  with  the  remark  that  men  in  bodies  are  more  open  to  impressions 
than  when  alone. 

2  A  sentence  is  added  in  the  translation  to  explain  that  under  this  head  satires, 
elegies,  epigrams,  and  odes  are  included. 


344 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


the  mind  ;  whereas  reason  doth  buckle  and  bow  the  mind  unto 
the  nature  of  things.  And  we  see  that  by  these  insinuations 
and  congruities  with  man’s  nature  and  pleasure,  joined  also 
with  the  agreement  and  consort  it  hath  with  music,  it  hath  had 
access  and  estimation  in  rude  times  and  barbarous  regions, 
where  other  learning  stood  excluded. 

The  division  of  poesy  which  is  aptest  in  the  propriety  thereof, 
(besides  those  divisions  which  are  common  unto  it  with  history, 
as  feigned  chronicles,  feigned  lives ;  and  the  appendices  of  his¬ 
tory,  as  feigned  epistles,  feigned  orations,  and  the  rest ;)  is  into 
Poesy  Narrative,  Representative,  and  Allusive.  The  Nar¬ 
rative  is  a  mere  imitation  of  history,  with  the  excesses  before 
remembered;  choosing  for  subject  commonly  wars  and  love, 
rarely  state,  and  sometimes  pleasure  or  mirth.1  Represent¬ 
ative  is  as  a  visible  history,  and  is  an  image  of  actions  as  if  they 
were  present,  as  history  is  of  actions  in  nature  as  they  are,  (that 
is)  past.  Allusive  or  Parabolical  is  a  narration  applied  only 
to  express  some  special  purpose  or  conceit.2  Which  later 
kind  of  parabolical  wisdom  was  much  more  in  use  in  the  ancient 
times,  as  by  the  fables  of  .tEsop  and  the  brief  sentences  of  the 
Seven  and  the  use  of  hieroglyphics  may  appear.  And  the 
cause  was,  for  that  it  was  then  of  necessity  to  express  any 
point  of  reason  which  was  more  sharp  or  subtile  than  the 
vulgar  in  that  manner ;  because  men  in  those  times  wanted 
both  variety  of  examples  and  subtilty  of  conceit :  and  as  hiero¬ 
glyphics  were  before  letters,  so  parables  were  before  argu¬ 
ments  :  and  nevertheless  now  and  at  all  times  they  do  retain 
much  life  and  vigour,  because  reason  cannot  be  so  sensible,  nor 
examples  so  fit. 

But  there  remaineth  yet  another  use  of  Poesy  Parabolical, 
opposite  to  that  which  we  last  mentioned  :  for  that  tendeth  to 
demonstrate  and  illustrate  that  which  is  taught  or  delivered, 
and  this  other  to  retire  and  obscure  it :  that  is  when  the  secrets 
and  mysteries  of  religion,  policy,  or  philosophy  are  involved 
in  fables  or  parables.  Of  this  in  divine  poesy  we  see  the  use 
is  authorized.  In  heathen  poesy  we  see  the  exposition  of 
fables  doth  fall  out  sometimes  with  great  felicity ;  as  in  the 

1  The  last  clause  of  this  sentence  is  omitted  in  the  translation. 

2  This  obscure  sentence  is  explained  in  the  translation  to  mean  that  Parabolic  Poesy 
is  historia  cum  tvpn ,  qua  intellectualia  deducit  ad  sensum,  —  typical  history,  by  which 
ideas  that  are  objects  of  the  Intellect  are  represented  in  forms  that  are  objects  of  the 
Sense. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


345 


fable  that  the  giants  being  overthrown  in  their  war  against  the 
gods,  the  Earth  their  mother  in  revenge  thereof  brought  forth 
Fame : 

Illam  Terra  parens,  ira  irritata  deorum, 

Extremam,  ut  perhibent,  Cceo  Enceladoque  sororem 

Progenuit : 

expounded  that  when  princes  and  monarchs  have  suppressed 
actual  and  open  rebels,  then  the  malignity  of  people  (which  is 
the  mother  of  rebellion)  doth  bring  forth  libels  and  slanders 
and  taxations  of  the  state,  which  is  of  the  same  kind  with 
rebellion,  but  more  feminine.  So  in  the  fable  that  the  rest  of 
the  gods  having  conspired  to  bind  J upiter,  Pallas  called  Briareus 
with  his  hundred  hands  to  his  aid  :  expounded  that  monarchies 
need  not  fear  any.  curbing  of  their  absoluteness  by  mighty  sub¬ 
jects,  as  long  as  by  wisdom  they  keep  the  hearts  of  the  people, 
who  will  be  sure  to  come  in  on  their  side.  So  in  the  fable  that 
Achilles  was  brought  up  under  Chiron  the  Centaur,  who  was 
part  a  man  and  part  a  beast :  expounded  ingeniously  but  cor¬ 
ruptly  by  Machiavel,  that  it  belongeth  to  the  education  and 
discipline  of  princes  to  know  as  well  how  to  play  the  part  of 
the  lion  in  violence  and  the  fox  in  guile,  as  of  the  man  in  virtue 
and  justice.1  Nevertheless  in  many  the  like  encounters,  I  do 
rather  think  that  the  fable  was  first,  and  the  exposition  devised, 
than  that  the  moral  was  first,  and  thereupon  the  fable  framed. 
For  I  find  it  was  an  ancient  vanity  in  Chrysippus,  that  troubled 
himself  with  great  contention  to  fasten  the  assertions  of  the 
Stoics  upon  the  fictions  of  the  ancient  poets.  But  yet  that  all 
the  fables  and  fictions  of  the  poets  were  but  pleasure  and  not 
figure,  I  interpose  no  opinion.  Surely  of  those  poets  which 
are  now  extant,  even  Homer  himself,  (notwithstanding  he  was 
made  a  kind  of  Scripture  by  the  later  schools  of  the  Grecians,) 
yet  I  should  without  any  difficulty  pronounce  that  his  fables 
had  no  such  inwardness  in  his  own  meaning;  but  what  they 
might  have  upon  a  more  original  tradition,  is  not  easy  to.  affirm ; 
for  he  was  not  the  inventor  of  many  of  them.2 

1  The  Prince,  c.  18.  As  two  of  the  animals  are  the  same  it  is  possible  that  Macchia- 
velli  was  thinking  of  what  was  said  of  Boniface  VIII.  by  the  predecessor  whom  he 
forced  to  abdicate, —  that  he  came  in  like  a  fox,  would  reign  like  a  lion,  and  die  like  a 
dog.  —  R.L.E. 

2  For  these  examples  there  is  substituted  in  the  translation  a  full  exposition  of  the 
three  fables  of  Pan,  Perseus,  and  Dionysus.  And  it  is  worth  observing  that,  upon  the 
question  whether  there  was  really  a  mystic  sense  at  the  bottom  of  the  ancient  fables. 
Bacon  expresses  in  the  translation  a  more  decided  inclination  to  the  affirmative  than 
he  does  here. 


346 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


In  this  third  part  of  learning,  which  is  poesy,  I  can  report 
no  deficience.  For  being  as  a  plant  that  cometh  of  the  lust  of 
the  earth,  without  a  formal  seed,  it  hath  sprung  up  and  spread 
abroad  more  than  any  other  kind.  But  to  ascribe  unto  it  that 
which  is  due ;  for  the  expressing  of  affections,  passions,  cor¬ 
ruptions,  and  customs,  we  are  beholding  to  poets  more  than  to 
the  philosophers’  works ;  and  for  wit  and  eloquence  not  much 
less  than  to  orators’  harangues.1  But  it  is  not  good  to  stay  too 
long  in  the  theatre.  Let  us  now  pass  on  to  the  judicial  place 
or  palace  of  the  mind,  which  we  are  to  approach  and  view  with 
more  reverence  and  attention. 

IF 2  The  knowledge  of  man  is  as  the  waters,  some  descend¬ 
ing  from  above,  and  some  springing  from  beneath ;  the  one  in¬ 
formed  by  the  light  of  nature,  the  other  inspired  by  divine 
revelation.  The  light  of  nature  consisteth  in  the  notions  of  the 
mind  and  the  reports  of  the  senses ;  for  as  for  knowledge  which 
man  receiveth  by  teaching,  it  is  cumulative  and  not  original ; 
as  in  a  water  that  besides  his  own  spring-head  is  fed  with 
other  springs  and  streams.  So  then  according  to  these  two 
differing  illuminations  or  originals,  knowledge  is  first  of  all 
divided  into  Divinity  and  Philosophy. 

In  Philosophy,  the  contemplations  of  man  do  either  pene¬ 
trate  unto  God,  or  are  circumferred  to  Nature,  or  are  reflected 
or  reverted  upon  Himself.  Out  of  which  several  inquiries 
there  do  arise  three  knowledges.  Divine  philosophy,  Natural 
philosophy,  and  Human  philosophy  or  Humanity.  For  all 
things  are  marked  and  stamped  with  this  triple  character,  of 
the  power  of  God,  the  difference  of  nature,  and  the  use  of  man. 
But  because  the  distributions  and  partitions  of  knowledge  are 
not  like  several  lines  that  meet  in  one  angle,  and  so  touch  but 
in  a  point;  but  are  like  branches  of  a  tree  that  meet  in  a 
stem,  which  hath  a  dimension  and  quantity  of  entireness  and 
continuance,  before  it  come  to  discontinue  and  break  itself 
into  arms  and  boughs;  therefore  it  is  good,  before  we  enter 
into  the  former  distribution,  to  erect  and  constitute  one  uni¬ 
versal  science,  by  the  name  of  Philosophia  Prima ,  Primitive  or 
Summary  Philosophy,  as  the  main  and  common  way,  before 
we  come  where  the  ways  part  and  divide  themselves ;  which 

1  This  sentence  is  omitted  in  the  translation. 

2  De  Aug.  iii.  1.  The  order  of  this  chapter  is  changed  in  the  translation,  and  a 
good  deal  added. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


347 


science  whether  I  should  report  as  deficient  or  no,  I  stand 
doubtful.  For  I  find  a  certain  rhapsody  of  Natural  Theology, 
and  of  divers  parts  of  Logic ;  and  of  that  part  of  Natural 
Philosophy  which  concerneth  the  Principles,  and  of  that  other 
part  of  Natural  Philosophy  which  concerneth  the  Soul  or 
Spirit ;  all  these  strangely  commixed  and  confused ;  but  being 
examined,  it  seemeth  to  me  rather  a  depredation  of  other 
sciences,  advanced  and  exalted  unto  some  height  of  terms1, 
than  any  thing  solid  or  substantive  of  itself.  Nevertheless  I 
cannot  be  ignorant  of  the  distinction  which  is  current,  that  the 
same  things  are  handled  but  in  several  respects;  as  for  ex¬ 
ample,  that  logic  considereth  of  many  things  as  they  are  in 
notion,  and  this  philosophy  as  they  are  in  nature ;  the  one  in 
appearance,  the  other  in  existence.  But  I  find  this  difference 
better  made  than  pursued.  For  if  they  had  considered  Quan¬ 
tity,  Similitude,  Diversity,  and  the  rest  of  those  Extern 
Characters  of  things,  as  philosophers,  and  in  nature,  their 
inquiries  must  of  force  have  been  of  a  far  other  kind  than  they 
are.  For  doth  any  of  them,  in  handling  Quantity,  speak  of 
the  force  of  union,  how  and  how  far  it  multiplieth  virtue? 
Doth  any  give  the  reason,  why  some  things  in  nature  are  so 
common  and  in  so  great  mass,  and  others  so  rare  and  in  so 
small  quantity  ?  Doth  any,  in  handling  Similitude  and  Diver¬ 
sity,  assign  the  cause  why  iron  should  not  move  to  iron,  which 
is  more  like,  but  move  to  the  loadstone,  which  is  less  like  ? 
Why  in  all  diversities  of  things  there  should  be  certain  parti¬ 
ciples  in  nature,  which  are  almost  ambiguous  to  which  kind 
they  should  be  referred  ?  But  there  is  a  mere  and  deep  silence 
touching  the  nature  and  operation  of  those  Common  Adjuncts 
of  things,  as  in  nature  ;  and  only  a  resuming  and  repeating  of 
the  force  and  use  of  them  in  speech  or  argument.  Therefore, 
because  in  a  writing  of  this  nature  I'  avoid  all  subtility,  my 
meaning  touching  thi3  original  or  universal  philosophy  is  thus, 
in  a  plain  and  gross  description  by  negative :  That  it  be  a 
receptacle  for  all  such  profitable  observations  and  axioms  as  fall 
not  within  the  compass  of  any  of  the  special  parts  of  philosophy 
or  sciences,  but  are  more  common  and  of  a  higher  stage. 

Now  that  there  are  many  of  that  kind  need  not  be  doubted. 

1  Et  sublimitate  quadum  sermonis  hominum  qui  se  ipsos  admirari  amant  tanquam  in 
vertice  scientiarum  collocatam. — De  Aug.  The  substance  of  the  vest  of  this  paiagraph, 
tilt  we  come  to  the  last  sentence,  is  transferred  to  the  end  of  the  chapter  in  the  De 
Augmentis  and  set  forth  more  fully  and  clearly. 


348 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


For  example ;  is  not  the  rule,  Si  incequalibus  cequalia  addas, 
omnia  erunt  incequalia,  [if  equals  be  added  to  unequals,  the 
wholes  will  be  unequal,]  an  axiom  as  well  of  justice  as  of  the 
mathematics  ?  1  And  is  there  not  a  true  coincidence  between 
commutative  and  distributive  justice,  and  arithmetical  and 
geometrical  proportion  ?  Is  not  that  other  rule,  Quce  in  eodem 
tertio  conveniunt,  et  inter  se  conveniunt,  [things  that  are  equal 
to  the  same  are  equal  to  each  other,]  a  rule  taken  from  the 
mathematics,  but  so  potent  in  logic  as  all  syllogisms  are  built 
upon  it  ?  Is  not  the  observation,  Omnia  mutantur,  nil  interit, 
[all  things  change,  but  nothing  is  lost,]  a  contemplation  in 
philosophy  thus.  That  the  quantum  of  nature  is  eternal?  in 
natural  theology  thus,  That  it  requireth  the  same  omnipotence 
to  make  somewhat  nothing,  which  at  the  first  made  nothing 
somewhat  ?  according  to  the  scripture,  Didici  quod  omnia  opera 
quce  fecit  Deus  perseverent  in  perpetuum ;  non  possumus  eis 
quicquam  addere  nec  auferre :  [I  know  that  whatsoever  God 
doeth,  it  shall  be  for  ever  ;  nothing  can  be  put  to  it,  nor  any¬ 
thing  taken  from  it].  Is  not  the  ground,  which  Machiavel 
wisely  and  largely  discourseth  concerning  governments,  that 
the  way  to  establish  and  preserve  them  is  to  reduce  them  ad 
principia  2,  a  rule  in  religion  and  nature 3  as  well  as  in  civil 
administration?  Was  not  the  Persian  Magic  a  reduction  or 
correspondence  of  the  principles  and  architectures  of  nature  to 
the  rules  and  policy  of  governments  ?  Is  not  the  precept  of  a 
musician,  to  fall  from  a  discord  or  harsh  accord  upon  a  concord 
or  sweet  accord,  alike  true  in  affection  ?  Is  not  the  trope  of 
music,  to  avoid  or  slide  from  the  close  or  cadence,  common 

1  This  clause  is  printed  out.  of  its  place  both  in  the  original  and  in  the  editions  of 
1 629  and  1 633 ;  being  inserted  after  the  next  sentence.  It  is  obviously  an  error  of  the 
printer;  but  worth  noticing  as  evidence  of  the  imperfection  of  the  arrangements  then 
made  for  correcting  the  press.  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  in  Bacon's  time  the  proof- 
sheets  were  never  revised  by  the  author. 

In  the  translation  we  aire  told  that  the  axiom  holds  with  regard  to  distributive 
justice  only.  (  Eadem  in  Ethicis  obtinet  quatenus  ad  justitidm  distributivam  :  siquidem 
in  justitid  comrnutativa,  tit  paria  imparibus  trihuantur  ratio  aquitatis  postulat ;  at  in 
distributiva ,  nisi  imparia  imparibus  puestentur ,  iniquitas  fuerit  maxima. )  Equal  mea¬ 
sure  distributed  to  unequal  conditions  produces  an  unequal  result  ;  a  truth  of  which 
many  striking  illustrations  are  furnished  by  the  operation  of  our  own  laws  as  between 
the  rich  and  the  poor,  when  the  same  penalty  inflicted  for  the  same  offence  falls 
heavily  on  the  one  and  lightly  on  the  other.  In  matter  of  commutation , —  as  in  a 
question,  for  instance,  of  compensation  for  property  destroyed,  —  this  of  course  does 
not  hold.  The  coincidence  between  commutative  and  distributive  justice  and  arith¬ 
metical  and  geometrical  proportion  is  not  alluded  to  in  the  translation.  But  this  may 
have  been  by  accident ;  the  translator  perhaps  not  having  observed  where  the  misplaced 
sentence  was  meant  to  come  in. 

2  Discorsi,  iii.  1 . 

8  The  translation  says  in  physicis,  omitting  the  word  religion. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


349 


with  the  trope  of  rhetoric  of  deceiving  expectation?  Is  not 
the  delight  of  the  quavering  upon  a  stop  in  music  the  same 
with  1  the  playing  of  light  upon  the  water  ? 


Splendet  tremulo  sub  lumine  pontus  : 

[Beneath  the  trembling  light  glitters  the  sea.] 

Are  not  the  organs  of  the  senses  of  one  kind  with  the  organs 
of  reflexion,  the  eye  with  a  glass,  the  ear  with  a  cave  or  strait 
determined  and  bounded  ? 2  Neither  are  these  only  similitudes, 
as  men  of  narrow  observation  may  conceive  them  to  be,  but 
the  same  footsteps  of  nature,  treading  or  printing  upon  several 
subjects  or  matters.  This  science  therefore  (as  I  Philosophia 
understand  it)  I  may  justly  report  as  deficient ;  for 
I  see  sometimes  the  profounder  sort  of  wits,  in  Saentmrum- 
handling  some  particular  argument,  will  now  and  then  draw  a 
bucket  of  water  out  of  this  well  for  their  present  use  ;  but  the 
springhead  thereof  seemeth  to  me  not  to  have  been  visited, 
being  of  so  excellent  use  both  for  the  disclosing  of  nature  and 
the  abridgment  of  art. 

IT  3  This  science  being  therefore  first  placed  as  a  common 
parent,  like  unto  Berecynthia,  which  had  so  much  heavenly 
issue, 

Omnes  coelicolas,  omnes  supera  alta  tenentes  : 

[All  dwellers  in  the  heaven  and  upper  sky  :] 


we  may  return  to  the  former  distribution  of  the  three  philo¬ 
sophies  ;  Divine,  Natural,  and  Human.  And  as  concerning 
Divine  Philosophy  or  Natural  Theology,  it  is  that  knowledge 
or  rudiment  of  knowledge  concerning  God  which  may  be  ob¬ 
tained  by  the  contemplation  of  his  creatures;  which  know¬ 
ledge  may  be  truly  termed  divine  in  respect  of  the  object,  and 
natural  in  respect  of  the  light.  The  bounds  of  this  knowledge 
are,  that  it  sufficetb  to  convince  atheism,  but  not  to  inform 
religion :  and  therefore  there  was  never  miracle  wrought  by 
God  to  convert  an  atheist,  because  the  light  of  nature  might 
have  led  him  to  confess  a  God :  but  miracles  have  been  wrought 
to  convert  idolaters  and  the  superstitious,  because  no  light  of 
nature  extendeth  to  declare  the  will  and  true  worship  of  God. 
For  as  all  works  do  shew  forth  the  power  and  skill  of  the 
workman,  and  not  his  image;  so  it  is  of  the  works  of  God; 


1  So  ed.  1633.  The  original  and  the  ed.  1629  have  which. 
1  Some  other  instances  are  added  in  the  translation. 

8  De  Aug.  iii.  2. 


350 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


which  do  shew  the’ omnipotency  and  wisdom  of  the  maker,  but 
not  his  image :  and  therefore  therein  the  heathen  opinion 
differeth  from  the  sacred  truth ;  for  they  supposed  the  world 
to  be  the  image  of  God,  and  man  to  be  an  extract  or  com¬ 
pendious  image  of  the  world ;  but  the  Scriptures  never  vouch¬ 
safe  to  attribute  to  the  world  that  honour,  as  to  be  the  image 
of  God,  but  only  the  work  of  his  hands  ;  neither  do  they  speak 
of  any  other  image  of  God,  but  mau.  Wherefore  by  the  con¬ 
templation  of  nature  to  induce  and  inforce  the  acknowledge¬ 
ment  of  God,  and  to  demonstrate  his  power,  providence,  and 
goodness,  is  an  excellent  argument,  and  hath  been  excellently 
handled  by  divers.  But  on  the  other  side,  out  of  the  contem¬ 
plation  of  nature,  or  ground  of  human  knowledges,  to  induce 
any  verity  or  persuasion  concerning  the  points  of  faith,  is  in 
my  judgment  not  safe  :  Da  fideiqua  fidei  sunt:  [give  unto  Faith 
that  which  is  Faith’s].  For  the  Heathen  themselves  conclude 
as  much  in  that  excellent  and  divine  fable  of  the  golden  chain  : 
That  men  and  gods  were  not  able  to  draw  Jupiter  down  to  the 
earth;  but  contrariwise,  Jupiter  was  able  to  draw  them  up  to 
heaven.  So  as  we  ought  not  to  attempt  to  draw  down  or  submit 
the  mysteries  of  God  to  our  reason  ;  but  contrariwise  to  raise 
and  advance  our  reason  to  the  divine  truth.  So  as  in  this,  part  of 
knowledge  touching  divine  philosophy,  I  am  so  far  from  noting 
any  deficience,  as  I  rather  note  an  excess :  whereunto  I  have 
digressed,  because  of  the  extreme  prejudice  which  both  reli¬ 
gion  and  philosophy  hath  received  and  may  receive  by  being 
commixed  together  ;  as  that  which  undoubtedly  will  make  an 
heretical  religion,  and  an  imaginary  and  fabulous  philosophy. 

Otherwise  it  is  of  the  nature  of  angels  and  spirits,  which  is 
an  appendix  of  theology  both  divine  and  natural,  and  is  neither 
inscrutable  nor  interdicted;  for  although  the  Scripture  saith. 
Let  no  man  deceive  you  in  sublime  discourse  touching  the  worship 
of  angels,  pressing  into  that  he  knoweth  not,  & c.  yet  notwith¬ 
standing  if  you  observe  well  that  precept,  it  may  appear 
thereby  that  there  be  two  things  only  forbidden,  adoration  of 
them,  and  opinion  fantastical  of  them ;  either  to  extol  them 
further  than  appertaineth  to  the  degree  of  a  creature,  or  to 
extol  a  man’s  knowledge  of  them  further  than  he  hath  ground. 
But  the  sober  and  grounded  inquiry  which  may  arise  out  of 
the  passages  of  holy  Scriptures,  or  out  of  the  gradations  of 
nature,  is  not  restrained.  So  of  degenerate  and  revolted  spirits, 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


351 


the  conversing  with  them  or  the  employment  of  them  is  pro¬ 
hibited,  much  more  any  veneration  towards  them.  But  the 
contemplation  or  science  of  their  nature,  their  power,  their 
illusions,  either  by  Scripture  or  reason,  is  a  part  of  spiritual 
wisdom.  For  so  the  apostle  saith,  We  are  not  ignorant  of  his 
stratagems ;  and  it  is  no  more  unlawful  to  inquire  the  nature 
of  evil  spirits  than  to  enquire  the  force  of  poisons  in  nature,  or 
the  nature  of  sin  and  vice  in  morality.  But  this  part  touching 
angels  and  spirits,  I  cannot  note  as  deficient,  for  many  have 
occupied  themselves  in  it ;  I  may  rather  challenge  it,  in  many 
of  the  writers  thereof,  as  fabulous  and  fantastical. 

11  1  Leaving  therefore  Divine  Philosophy  or  Natural  Theo- 
logy  (not  Divinity  or  Inspired  Theology,  which  we  reserve  for 
the  last  of  all,  as  the  haven  and  sabbath  of  all  man’s  contempla¬ 
tions),  we  will  now  proceed  to  Natural  Philosophy.  If  then  it 
be  true  that  Democritus  said.  That  the  truth  of  nature  lieth  hid 
in  certain  deep  mines  and  caves ;  and  if  it  be  true  likewise  that 
the  Alchemists  do  so  much  inculcate,  that  Vulcan  is  a  second 
nature,  and  imitateth  that  dexterously  and  compendiously 
which  nature  worketh  by  ambages  and  length  of  time ;  it  were 
good  to  divide  natural  philosophy  into  the  mine  and  the  fur¬ 
nace,  and  to  make  two  professions  or  occupations  of  natural 
philosophers,  some  to  be  pioners  and  some  smiths ;  some  to  dig, 
and  some  to  refine  and  hammer.  And  surely  I  do  best  allow 
of  a  division  of  that  kind,  though  in  more  familiar  and  scholas- 
tical  terms  ;  namely,  that  these  be  the  two  parts  of  natural  phi¬ 
losophy, —  the  Inquisition  of  Causes,  and  the  Production  of 
Effects ;  Speculative,  and  Operative ;  Natural  Science,  and 
Natural  Prudence.  For  as  in  civil  matters  there  is  a  wisdom 
of  discourse  and  a  wisdom  of  direction ;  so  is  it  in  natural. 
And  here  I  will  make  a  request,  that  for  the  latter  (or  at  least 
for  a  part  thereof)  I  may  revive  and  reintegrate  the  misapplied 
and  abused  name  of  Natural  Magic;  which  in  the  true  sense 
is  but  Natural  Wisdom,  or  Natural  Prudence;  taken  according 
to  the  ancient  acception,  purged  from  vanity  and  superstition.2 
Now  although  it  be  true,  and  I  know  it  well,  that  there  is  an 
intercourse  between  Causes  and  Effects,  so  as  both  these  know¬ 
ledges,  Speculative  and  Operative,  have  a  great  connexion 
between  themselves  ;  yet  because  all  true  and  fruitful  Natural 
Philosophy  hath  a  double  scale  or  ladder,  ascendent  and  de- 

1  De  Aug.  ill.  3. 


2  This  request  is  omitted  in  the  translation. 


352 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


scendent ;  ascending  from  experiments  to  the  invention  of 
causes,  and  descending  from  causes  to  the  invention  of  new 
experiments  ;  therefore  I  judge  it  most  requisite  that  these  two 
parts  be  severally  considered  and  handled. 

IT  1  Natural  Science  or  Theory  is  divided  into  Physic  and 
Metaphysic :  wherein  I  desire  it  may  be  conceived  that  I  use 
the  word  Metaphysic  in  a  differing  sense  from  that  that  is  re¬ 
ceived  :  and  in  like  manner  I  doubt  not  but  it  will  easily 
appear  to  men  of  judgment  that  in  this  and  other  particulars, 
wheresoever  my  conception  and  notion  may  differ  from  the 
ancient,  yet  I  am  studious  to  keep  the  ancient  terms.  For 
hoping  well  to  deliver  myself  from  mistaking  by  the  order  and 
perspicuous  expressing  of  that  I  do  propound,  I  am  otherwise 
zealous  and  affectionate  to  recede  as  little  from  antiquity, 
either  in  terms  or  opinions,  as  may  stand  with  truth  and  the 
proficience  of  knowledge.  And  herein  I  cannot  a  little  marvel 
at  the  philosopher  Aristotle,  that  did  proceed  in  such  a  spirit 
of  difference  and  contradiction  towards  all  antiquity;  under¬ 
taking  not  only  to  frame  new  words  of  science  at  pleasure,  but 
to  confound  and  extinguish  all  ancient  wisdom ;  insomuch  as 
he  never  nameth  or  mentioneth  an  ancient  author  or  opinion, 
but  to  confute  and  reprove ;  wherein  for  glory,  and  drawing 
followers  and  disciples,  he  took  the  right  course.  For  certainly 
there  cometh  to  pass  and  hath  place  in  human  truth,  that  which 
was  noted  and  pronounced  in  the  highest  truth:  Veni  in  nomine 
Patris,  nec  recipitis  me ;  si  quis  venerit  in  nomine  suo,  eum  reci- 
pietis ;  [I  have  come  in  my  Father’s  name,  and  ye  receive  me 
not ;  if  one  come  in  his  own  name,  him  ye  will  receive].  But 
in  this  divine  aphorism  (considering  to  whom  it  was  applied, 
namely  to  Antichrist,  the  highest  deceiver,)  we  may  discern 
well  that  the  coming  in  a  man's  own  name,  without  regard  of 
antiquity  or  paternity,  is  no  good  sign  of  truth ;  although  it  be 
joined  with  the  fortune  and  success  of  an  Eum  recipietis.  But 
for  this  excellent  person 2  Aristotle,  I  will  think  of  him  that  he 
learned  that  humour  of  his  scholar,  with  whom  it  seemeth  he 
did  emulate,  the  one  to  conquer  all  opinions,  as  the  other  to 
conquer  all  nations.  Wherein  nevertheless,  it  may  be,  he  may 
at  some  men’s  hands  that  are  of  a  bitter  disposition  get  a  like 
title  as  his  scholar  did ; 

1  De  Aug.  iii.  4. 

3  viro  tam  eximio  certe,  et  ob  acumen  inaenii  mirabili.  —  De  Aug. 


THE  SECOND  KOOK. 


353 


Felix  terrarum  prsedo,  non  utile  mundo 
Editus  exemplum,  &c. 

[a  fortunate  robber,  who  made  prize  of  nations]  ;  so 
Felix  doctrirae  prsedo, 

[a  fortunate  robber,  who  made  prize  of  learning].  But  to 
me  on  the  other  side  that  do  desire,  as  much  as  lieth  in  my 
pen,  to  ground  a  sociable  intercourse1  between  antiquity  and 
proficience,  it  seemeth  best  to  keep  way  with  antiquity  usque 
ud  aras,  [as  far  as  may  be  without  violating  higher  obliga¬ 
tions  ;]  and  therefore  to  retain  the  ancient  terms,  though  I 
sometimes  alter  the  uses  and  definitions ;  according  to  the  mo¬ 
derate  proceeding  in  civil  government,  where  although  there 
be  some  alteration,  yet  that  holdeth  which  Tacitus  wisely  noteth, 
eadem  magistratuum  oocabula,  [the  name  of  the  magistracies  are 
not  changed]. 

To  return  therefore  to  the  use  and  acception  of  the  term 
Metaphysic,  as  I  do  now  understand  the  word:  It  appeareth 
by  that  which  hath  been  already  said,  that  I  intend  Philosophia 
Prima,  Summary  Philosophy,  and  Metaphysic,  which  heretofore 
have  been  confounded  as  one,  to  be  two  distinct  things.  For 
the  one  I  have  made  as  a  parent  or  common  ancestor  to  all 
knowledge,  and  the  other  I  have  now  brought  in  as  a  branch 
or  descendent  of  Natural  Science.  It  appeareth  likewise  that 
I  have  assigned  to  Summary  Philosophy  the  common  prin¬ 
ciples  and  axioms  which  are  promiscuous  and  indifferent  to 
several  sciences.  I  have  assigned  unto  it  likewise  the  inquiry 
touching  the  operation  of  the  relative  and  adventive  characters  of 
essences,  as  Quantitg,  Similitude,  Diversity,  Possibility,  and  the 
rest ;  with  this  distinction  and  provision  ;  that  they  be  handled 
as  they  have  efficacy  in  nature,  and  not  logically.  It  appeareth 
likewise  that  Natural  Theology,  which  heretofore  hath  been 
handled  confusedly  with  Metaphysic,  I  have  inclosed  and 
bounded  by  itself.  It  is  therefore  now  a  question,  what  is  left 
remaining  for  Metaphysic;  wherein  I  may  without  prejudice 
preserve  thus  much  of  the  conceit  of  antiquity,  that  Physic 
should  contemplate  that  which  is  inherent  in  matter  and  there¬ 
fore  transitory,  and  Metaphysic  that  which  is  abstracted  and 
fixed.  And  again  that  Physic  should  handle  that  which  sup- 
poseth  in  nature  only  a  being  and  moving 2,  and  Metaphysic 

1  entercourse  in  the  original, —  the  form  of  the  word  commonly  used  by  Bacon. 

2  The  translation  adds  “  and  natural  necessity.” 


354 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


should  handle  that  which  supposeth  further  in  nature  a  reason, 
understanding,  and  platform.’  But  the  difference,  perspicu¬ 
ously  expressed,  is  most  familiar  and  sensible.  For  as  we 
divided  Natural  Philosophy  in  general  into  the  Inquiry  of 
Causes  and  Productions  of  Effects ;  so  that  part  which  con  - 
cerneth  the  Inquiry  of  Causes  we  do  subdivide,  according  to 
the  received  and  sound  division  of  Causes  ;  the  one  part,  which 
is  Physic,  enquireth  and  handleth  the  Material  and  Efficient 
Causes ;  and  the  other,  which  is  Metaphysic,  handleth  the 
Formal  and  Final  Causes. 

Physic  (taking  it  according  to  the  derivation,  and  not  ac¬ 
cording  to  our  idiom  for  Medicine,)  is  situate  in  a  middle  term 
or  distance  between  Natural  History  and  Metaphysic.  For 
Natural  History  describeth  the  variety  of  things ;  Physic,  the 
causes,  but  variable  or  respective  causes ;  and  Metaphysic,  the 
fixed  and  constant  causes. 

Limus  ut  hie  durescit,  et  hsec  ut  cera  liquescit, 

Uno  eodemque  igni: 

[As  the  same  fire  which  makes  the  soft  clay  hard 
Makes  hard  wax  soft :] 

Fire  is  the  cause  of  induration,  but  respective  to  clay  ;  fire  is 
the  cause  of  colliquation,  but  respective  to  wax ;  but  fire  is  no 
constant  cause  either  of  induration  or  colliquation.  So  then 
the  physical  causes  are  but  the  efficient  and  the  matter.  Physic 
hath  three  parts ;  whereof  two  respect  natiire  united  or  collected, 
the  third  contemplateth  nature  diffused  or  distributed.  Nature 
is  collected  either  into  one  entire  total,  or  else  into  the  same 
principles  or  seeds.  So  as  the  first  doctrine  is  touching  the 
Contexture  or  Configuration  of  things,  as  de  mundo,  de  uni- 
versitate  rerum.  The  second  is  the  doctrine  concerning  the 
Principles  or  Originals  of  things.  The  third  is  the  doctrine 
concerning  all  Variety  and  Particularity  of  things,  whether  it 
be  of  the  differing  substances,  or  their  differing  qualities  and 
natures ;  whereof  there  needeth  no  enumeration,  this  part  be¬ 
ing  but  as  a  gloss  or  paraphrase,  that  attendeth  upon  the  text 
of  Natural  History.2  Of  these  three  I  cannot  report  any  as  de¬ 
ficient.  In  what  truth  or  perfection  they  are  handled,  I  make 
not  now  any  judgment :  but  they  are  parts  of  knowledge  not 
deserted  by  the  labour  of  man. 

1  idcam . 

2  On  this  branch  of  the  subject  there  is  a  large  addition  of  ten  or  twelve  pages  in 
the  De  Avgmentis . 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


355 


For  Metaphysic,  we  have  assigned  unto  it  the  inquiry  of 
Formal  and  Final  Causes;  which  assignation,  as  to  the  former 
of  them,  may  seem  to  be  nugatory  and  void,  because  of  the 
received  and  inveterate  opinion  that  the  inquisition  of  man  is 
not  competent  to  find  out  essential  forms  or  true  differences : 
of  which  opinion  we  will  take  this  hold ;  that  the  invention  of 
Forms  is  of  all  other  parts  of  knowledge  the  worthiest  to  be 
sought,  if  it  bfe  possible  to  be  found.  As  for  the  possibility, 
they  are  ill  discoverers  that  think  there  is  no  land  when  they 
can  see  nothing  but  sea.  But  it  is  manifest  that  Plato  in  his 
opinion  of  Ideas,  as  one  that  had  a  wit  of  elevation  situate  as 
upon  a  cliff,  did  descry  that  forms  were  the  true  object  of  know¬ 
ledge  ;  but  lost  the  real  fruit  of  his  opinion,  by  considering  of 
forms  as  absolutely  abstracted  from  matter,  and  not  confined 
and  determined  by  matter ;  and  so  turning  his  opinion  upon 
Theology,  wherewith  all  his  natural  philosophy  is  infected. 
But  if  any  man  shall  keep  a  continual  watchful  and  severe  eye 
upon  action,  operation,  and  the  use  of  knowledge,  he  may 
advise  and  take  notice  what  are  the  Forms,  the  disclosures 
whereof  are  fruitful  and  important  to  the  state  of  man.  For 
as  to  the  Forms  of  substances — Man  only  except,  of  whom  it  is 
said,  Formavit  hominem  de  limo  terras,  et  spiravit  in  faciem  ejus 
spiraculum  vitae,  [He  formed  man  of  the  dust  of  the  ground, 
and  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life,]  and  not  as  of 
all  other  creatures,  Producant  aquas,  producat  terra,  [let  the 
waters  bring  forth,  let  the  earth  bring  forth,]  — the  Forms  of 
Substances  I  say  (as  they  are  now  by  compounding  and  trans¬ 
planting  multiplied)  are  so  perplexed,  as  they  are  not  to  be 
enquired  1 ;  no  more  than  it  were  either  possible  or  to  purpose 
to  seek  in  gross  the  forms  of  those  sounds  which  make  words, 
which  by  composition  and  transposition  of  letters  are  infinite. 
But  on  the  other  side,  to  enquire  the  form  of  those  sounds  or 
voices  which  make  simple  letters  is  easily  comprehensible,  and 
being  known,  induceth  and  manifesteth  the  forms  of  all'  words, 
which  consist  and  are  compounded  of  them.  In  the  same 
manner  to  enquire  the  Form  of  a  lion,  of  an  oak,  of  gold,  nay 
of  water,  of  air,  is  a  vain  pursuit:  but  to  enquire  the  Forms  of 
sense,  of  voluntary  motion,  of  vegetation,  of  colours,  of  gravity 
and  levity,  of  density,  of  tenuity,  of  heat,  of  cold,  and  all  other 

1  Or  at  least  (adds  the  translation)  the  enquiry  must  be  put  off  till  forms  of  simpler 
nature  have  been  discovered. 


24  Bacon  HI 


356 


OF  TITE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


natures  and  qualities,  which  like  an  alphabet  are  not  many, 
and  of  which  the  essences  (upheld  by  matter)  of  all  creatures 
do  consist ;  to  enquire  I  say  the  true  forms  of  these,  is  that  part 
of  Metaphysic  which  we  now  define  of.  Not  but  that  Physic 
doth  make  inquiry  and  take  consideration  of  the  same  natures  : 
but  how  ?  Only  as  to  the  Material  and  Efficient  Causes  of 
them,  and  not  as  to  the  Forms.  For  example ;  if  the  cause 
of  Whiteness  in  snow  or  froth  be  enquired,  and  it  be  rendered 
thus,  that  the  subtile  intermixture  of  air  and  water  is  the  cause,  it 
is  well  rendered  ;  but  nevertheless,  is  this  the  Form  of  White¬ 
ness?  No;  but  it  is  the  Efficient,  which  is  ever  but  vehiculum 
Metaphyska,  forma,  [the  carrier  of  the  Form].1  This  part  of 
Dr Fovmis  Metaphysic  I  do  not  find  laboured  and  performed; 
Rcrum.  whereat  I  marvel  not,  because  I  hold  it  not  pos¬ 
sible  to  be  invented  by  that  course  of  invention  which  hath 
been  used ;  in  regard  that  men  (which  is  the  root  of  all  error) 
have  made  too  untimely  a  departure  and  too  remote  a  recess 
from  particulars. 

But  the  use  of  this  part  of  Metaphysic  which  I  report  as  de¬ 
ficient,  is  of  the  rest  the  most  excellent  in  two  respects ;  the 
one,  because  it  is  the  duty  and  virtue  of  all  knowledge  to 
abridge  the  infinity  of  individual  experience  as  much  as  the 
conception  of  truth  will  permit,  and  to  remedy  the  complaint  of 
vita  brevis,  ars  longa,  [life  is  short  and  art  is  long ;]  which  is 
performed  by  uniting  the  notions  and  conceptions  of  sciences.2 
For  knowledges  are  as  pyramides,  whereof  history  is  the  basis : 
so  of  Natural  Philosophy  the  basis  is  Natural  History  ;  the 
stage  next  the  basis  is  Physic;  the  stage  next  the  vertical 
point  is  Metaphysic.  As  for  the  vertical  point,  Opus  quod 
operatur  Deus  a  principio  usque  ad  finem,  [the  work  which  God 
worketh  from  the  beginning  to  the  end,]  the  Summary  Law  of 
Nature,  we  know  not  whether  man’s  inquiry  can  attain  unto  it. 
But  these  three  be  the  true  stages  of  knowledge;  and  are  to 
them  that  are  depraved  no  better  than  the  giants’  hills,  [Pelion, 
Ossa,  and  Olympus,  piled  upon  each  other,] 

Ter  sunt  conati  imponere  Pelio  Ossam, 

Scilicet  atque  Ossse  frondosum  involvere  Olympum : 

1  A  sentence  is  added  here  in  the  translation  ;  see  note  on  Valerius  Terminus,  c.  1 1. 

8  i.  e.  collecting  them  into  axioms  more  general,  applicable  to  all  the  individual 
varieties  :  ( axiomata  scientiurum  in  magis  generalia,  el  qua  omni  materia  rerum  indi- 
viduarum  competanty  colligendo  et  uniendo ). 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


357 


but  to  those  which  refer  all  things  to  the  glory  of  God,  they 
are  as  the  three  acclamations,  Sancte,  sancte,  sancte ;  holy  in  the 
description  or  dilatation  of  his  works,  holy  in  the  connexion 
or  concatenation  of  them,  and  holy  in  the  union  of  them  in  a 
perpetual  and  uniform  law.  And  therefore  the  speculation 
was  excellent  in  Parmenides  and  Plato,  although  but  a  specu¬ 
lation  in  them,  That  all  things  by  scale  did  ascend  to  unity. 
So  then  always  that  knowledge  is  worthiest,  which  is  charged 
with  least  multiplicity  ;  which  appeareth  to  be  Metaphysic  ;  as 
that  which  considereth  the  Simple  Forms  or  Differences  of 
things,  which  are  few  in  number,  and  the  degrees  and  co-ordi¬ 
nations  whereof  make  all  this  variety.  The  second  respect 
which  valueth  and  commendeth  this  part  of  Metaphysic,  is 
that  it  doth  enfranchise  the  power  of  man  unto  the  greatest 
liberty  and  possibility  of  works  and  effects.  For  Physic  car- 
rieth  men  in  narrow  and  restrained  ways,  subject  to  many 
accidents  of  impediments,  imitating  the  ordinary  flexuous 
courses  of  nature ;  but  lata  undique  sunt  sapientibus  via  :  to 
sapience  (which  was  anciently  defined  to  be  rerum  divinarum 
et  humanarum  scientia ,  [the  knowledge  of  things  human  and 
divine],)  there  is  ever  choice  of  means.  For  physical  causes 
give  light  to  new  invention  in  simili  materia;  but  whosoever 
knoweth  any  form,  knoweth  the  utmost  possibility  of  super¬ 
inducing  that  nature  upon  any  variety  of  matter,  and  so  is 
less  restrained  in  operation,  either  to  the  basis  of  the  Matter, 
or  the  condition  of  the  Efficient:  which  kind  of  knowledge 
Salomon  likewise,  though  in  a  more  divine  sense,  elegantly 
describeth  :  Non  arctabuntur  gressus  tui,  et  currens  non  habebis 
offendiculum;  [thy  steps  shall  not  be  straitened;  thou  shalt 
run  and  not  stumble].  The  ways  of  sapience  are  not  much 
liable  either  to  particularity  or  chance.1 

The  second  part  of  Metaphysic  is  the  inquiry  of  final  causes, 
which  I  am  moved  to  report  not  as  omitted,  but  as  misplaced.2 
And  yet  if  it  were  but  a  fault  in  order,  I  would  not  speak  of 
it ;  for  order  is  matter  of  illustration,  but  pertaineth  not  to  the 
substance  of  sciences :  but  this  misplacing  hath  caused  a  de- 
ficience,  or  at  least  a  great  improficience  in  the  sciences  them¬ 
selves.  For  the  handling  of  final  causes  mixed  with  the  rest 

1  i.  e.  neither  confined  to  particular  methods,  nor  liable  to  be  defeated  by  accidental 
obstructions.  ( Nee  angustiis  nee  obicibus  obnoxias  esse.) 

1  i,  e.  placed  in  the  department  of  Physic  instead  of  Metaphysic.  ( Solent  enim 
inqniri  inter  Physica ,  non  inter  Metaphysica. ) 


358 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING 


in  physical  inquiries,  hath  intercepted  the  severe  and  diligent 
inquiry  of  all  real  and  physical  causes,  and  given  men  the  oc¬ 
casion  to  stay  upo.n  these  satisfactory  and  specious  causes,  to 
the  great  arrest  and  prejudice  of  further  discovery.  For  this  I 
find  done  not  only  by  Plato,  who  ever  anchoreth  upon  that 
shore,  but  by  Aristotle,  Galen,  and  others,  which  do  usually 
likewise  fall  upon  these  flats  of  discoursing  causes.  For  to  say 
that  the  hairs  of  the  eye  lids  are  for  a  quickset  and  fence  about 
the  sight ;  or  that  the  firmness  of  the  skins  and  hides  of  living 
creatures  is  to  defend  them  from  the  extremities  of  heat  or  cold  ; 
or  that  the  bones  are  for  the  columns  or  beams,  whereupon  the 
frames  of  the  bodies  of  living  creatures  are  built ;  or  that  the 
leaves  of  trees  are  for  protecting  of  the  fruit ;  or  that  the  clouds 
are  for  watering  of  the  earth  ;  or  that  the  solidness  of  the  earth 
is  for  the  station  and  mansion  of  living  creatures,  and  the  like, 
is  well  enquired  and  collected  in  Metaphysic ;  but  in  Physic 
they  are  impertinent.  Nay,  they  are  indeed  but  remoras  and 
hinderances  to  stay  and  slug  the  ship  from  further  sailing, 
and  have  brought  this  to  pass,  that  the  search  of  the  Physical 
Causes  hath  been  neglected  and  passed  in  silence.  And  there  - 
fore  the  natural  philosophy  of  Democritus  and  some  others, 
who  did  not  suppose  a  mind  or  reason  in  the  frame  of  things, 
but  attributed  the  form  thereof  able  to  maintain  itself  to  infinite 
essays  or  proofs  of  nature,  which  they  term  fortune,  seemeth  to 
me  (as  far  as  I  can  judge  by  the  recital  and  fragments  which 
remain  unto  us)  in  particularities  of  physical  causes  more  real 
and  better  enquired  than  that  of  Aristotle  and  Plato  ;  whereof 
both  intermingled  final  causes,  the  one  as  a  part  of  theology, 
and  the  other  as  a  part  of  logic,  which  were  the  favourite 
studies  respectively  of  both  those  persons.  Not  because  those 
final  causes  are  not  true,  and  worthy  to  be  enquired,  being  kept 
within  their  own  province ;  but  because  their  excursions  into 
the  limits  of  physical  causes  hath  bred  a  vastness  and  solitude 
in  that  track.  For  otherwise  keeping  their  precincts  and  bor¬ 
ders,  men  are  extremely  deceived  if  they  think  there  is  an 
enmity  or  repugnancy  at  all  between  them.  For  the  cause 
rendered,  that  the  hairs  about  the  eye-lids  are  for  the  safeguard 
of  the  sight,  doth  not  impugn  the  cause  rendered,  that  pilosity 
is  incident  to  orifices  of  moisture;  Muscosi  fontes,  [the  mossy 
springs,]  &c.  Nor  the  cause  rendered,  that  the  firmness  of 
hides  is  for  the  armour  of  the  body  against  extremities  of  heat  or 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


359 


cold,  doth  not  impugn  the  cause  rendered,  that  contraction  of 
pores  is  incident  to  the  outwardest  parts,  in  regard  of  their  ad- 
jacence  to  foreign  or  unlike  bodies;  and  so  of  the  rest:  both 
causes  being  true  and  compatible,  the  one  declaring  an  inten¬ 
tion,  the  other  a  consequence  only.  Neither  doth  this  call  in 
question  or  derogate  from  divine  providence,  but  highly  con¬ 
firm  and  exalt  it.  For  as  in  civil  actions  he  is  the  greater  and 
deeper  politique,  that  can  make  other  men  the  instruments  of 
his  will  and  ends  and  yet  never  acquaint  them  with  his  pur¬ 
pose,  so  as  they  shall  do  it  and  yet  not  know  what  they  do, 
than  he  that  imparteth  his  meaning  to  those  he  employeth ;  so 
is  the  wisdom  of  God  more  admirable,  when  nature  intendeth 
one  thing  and  providence  draweth  forth  another,  than  if  he 
had  communicated  to  particular  creatures  and  motions  the  cha¬ 
racters  and  impressions  of  his  providence.  And  thus  much  for 
Metaphysic ;  the  later  part  whereof  I  allow  as  extant,  but  wish 
it  confined  to  its  proper  place. 

IT  1  Nevertheless  there  remaineth  yet  another  part  of  Na¬ 
tural  Philosophy,  which  is  commonly  made  a  principal  part, 
and  holdeth  rank  with  Physic  special  and  Metaphysic ;  which 
is  Mathematic ;  but  I  think  it  more  agreeable  to  the  nature 
of  things  and  to  the  light  of  order  to  place  it  as  a  branch  of 
Metaphysic;  for  the  subject  of  it  being  Quantity  ;  not  Quan¬ 
tity  indefinite,  which  is  but  a  relative  and  belongeth  to  philo-r 
sophia  prima  (as  hath  been  said,)  but  Quantity  determined  or 
proportionable;  it  appeareth  to  be  one  of  the  Essential  Forms  of 
things;  as  that  that  is  causative  in  nature  of  a  number  of 
effects ;  insomuch  as  we  see  in  the  schools  both  of  Democritus 
and  of  Pythagoras,  that  the  one  did  ascribe  figure  to  the  first 
seeds  of  things,  and  the  other  did  suppose  numbers  to  be  the 
principles  and  originals  of  things  :  and  it  is  true  also  that  of  all 
other  forms  (as  we  understand  forms)  it  is  the  most  abstracted 
and  separable  from  matter,  and  therefore  most  proper  to  Meta¬ 
physic  ;  which  hath  likewise  been  the  cause  why  it  hath  been 
better  laboured  and  enquired  than  any  of  the  other  forms, 
which  are  more  immersed  into  matter.  For  it  being  the  nature 
of  the  mind  of  man  (to  the  extreme  prejudice  of  knowledge) 
to  delight  in  the  spacious  liberty  of  generalities,  as  in  a  cham¬ 
pion  region,  and  not  in  the  inclosures  of  particularity;  the 

1  De  Aug.  iii.  6.  Observe  that  in  translating  this  part  of  the  work  Bacon  has  not 
only  made  great  additions,  but  changed  the  order. 


360 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


Mathematics  of  all  other  knowledge  were  the  goodliest  fields 
to  satisfy  that  appetite.  But  for  the  placing  of  this  science,  it 
is  not  much  material 1 :  only  we  have  endeavoured  in  these  our 
partitions  to  observe  a  kind  of  perspective,  that  one  part  may 
cast  light  upon  another. 

The  Mathematics  are  either  Pure  or  Mixed.  To  the  Pure 
Mathematics  are  those  sciences  belonging  which  handle  Quan¬ 
tity  Determinate,  merely  severed  from  any  axioms  of  natural 
philosophy ;  and  these  are  two,  Geometry  and  Arithmetic  ;  the 
one  handling  Quantity  continued,  and  the  other  dissevered. 
Mixed  hath  for  subject  some  axioms  or  parts  of  natural  philo¬ 
sophy,  and  considereth  Quantity  determined,  as  it  is  auxiliary 
and  incident  unto  them.  For  many  parts  of  nature  can  neither 
be  invented  with  sufficient  subtilty  nor  demonstrated  with 
sufficient  perspicuity  nor  accommodated  unto  use  with  suffi¬ 
cient  dexterity,  without  the  aid  and  intervening  of  the  Mathe¬ 
matics  :  of  which  sort  are  Perspective,  Music,  Astronomy, 
Cosmography,  Architecture,  Enginery,  and  divers  others.  In 
the  Mathematics  I  can  report  no  deficience,  except  it  be  that 
men  do  not  sufficiently  understand  the  excellent  use  of  the 
Pure  Mathematics,  in  that  they  do  remedy  and  cure  many 
defects  in  the  wit  and  faculties  intellectual.  For  if  the  wit  be 
too  dull,  they  sharpen  it ;  if  too  wandering,  they  fix  it ;  if  too 
inherent  in  the  sense,  they  abstract  it.  So  that  as  tennis  is 
a  game  of  no  use  in  itself,  but  of  great  use  in  respect  it  maketh 
a  quick  eye  and  a  body  ready  to  put  itself  into  all  postures  ;  so 
in  the  Mathematics,  that  use  which  is  collateral  and  intervenient 
is  no  less  worthy  than  that  which  is  principal  and  intended.2 

1  In  the  De  Augmentis  he  concludes  by  placing  it  as  an  appendix  and  auxiliary  to 
Natural  Philosophy,  in  order  to  mark  more  distinctly  its  proper  function  ;  which  he 
complains  that  the  mathematicians  are  apt  to  forget,  and  to  exalt  it,  as  the  logicians 
exalt  logic,  above  the  sciences  which  it  is  its  business  to  serve. 

2  The  whole  of  this  passage  relating  to  the  use  of  pure  mathematics  in  the  training 
of  the  intellect  is  omitted  in  the  translation  ;  and  the  omission  has  been  represented 
as  indicating  a  change  in  Bacon’s  opinion  either  as  to  the  value  of  this  particular 
study  In  that  respect,  or  as  to  the  expediency  of  encouraging  any  study  which  is 
“  useful  only  to  the  mind”  of  the  student.  This  conjecture  is  hardly  reconcilable 
however  with  the  fact  that  the  same  recommendation  of  mathematics  as  a  cure  for 
certain  defects  of  the  intellect  is  repeated  both  in  a  later  chapter  of  the  De  Augmentis 
(vi.  4.  ;  to  which  place  indeed  the  observation  properly  belongs),  and  in  the  Essay 
on  Studies  as  published  in  1625.  Nor  is  there  any  difficulty  in  accounting  for  the 
omission  of  it  here.  When  Bacon  wrote  the  Advancement  in  1605,  he  had  no  defi¬ 
ciency  to  report  in  the  department  of  Mathematics:  he  could  not  name  any  branch  of 
the  study  which  had  not  been  properly  pursued,  and  merely  took  the  opportunity  of 
observing  by  the  way  that  the  study  of  the  pure  mathematics  had  a  collateral  and 
incidental  value  as  an  instrument  of  education  :  an  observation  very  good  and  just  in 
itself,  but  not  at  all  to  the  purpose  of  the  argument.  When  he  revised  the  work  in 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


3G1 


And  as  for  the  Mixed  Mathematics,  I  may  only  make  this 
prediction,  that  there  cannot  fail  to  be  more  kinds  of  them,  as 
nature  grows  further  disclosed.  Thus  much  of  Natural  Science, 
or  the  part  of  nature  Speculative. 

IT  1  For  Natural  Prudence,  or  the  part  Operative  of  Natural 
Philosophy,  we  will  divide  it  into  three  parts.  Experimental, 
Philosophical,  and  Magical2;  which  three  parts  active  have  a 
correspondence  and  analogy  with  the  three  parts  Speculative, 
Natural  History,  Physic,  and  Metaphysic.  For  many  opera¬ 
tions  have  been  invented,  sometimes  by  a  casual  incidence 
and  occurrence,  sometimes  by  a  purposed  experiment ;  and  of 
those  which  have  been  found  by  an  intentional  experiment, 
some  have  been  found  out  by  varying  or  extending  the  same 
experiment,  some  by  transferring  and  compounding  divers  ex¬ 
periments  the  one  into  the  other,  which  kind  of  invention 
an  empiric  may  manage.3  Again,  by  the  knowledge  of  phy¬ 
sical  causes  there  cannot  fail  to  follow  many  indications  and 
designations  of  new  particulars,  if  men  in  their  speculation 
will  keep  one  eye  upon  use  and  practice.  But  these  are  but 
coastings  along  the  shore,  premendo  littus  iniquum :  for  it 
seemeth  to  me  there  can  hardly  be  discovered  any  radical  or 
fundamental  alterations  and  innovations  in  nature,  either  by 
the  fortune  and  essays  of  experiments,  or  by  the  light  and 
direction  of  physical  causes.  If  therefore  we  have  reported 
Metaphysic  deficient,  it  must  follow  that  we  do  the  like  of 
Natural  Magic,  which  hath  relation  thereunto.  For  Natural u 

®  #  Max  in  t 

as  for  the  Natural  Magic  whereof  now  there  is  men-  pawco 
tion  in  books,  containing  certain  credulous  and  super-  Major- 
stitious  conceits  and  observations  of  Sympathies  and  Antipa¬ 
thies  and  hidden  proprieties,  and  some  frivolous  experiments, 
strange  rather  by  disguisement  than  in  themselves ;  it  is  as 
far  differing  in  truth  of  nature  from  such  a  knowledge  as  wo 
require,  as  the  story  of  king  Arthur  of  Britain,  or  Hugh  of 

1622  he  knew  more  about  mathematics,  and  was  able  to  point  out  certain  deficiencies 
which  were  very  much  to  the  purpose,  —  especially  as  to  the  doctrine  of  Solids  in 
Geometry  and  of  Series  in  Arithmetic  ;  and  in  introducing  a  relevant  observation  he 
naturally  struck  out  the  irrelevant  one. 

1  DeAug.  iii  5. 

2  In  the  translation  the  name  Natural  Prudence  is  omitted  ;  the  part  operative  is 
divided  into  two  parts,  instead  of  three  ;  viz.  Mechanic  and  Magic  ;  and  the  whole 
exposition  is  much  altered  and  enlarged. 

3  Being  a  matter  of  ingenuity  and  sagacity,  rather  than  philosophy  (qua  mayis 
ittyeniosa  res  est  et  sagax,  qnam  philosophica).  This  is  in  fact  the  Experientia  Liter  ata 
of  which  we  hear  more  further  on. 


362 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


Bourdeaux,  differs  from  Caesar’s  commentaries  in  truth  of 
story.  For  it  is  manifest  that  Caesar  did  greater  things  de  vero 
than  those  imaginary  heroes  were  feigned  to  do.  But  he  did 
them  not  in  that  fabulous  manner.  Of  this  kind  of  learning  the 
fable  of  Ixion  was  a  figure,  who  designed  to  enjoy  Juno,  the 
goddess  of  power;  and  instead  of  her  had  copulation  with  a 
cloud,  of  which  mixture  were  begotten  centaurs  and  chimeras. 
So  whosoever  shall  entertain  high  and  vaporous  imaginations 
instead  of  a  laborious  and  sober  inquiry  of  truth,  shall  be¬ 
get  hopes  and  beliefs  of  strange  and  impossible  shapes.  And 
therefore  we  may  note  in  these  sciences  which  hold  so  much 
of  imagination  and  belief,  as  this  degenerate  Natural  Magic, 
Alchemy,  Astrology,  and  the  like,  that  in  their  propositions 
the  description  of  the  means  is  ever  more  monstrous  than  the 
pretence  or  end.  For  it  is  a  thing  more  probable,  that  he  that 
knoweth  well  the  natures  of  Weight,  of  Colour,  of  Pliant  and 
Fragile  in  respect  of  the  hammer,  of  Volatile  and  Fixed  in 
respect  of  the  fire,  and  the  rest,  may  superinduce  upon  some 
metal  the  nature  and  form  of  gold  by  such  mechanique  as 
belongeth  to  the  production  of  the  natures  afore  rehearsed, 
than  that  some  grains  of  the  medicine  projected  should  in  a  few 
moments  of  time  turn  a  sea  of  quicksilver  or  other  material  into 
gold.  So  it  is  more  probable,  that  he  that  knoweth  the  nature 
of  arefaction,  the  nature  of  assimilation  of  nourishment  to  the 
thing  nourished,  the  manner  of  increase  and  clearing  of  spirits, 
the  manner  of  the  depredations  which  spirits  make  upon  the 
humours  and  solid  parts,  shall  by  ambages  of  diets,  bathings, 
anointings,  medicines,  motions,  and  the  like,  prolong  life  or 
restore  some  degree  of  youth  or  vivacity,  than  that  it  can  be  done 
with  the  use  of  a  few  drops  or  scruples  of  a  liquor  or  receit. 
To  conclude  therefore,  the  true  Natural  Magic,  which  is  that 
great  liberty  and  latitude  of  operation  which  dependeth  upon 
the  knowledge  of  Forms,  I  may  report  deficient,  as  the  relative 
thereof  is.  To  which  part,  if  we  be  serious  and  incline  not 
to  vanities  and  plausible  discourse,  besides  the  deriving  and 
deducing  the  operations  themselves  from  Metaphysic,  there 
are  pertinent  two  points  of  much  purpose,  the  one  by  way  of 
preparation,  the  other  by  way  of  caution.  The  first  is,  that 
there  be  made  a  Calendar  resembling  an  inventory  *  of  the 

1  Thi3  is  the  Inventary  which  (as  I  think)  was  to  be  contained  in  the  tenth  chapter 
of  the  Valerius  Terminus.  See  my  note  on  Mr.  Ellis’s  preface. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


363 


estate  of  man,  containing  all  the  inventions  (being  the  works 
or  fruits  of  nature  or  art)  which  are  now  extant  and  imentart>m 

'  Opum  nutria- 

whereof  man  is  already  possessed ;  out  of  which  doth  naruvu 
naturally  result  a  note,  what  things  are  yet  held  impossible, 
or  not  invented;  which  calendar  will  be  the  more  artificial 
and  serviceable,  if  to  every  reputed  impossibility  you  add 
what  thing  is  extant  which  cometh  the  nearest  in  degree  to 
that  impossibility ;  to  the  end  that  by  these  optatives  and 
potentials  man’s  inquiry  may  be  the  more  awake  in  deducing 
direction  of  works  from  the  speculation  of  causes.  And  se¬ 
condly,  that  those  experiments  be  not  only  esteemed  which 
have  an  immediate  and  present  use,  but  those  principally  which 
are  of  most  universal  consequence  for  invention  of  other  expe¬ 
riments,  and  those  which  give  most  light  to  the  invention 
of  causes ;  for  the  invention  of  the  mariner’s  needle,  which 
giveth  the  direction,  is  of  no  less  benefit  for  navigation  than 
the  invention  of  the  sails,  which  give  the  motion.1 

2  Thus  have  I  passed  through  Natural  Philosophy,  and  the 
deficicnces  thereof ;  wherein  if  I  have  differed  from  the  ancient 
and  received  doctrines,  and  thereby  shall  move  contradiction ; 
for  my  part,  as  I  affect  not  to  dissent,  so  I  purpose  not  to  con¬ 
tend.  If  it  be  truth. 

Non  canimus  surdis,  respondent  omnia  sylvae  : 

[All  as  we  sing  the  listening  woods  reply  :] 

the  voice  of  nature  will  consent,  whether  the  voice  of  man 
do  or  no.  And  as  Alexander  Borgia  was  wont  to  say  of 
the  expedition  of  the  French  for  Naples,  that  they  came  with 
chalk  in  their  hands  to  mark  up  their  lodgings,  and  not  with 
weapons  to  fight ;  so  I  like  better  that  entry  of  truth  which 
cometh  peaceably  with  chalk  to  mark  up  those  minds  which 
are  capable  to  lodge  and  harbour  it,  than  that  which  cometh 
with  pugnacity  and  contention. 

3  But  there  remaineth  a  division  of  Natural  Philosophy  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  report  of  the  inquiry,  and  nothing  concerning  the 

1  Thif  example  is  omitted  in  the  translation,  to  make  room  for  a  better  (with  which. 
Bacon  was  probably  not  acquainted  in  1605)  —  the  artificial  congelation  of  water;  an 
experiment  which  he  especially  valued  as  giving  light  as  to  the  secret  process  of 
condensation. 

2  The  passage  corresponding  to  this  paragraph  concludes  the  third  book  of  the 
De  Auymentis.  That  which  follows  is  transferred  to  the  middle  of  the  fourth 
chapter. 

8  The  substance  of  this  paragraph  will  be  found  in  the  middle  of  the  fourth  chapter 
of  the  third  book  of  the  De  Augmcntis  (Vol.  1.  p.  561.). 


364 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


matter  or  subject ;  and  that  is  Positive  and  Considerativc ; 
when  the  inquiry  reporteth  either  an  Assertion  or  a  Doubt. 
These  doubts  or  non  liquets  are  of  two  sorts,  Particular  and 
Total.  For  the  first,  we  see  a  good  example  thereof  in  Ari¬ 
stotle’s  Problems,  which  deserved  to  have  had  a  better  con¬ 
tinuance,  but  so  nevertheless  as  there  is  one  point  whereof 
warning  is  to  be  given  and  taken.  The  registering  of  doubts 
hath  two  excellent  uses :  the  one,  that  it  saveth  philosophy 
from  errors  and  falsehoods ;  when  that  which  is  not  fully  ap- 
jiearing  is  not  collected  into  assertion,  whereby  error  might 
draw  error,  but  reserved  in  doubt :  the  other,  that  the  entry 
of  doubts  are  as  so  many  suckers  or  spunges  to  draw  use  1  of 
knowledge ;  insomuch  as  that  which  if  doubts  had  not  preceded 
a  man  should  never  have  advised  but  passed  it  over  without 
note,  by  the  suggestion  and  solicitation  of  doubts  is  made  to  be 
attended  and  applied.  But  both  these  commodities  do  scarcely 
countervail  an  inconvenience  which  will  intrude  itself,  if  it  be 
not  debarred;  which  is,  that  when  a  doubt  is  once  received 
men  labour  rather  how  to  keep  it  a  doubt  still  than  how  to 
solve  it,  and  accordingly  bend  their  wits.2  Of  this  we  see  the 
familiar  example  in  lawyers  and  scholars,  both  which  if  they 
have  once  admitted  a  doubt,  it  goeth  ever  after  authorised  for 
a  doubt.  But  that  use  of  wit  and  knowledge  is  to  be  allowed, 
which  laboureth  to  make  doubtful  things  certain,  and  not  those 
which  labour  to  make  certain  things  doubtful.  Therefore 
cmiinuatio  tli esse  calendars  of  doubts  I  commend  as  excellent 
things,  so  that  there  be  this  caution  used,  that 
when  they  be  throughly  sifted  and  brought  to  reso¬ 
lution,  they  be  from  thenceforth  omitted,  decarded,  and  not 
continued  to  cherish  and  encourage  men  in  doubting.  To 
which  calendar  of  doubts  or  problems,  I  advise  be  annexed 
another  calendar,  as  much  or  more  material,  which  is  a  ca- 
CntalogllS  lendar  of  popular  errors :  I  mean  chiefly,  in  na- 

Fnlsitatum  .  r  ,  ,  .  ,  ’ 

srassamium  tural  history 3  such  as  pass  m  speech  and  conceit, 
Nutum.  ,  an(j  are  nevertheless1  apparently  detected  and  con¬ 
victed  of  untruth ;  that  man’s  knowledge  be  not  weakened  nor 
imbased  by  such  dross  and  vanity.  As  for  the  doubts  or  non 
liquets  general  or  in  total,  I  understand  those  differences  of 


Problema- 
tum  in 
Natura. 


1  i.  e.  increase,  (qua  incremenia  scientice  perpetuo  ad  se  suyant  et  alliciant.  ) 

2  This  is  explained  in  the.  translation  by  adding  that  the  recognition  of  the  doubt 
has  the  effect  of  raising  champions  to  maintain  each  slle,  and  so  keeping  it  up. 

8  r el  in  Historia  Naturali ,  vel  in  Dog  mat  i  bus,  —  De  Aug. 


TI1E  SECOND  COOK. 


365 


opinions  touching  the  principles  of  nature  and  the  fundamental 
points  of  the  same,  which  have  caused  the  diversity  of  sects, 
schools,  and  philosophies ;  as  that  of  Empedocles,  Pythagoras, 
Democritus,  Parmenides,  and  the  rest.1  For  although  Aristotle, 
as  though  he  had  been  of  the  race  of  the  Ottomans,  thought 
he  could  not  reign  except  the  first  thing  he  did  he  killed  all 
his  brethren;  yet  to  those  that  seek  truth  and  not  magistrality, 
it  cannot  but  seem  a  matter  of  great  profit  to  see  before  them 
the  several  opinions  touching  the  foundations  of  nature;  not 
for  any  exact  truth  that  can  be  expected  in  those  theories ;  for 
as  the  same  phamomena  in  astronomy  are  satisfied  by  the  re¬ 
ceived  astronomy  of  the  diurnal  motion  and  the  proper  motions 
of  the  planets  with  their  eccentrics  and  epicycles,  and  like¬ 
wise  by  the  theory  of  Copernicus  who  supposed  the  earth  to 
move ;  and  the  calculations  are  indifferently  agreeable  to  both ; 
so  the  ordinary  face  and  view  of  experience  is  many  times 
satisfied  by  several  theories  and  philosophies ;  whereas  to  find 
the  real  truth  requireth  another  manner  of  severity  and  atten¬ 
tion.  For  as  Aristotle  saith  that  children  at  the  first  will  call 
every  woman  mother,  but  afterward  they  come  to  distinguish 
according  to  truth;  so  experience,  if  it  be  in  childhood,  will 
call  every  philosophy  mother,  but  when  it  cometh  to  ripeness 
it  will  discern  the  true  mother.  So  as  in  the  mean  time  it  is 
good  to  see  the  several  glosses  and  opinions  upon  nature, 
whereof  it  may  be  every  one  in  some  one  point  hath  seen 
clearer  than  his  fellows.  Therefore  I  wish  some  collection 
to  be  made  painfully  and  understanding^  de  anti-  De  Ant,„uis 
guts  philosophiis ,  out  of  all  the  possible  light  which  Ph,lcs°P'“a- 
remaineth  to  us  of  them.2  Which  kind  of  work  I  find  defi¬ 
cient.  But  here  I  must  give  warning,  that  it  be  done  dis¬ 
tinctly  and  severely  3 ;  the  philosophies  of  every  one  through¬ 
out  by  themselves ;  and  not  by  titles  packed  and  faggoted  up 
together,  as  hath  been  done  by  Plutarch.  For  it  is  the  har¬ 
mony  of  a  philosophy  in  itself  which  giveth  it  light  and  cre¬ 
dence  ;  whereas  if  it  be  singled  and  broken,  it  will  seem  more 
foreign  and  dissonant.  For  as  when  I  read  in  Tacitus  the 

1  In  the  translation  Empedocles  is  omitted  ;  and  Philolaus ,  Xenophanes ,  Anaxagoras , 
JLeucippuSj  added. 

2  Such  (according  to  the  translation)  as  the  Lives  of  the  ancient  Philosophers, 
Plutarch’s  collection  of  placita,  Plato’s  quotations,  Aristotle’s  confutations,  and  the 
scattered  notices  in  Lactantius,  Philo,  Philostratus,  &c. 

8  So  both  in  the  original  and  in  ed.  1633;  perhaps  a  misprint  for  “severally.” 
Ed.  1629  has  severedly .  The  translation  has  distincte  only. 


366 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


actions  of  Nero  or  Claudius,  with  circumstances  of  times,  in¬ 
ducements,  and  occasions,  I  find  them  not  so  strange ;  but 
when  I  read  them  in  Suetonius  Tranquillus  gathered  into 
titles  and  bundles,  and  not  in  order  of  time,  they  seem  more 
monstrous  and  incredible  ;  so  is  it  of  any  philosophy  reported 
entire,  and  dismembered  by  articles.  Neither  do  I  exclude 
opinions  of  latter  times  to  be  likewise  represented  in  this 
calendar  of  sects  of  philosophy,  as  that  of  Theophrastus  Para¬ 
celsus,  eloquently  reduced  into  an  harmony  by  the  pen  of 
Severinus  the  Dane ;  and  that  of  Telesius,  and  his  scholar 
Donius,  being  as  a  pastoral  philosophy,  full  of  sense  but  of  no 
great  depth;  and  that  of  Fracastorius,  who  though  he  pre¬ 
tended  not  to  make  any  new  philosophy,  yet  did  use  the 
absoluteness  of  his  own  sense  upon  the  old ;  and  that  of  Gil- 
bertus  our  countryman,  who  revived,  with  some  alterations 
and  demonstrations,  the  opinions  of  Xenophanes  1 ;  and  any 
other  worthy  to  be  admitted. 

Thus  have  we  now  dealt  with  two  of  the  three  beams  of  man’s 
knowledge;  that  is  Radius  Directus,  which  is  referred  to  na¬ 
ture,  Radius  Refractus,  which  is  referred  to  God,  and  cannot 
report  truly  because  of  the  inequality  of  the  medium.  There 
resteth  Radius  Rejlexus  whereby  Man  beholdeth  and  contem- 
plateth  himself. 


IT2  We  come  therefore  now  to  that  knowledge  whereunto  the 
ancient  oracle  directeth  us,  which  is  the  knowledge  of  ourselves  ; 
which  deserveth  the  more  accurate  handling,  by  how  much  it 
toucheth  us  more  nearly.  This  knowledge,  as  it  is  the  end  and 
term  of  natural  philosophy  in  the  intention  of  man,  so  notwith¬ 
standing  it  is  but  a  portion  of  natural  philosophy  in  the  con¬ 
tinent  of  nature.  And  generally  let  this  be  a  rule,  that  all 
partitions  of  knowledges  be  accepted  rather  for  lines  and  veins, 
than  for  sections  and  separations ;  and  that  the  continuance  and 

1  This  passage  is  considerably  altered  in  the  translation,  and  the  differences  are 
worth  noticing  as  bearing  upon  the  course  of  Bacon’s  reading  and  the  development  of 
his  views  in  the  interval.  After  the  notice  of  Paracelsus  the  translation  proceeds  “  or 
of  Telesius  of  Conseutium,  who  revived  the  philosophy  of  Parmenides  and  so  turned 
the  arms  of  the  Peripatetics  against  themselves-,  or  of  Patricias  the  Venetian,  who  sub¬ 
limated  the  fumes  of  the  Plntonists ;  or  of  our  countryman  Gilbert,  who  set  up  again 
the  doctrines  of  Philolaus.”  The  names  of  Donius,  Fracastorius,  and  Xenophanes  are 
entirely  omitted.  I  do  not  know  whether  Mr.  Ellis’s  attention  had  been  directed  to 
these  changes. 

2  De  Aug.  iv.  1.  The  whole  of  this  chapter  is  much  altered  and  enlarged ;  re¬ 
written  rather  than  translated. 


THE  SECOND  EOOK. 


367 


entireness  of  knowledge  be  preserved.  For  tlie  contrary  hereof 
hath  made  particular  sciences  to  become  barren,  shallow,  and 
erroneous ;  while  they  have  not  been  nourished  and  maintained 
from  the  common  fountain.  So  we  see  Cicero  the  orator  com¬ 
plained  of  Socrates  and  his  school,  that  he  was  the  first  that  se¬ 
parated  philosophy  and  rhetoric ;  whereupon  rhetoric  became 
an  empty  and  verbal  art.  So  we  may  see  that  the  opinion  of 
Copernicus  touching  the  rotation  of  the  earth  ',  which  astro¬ 
nomy  itself  cannot  correct  because  it  is  not  repugnant  to  any 
of  the  phenomena,  yet  natural  philosophy  may  correct.  So  we 
see  also  that  the  science  of  medicine,  if  it  be  destituted  and 
forsaken  by  natural  philosophy,  it  is  not  much  better  than  an 
empirical  practice.  With  this  reservation  therefore  we  pro¬ 
ceed  to  Human  Philosophy  or  Humanity,  which  hath  two 
parts:  the  one  considereth  man  segregate,  or  distributively ; 
the  other  congregate,  or  in  society.  So  as  Human  Philosophy 
is  either  Simple  and  Particular,  or  Conjugate  and  Civil.  Hu¬ 
manity  Particular  consisteth  of  the  same  parts  whereof  man 
consisteth ;  that  is,  of  knowledges  which  respect  the  Body,  and 
of  knowledges  that  respect  the  Mind.  But  before  we  distribute 
so  far,  it  is  good  to  constitute.  For  I  do  take  the  consideration 
in  general  and  at  large  of  Human  Nature  to  be  fit  to  be  eman¬ 
cipate  and  made  a  knowledge  by  itself ;  not  so  much  in  regard 
of  those  delightful  and  elegant  discourses  which  have  been 
made  of  the  dignity  of  man1 2,  of  his  miseries,  of  his  state  and 
life,  and  the  like  adjuncts  of  his  common  and  undivided  nature  ; 
but  chiefly  in  regard  of  the  knowledge  concerning  the  sympa¬ 
thies  and  concordances  between  the  mind  and  body,  which,  being 
mixed,  cannot  be  properly  assigned  to  the  sciences  of  either. 

This  knowledge  hath  two  branches:  for  as  all  leagues  and 
amities  consist  of  mutual  Intelligence  and  mutual  Offices,  so 
this  league  of  mind  and  body  hath  these  two  parts ;  how  the  one 
discloseth  the  other ,  and  how  the  one  worketh  upon  the  other ; 
Discovery,  and  Impression.  The  former  of  these  hath  begotten 
two  arts,  both  of  Prediction  or  Prenotion;  whereof  the  one  is 
honoured  with  the  inquiry  of  Aristotle,  and  the  other  of  Hip- 

1  The  translation  adds,  quce  nunc  quoque  invaluit. 

2  In  the  De  Augmentis  this  part  is  numbered  among  the  Desiderata.  The  miseries 
of  man,  he  says,  have  been  well  set  forth  both  by  philosophers  and  theologians  ;  but 
of  what  he  calls  the  triumphs  of  man,  (that  is,  instances  of  the  highest  perfection 
which  the  human  faculties,  mental  or  bodily,  have  exhibited,)  he  wishes  a  collection 
to  be  made  from  history ;  and  gives  a  page  or  two  of  anecdotes  by  way  of  example. 


368 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


pocrates.  And  although  they  have  of  later  time  been  used  to 
be  coupled  with  superstitious  and  fantastical  arts,  yet  being 
purged  and  restored  to  their  true  state,  they  have  both  of  them 
a  solid  ground  in  nature,  and  a  profitable  use  in  life.  The  first 
is  Physiognomy,  which  discovereth  the  disposition  of  the  mind 
by  the  lineaments  of  the  body.  The  second  is  the  Exposition 
of  Natural  Dreams,  which  discovereth  the  state  of  the  body  by 
the  imaginations  of  the  mind.  In  the  former  of  these  I  note  a 
deficience.1  For  Aristotle  hath  very  ingeniously  and  diligently 
handled  the  factures  of  the  body,  but  not  the  gestures  of  the 
body,  which  are  no  less  comprehensible  by  art,  and  of  greater 
use  and  advantage.  For  the  Lineaments  of  the  body  do 
disclose  the  disposition  and  inclination  of  the  mind  in  general ; 
but  the  Motions  of  the  countenance  and  parts  do  not  only 
so,  but  do  further  disclose  the  present  humour  and  state  of 
the  mind  and  will.  For  as  your  Majesty  saith  most  aptly 
and  elegantly,  As  the  tongue  speaketh  to  the  ear,  so  the  gesture 
speaketh  to  the  eye.  And  therefore  a  number  of  subtile  persons, 
whose  eyes  do  dwell  upon  the  faces  and  fashions  of  men,  do 
well  know  the  advantage  of  this  observation,  as  being  most  part 
of  their  ability  ;  neither  can  it  be  denied  but  that  it  is  a  great 
discovery  of  dissimulations,  and  a  great  direction  in  business. 

The  latter  branch,  touching  Impression,  hath  not  been  col¬ 
lected  into  art,  but  hath  been  handled  dispersedly  ;  and  it  hath 
the  same  relation  or  antistrophe  that  the  former  hath.  For  the 
consideration  is  double  :  Either  how,  and  how  far  the  humours 
and  affects 2  of  the  body  do  alter  or  work  upon  the  mind ;  or 
again,  how  and  how  far  the  passions  or  apprehensions  of  the  mind 
do  alter  or  work  upon  the  body.  The  former  of  these  hath  been 
inquired  and  considered  as  a  part  and  appendix  of  Medicine, 
but  much  more  as  a  part  of  Keligion  or  Superstition.  For  the 
physician  prescribeth  cures  of  the  mind  in  phrensies  and  me¬ 
lancholy  passions ;  and  pretendeth  also  to  exhibit  medicines  to 
exhilarate  the  mind,  to  confirm  the  courage,  to  clarify  the  wits, 
to  corroborate  the  memory,  and  the  like ;  but  the  scruples  and 

1  With  regard  to  the  latter,  of  which  nothing  more  is  said  here,  he  observes  in  the 
De  Augmentis  that  the  treatment  it  has  received  is  full  of  follies,  and  not  grounded  upon 
the  most  solid  basis,  —  which  is  that  when  the  same  sensation  is  produced  in  the  sleeper 
by  an  internal  cause  which  is  usually  the  effect  of  some  external  act,  he  will  dream  of 
that  act ;  as  in  the  case  of  nightmare,  where  the  sensation  of  oppression  on  the  stomach 
created  by  the  fumes  of  indigestion  makes  a  man  dream  that  his  body  is  oppressed  by 
a  weight  superimposed. 

-  2  te.np  '.nuuentum.  —  De  Aug. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


369 


superstitions  of  diet  and  other  regiment  of  the  body  in  the  sect 
of  the  Pythagoreans,  in  the  heresy  of  the  Manicheans,  and  in 
the  law  of  Mahomet,  do  exceed.  So  likewise  the  ordinances 
in  the  Ceremonial  Law,  interdicting  the  eating  of  the  blood 
and  the  fat,  distinguishing  between  beasts  clean  and  unclean 
for  meat,  are  many  and  strict.  Nay  the  faith  itself  being  clear 
and  serene  from  all  clouds  of  Ceremony,  yet  retaineth  the  use 
of  fastings,  abstinences,  and  other  macerations  and  humiliations 
of  the  body,  as  things  real,  and  not  figurative.1  The  root  and 
life  of  all  which  prescripts  is,  (besides  the  ceremony2,)  the  con¬ 
sideration  of  that  dependency  which  the  affections  of  the  mind 
are  submitted  unto  upon  the  state  and  disposition  of  the  body. 
And  if  any  man  of  weak  judgment  do  conceive  that  this  suffer¬ 
ing  of  the  mind  from  the  body  doth  either  question  the  immor¬ 
tality  or  derogate  from  the  sovereignty  of  the  soul,  he  may  be 
taught  in  easy  instances,  that  the  infant  in  the  mother’s  womb 
is  compatible  with  the  mother3  and  yet  separable;  and  the  most 
absolute  monarch  is  sometimes  led  by  his  servants  and  yet 
without  subjection.  As  for  the  reciprocal  knowledge,  which  is 
the  operation  of  the  conceits  and  passions  of  the  mind  upon  the 
body,  we  see  all  wise  physicians  in  the  prescriptions  of  their 
regiments  to  their  patients  do  ever  consider  accidentia  animi, 
as  of  great  force  to  further  or  hinder  remedies  or  recoveries ; 
and  more  specially  it  is  an  inquiry  of  great  depth  and  worth 
concerning  Imagination,  how  and  how  far  it  altereth  the  body 
proper  of  the  imaginant.  For  although  it  hath  a  manifest 
power  to  hurt,  it  followeth  not  it  hath  the  same  degree  of 
power  to  help  ;  no  more  than  a  man  can  conclude,  that  because 
there  be  pestilent  airs,  able  suddenly  to  kill  a  man  in  health, 
therefore  there  should  be  sovereign  airs,  able  suddenly  to  cure 
a  man  in  sickness.  But  the  inquisition  of  this  part  is  of  great 
use,  though  it  needeth,  as  Socrates  said,  a  Delian  diver,  being 
difficult  and  profound.  But  unto  all  this  knowledge  de  communi 
vinculo,  of  the  concordances  between  the  mind  and  the  body, 
that  part  of  inquiry  is  most  necessary,  which  considereth  of  the 
seats  and  domiciles  which  the  several  faculties  of  the  mind  do 
take  and  occupate  in  the  organs  of  the  body ;  which  knowledge 
hath  been  attempted,  and  is  controverted,  and  deserveth  to  be 

1  tanquam  rerum  non  mere  ritualiujn  sed  etia.ru  fructuosarum.  — Dg  Aug. 

2  The  translation  adds,  “and  the  exercise  of  obedience.” 

3  i.  e.  suffers  together  with  the  mother  :  si  mid  cum  matribus  affectibus  com - 
patitur. 


370 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


much  better  enquired.  For  the  opinion  of  Plato,  who  placed 
the  understanding  in  the  brain,  animosity  (which  he  did  unfitly 
call  anger,  having  a  greater  mixture  with  pride )  in  the  heart, 
and  concupiscence  or  sensuality  in  the  liver,  deserveth  not  to  be 
despised  ;  but  much  less  to  he  allowed.1  So  then  we  have 
constituted  (as  in  our  own  wish  and  advice)  the  inquiry  touch¬ 
ing  human  nature  entire,  as  a  just  portion  of  knowledge  to  be 
handled  apart. 

1  2  The  knowledge  that  concerneth  man’s  body  is  divided 
as  the  good  of  man’s  body  is  divided,  unto  which  it  referreth. 
The  good  of  man’s  body  is  of  four  kinds,  Health,  Beauty, 
Strength,  and  Pleasure :  so  the  knowledges  are  Medicine,  or 
art  of  Cure ;  art  of  Decoration,  which  is  called  Cosmetic ;  art  of 
Activity,  which  is  called  Athletic;  and  art  Voluptuary,  which 
Tacitus  truly  calleth  eruditus  luxus,  [educated  luxury].  This 
subject  of  man’s  body  is  of  all  other  things  in  nature  most 
susceptible  of  remedy ;  but  then  that  remedy  is  most  suscep¬ 
tible  of  error.  For  the  same  subtility  of  the  subject  doth 
cause  large  possibility  and  easy  failing ;  and  therefore  the  in¬ 
quiry  ought  to  be  the  more  exact. 

To  speak  therefore  of  Medicine,  and  to  resume  that  we  have 
said,  ascending  a  little  higher  :  The  ancient  opinion  that  man 
was  Microcosmus,  an  abstract  or  model  of  the  world,  hath  been 
fantastically  strained  by  Paracelsus  and  the  alchemists,  as  if 
there  were  to  be  found  in  man’s  body  certain  correspondences 
and  parallels,  which  should  have  respect  to  all  varieties  of 
things,  as  stars,  planets,  minerals,  which  are  extant  in  the  great 
world.  But  thus  much  is  evidently  true,  that  of  all  substances 
which  nature  hath  produced,  man’s  body  is  the  most  extremely 
compounded.  For  we  see  herbs  and  plants  are  nourished  by 
earth  and  water ;  beasts  for  the  most  part  by  herbs  and  fruits ; 
man  by  the  flesh  of  beasts,  birds,  fishes,  herbs,  grains,  fruits, 
water,  and  the  manifold  alterations,  dressings,  and  preparations 
of  these  several  bodies,  before  they  come  to  be  his  food  and 
aliment.  Add  hereunto  that  beasts  have  a  more  simple  order 
of  life,  and  less  change  of  affections  to  work  upon  their  bodies ; 
whereas  man  in  his  mansion,  sleep,  exercise,  passions,  hath 
infinite  variations ;  and  it  cannot  be  denied  but  that  the  Body 

1  Neither  (he  adds  in  the  translation)  is  that  other  arrangement  free  from  error, 
which  places  the  several  intellectual  faculties,  Imagination,  Reason,  and  Memory,  in 
the  several  ventricles  of  the  brain. 

*  De  Aug.  iv.  2. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


371 


of  man  of  all  other  things  is  of  the  most  compounded  mass.  The 
Soul  on  the  other  side  is  the  simplest  of  substances,  as  is  well 
expressed, 

Purumque  reliquit 

iEthereum  sensum  atque  aurai  simplicis  ignem  : 

[Pure  and  unmixed 

The  etherial  sense  is  left — mere  air  and  fire.] 

So  that  it  is  no  marvel  though  the  soul  so  placed  enjoy  no  rest, 
if  that  principle  be  true  that  Motus  rerum  est  rapidus  extra 
locum,  placidus  in  loco  :  [things  move  rapidly  to  their  place  and 
calmly  in  their  place].  But  to  the  purpose.  This  variable 
composition  of  man’s  body  hath  made  it  as  an  instrument  easy 
to  distemper ;  and  therefore  the  poets  did  well  to  conjoin  Mu¬ 
sic  and  Medicine  in  Apollo :  because  the  office  of  medicine 
is  but  to  tune  this  curious  harp  of  man’s  body  and  to  reduce  it 
to  harmony.  So  then  the  subject  being  so  variable  hath  made 
the  art  by  consequent  more  conjectural ;  and  the  art  being 
conjectural  hath  made  so  much  the  more  place  to  be  left  for 
imposture.  For  almost  all  other  arts  and  sciences  are  1  judged 
by  acts  or  masterpieces  2,  as  I  may  term  them,  and  not  by  the 
successes  and  events.  The  lawyer  is  judged  by  the  virtue  of 
his  pleading,  and  not  by  the  issue  of  the  cause.  The  master  in 
the  ship  is  judged  by  the  directing  his  course  aright,  and  not 
by  the  fortune  of  the  voyage.  But  the  physician,  and  per¬ 
haps  the  politique,  hath  no  particular  acts  demonstrative  of  his 
ability,  but  is  judged  most  by  the  event ;  which  is  ever  but  as 
it  is  taken :  for  who  can  tell,  if  a  patient  die  or  recover,  or  if  a 
state  be  preserved  or  ruined,  whether  it  be  art  or  accident  ? 
And  therefore  many  times  the  impostor  is  prized,  and  the  man 
of  virtue  taxed.  Nay,  we  see  [the3]  weakness  and  credulity 
of  men  is  such,  as  they  will  often  prefer  a  montabank 4  or  witch 
before  a  learned  physician.  And  therefore  the  poets  were 
clear-sighted  in  discerning  this  extreme  folly,  when  they  made 
Aesculapius  and  Circe  brother  and  sister,  both  children  of  the 
sun,  as  in  the  verses, 

Ipse  repertorem  medicina?  tails  et  artis 
Fulmine  Phcebigenam  Stygias  detrusit  ad  undas: 

1  So  edd.  1629  and  1633.  The  original  omits  are. 

2  virtute  sua  et  functione. — -  De  Aug. 

9  the  omitted  both  in  the  original  and  in  edd.  1629  and  1633. 

4  This  is  the  spelling  of  the  old  editions ;  and  ought  apparently  to  be  revived  by 
those  who  believe  that  our  orthography  is  the  guardian  of  our  etymologies. 


25  Bacon  III 


372 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


[Apollo's  son  from  whom  that  art  did  grow 
Jove  struck  with  thunder  to  the  shades  below]. 

And  again, 

Dives  inaccessos  ubi  Solis  filia  lucos,  &c. 

[Now  by  the  shelves  of  Circe’s  coast  they  run, — 

Circe  the  rich,  the  daughter  of  the  sun.1] 

For  in  all  times,  in  the  opinion  of  the  multitude,  witches  and 
old  women  and  impostors  have  had  a  competition  with  phy¬ 
sicians.  And  what  followeth?  Even  this,  that  physicians 
say  to  themselves,  as  Salomon  expresseth  it  upon  an  higher 
occasion;  If  it  befal  to  me  as  befalleth  to  the  fools,  why  should  I 
labour  to  be  more  wise  ?  And  therefore  I  cannot  much  blame 
physicians,  that  they  use  commonly  to  intend  some  other  art  or 
practice,  which  they  fancy,  more  than  their  profession.  For 
you  shall  have  of  them  antiquaries,  poets,  humanists,  states¬ 
men,  merchants,  divines,  and  in  every  of  these  better  seen  than 
in  their  profession ;  and  no  doubt  upon  this  ground,  that  they 
find  that  mediocrity  and  excellency  in  their  art  maketh  no 
difference  in  profit  or  reputation  towards  their  fortune  ;  for  the 
weakness  of  patients  and  sweetness  of  life  and  nature  of  hope 2 
maketh  men  depend  upon  physicians  with  all  their  defects. 
But  nevertheless  these  things  which  we  have  spoken  of  are 
courses  begotten  between  a  little  occasion  and  a  great  deal  of 
sloth  and  default ;  for  if  we  will  excite  and  awake  our  observa¬ 
tion,  we  shall  see  in  familiar  instances  what  a  predominant 
faculty  the  subtilty  of  spirit 3  hath  over  the  variety  of  matter  or 
form.  Nothing  more  variable  than  faces  and  countenances; 
yet  men  can  bear  in  memory  the  infinite  distinctions  of  them  ; 
nay,  a  painter  with  a  few  shells  of  colours,  and  the  benefit  of 
his  eye  and  habit  of  his  imagination,  can  imitate  them  all  that 
ever  have  been,  are,  or  may  be,  if  they  were  brought  before 
him.  Nothing  more  variable  than  voices;  yet  men  can  like¬ 
wise  discern  them  personally ;  nay,  you  shall  have  a  buffon 
or  pantomimus  will  express  as  many  as  he  pleaseth.  Nothing 
more  variable  than  the  differing  sounds  of  words ;  yet  men 
have  found  the  way  to  reduce  them  to  a  few  simple  letters. 
So  that  it  is  not  the  insufficiency  or  incapacity  of  man's  mind, 
but  it  is  the  remote  standing  or  placing  thereof,  that  breedeth 
these  mazes  and  incomprehensions :  for  as  the  sense  afar  off  is 

Dry  den.  2  The  translation  adds  et  aw.icorum  commendatio. 

i.  e.  of  the  understanding  :  intellectus  subtilitat  et  acumen , 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


373 


full  of  mistaking  but  is  exact  at  hand,  so  is  it  of  the  under¬ 
standing  ;  the  remedy  whereof  is  not  to  quicken  or  strengthen 
the  organ,  but  to  go  nearer  to  the  object ;  and  therefore  there 
is  no  doubt  but  if  the  physicians  will  learn  and  use  the  true 
approaches  and  avenues  of  nature,  they  may  assume  as  much 
as  the  poet  saith  : 

Et  quoniam  variant  morbi,  variabimus  artes ; 

Mille  mali  species,  mille  salutis  erunt : 

[varying  their  arts  according  to  the  variety  of  diseases,  — 
for  a  thousand  forms  of  sickness  a  thousand  methods  of  cure]. 
Which  that  they  should  do,  the  nobleness  of  their  art  doth 
deserve ;  well  shadowed  by  the  poets,  in  that  they  made 
^Esculapius  to  be  the  son  of  the  Sun,  the  one  being  the  foun¬ 
tain  of  life,  the  other  as  the  second  stream  ;  but  infinitely  more 
honoured  by  the  example  of  our  Saviour,  who  made  the  body 
of  man  the  object  of  his  miracles,  as  the  soul  was  the  object 
of  his  doctrine.  For  we  read  not  that  ever  he  vouchsafed  to 
do  any  miracle  about  honour,  or  money  (except  that  one  for 
giving  tribute  to  Caesar),  but  only  about  the  preserving,  sus¬ 
taining,  and  healing  the  body  of  man. 

Medicine  is  a  science  which  hath  been  (as  we  have  said) 
more  professed  than  laboured,  and  yet  more  laboured  than 
advanced;  the  labour  having  been,  in  my  judgment,  rather  in 
circle  than  in  progression.  For  I  find  much  iteration,  but 
small  addition.  It  considereth  causes  of  diseases,  with  the 
occasions  or  impulsions ;  the  diseases  themselves,  with  the  ac¬ 
cidents;  and  the  cures,  with  the  preservations .*  The  defi¬ 
ciencies  which  I  think  good  to  note,  being  a  few  of  many,  and 
those  such  as  are  of  a  more  open  and  manifest  nature,  I  will 
enumerate,  and  not  place. 

The  first  is  the  discontinuance  of  the  ancient  and  serious 
diligence  of  Hippocrates,  which  used  to  set  down  a  Narraliortes 
narrative  of  the  special  cases  of  his  patients,  and  how  me,i'a'w‘es- 
they  proceeded,  and  how  they  were  judged  by  recovery  or 

1  Here  the  translation  departs  widely  from  the  original.  The  part?,  or  offices,  into 
which  Medicine  is  divided  in  the  De  Aug  mentis  are:  1.  the  preservation  of  health  ; 
2.  the  cure  of  diseases ;  3.  the  prolongation  of  life:  with  regard  to  the  first  of  which 
Bacon  complains  that  physicians  have  treated  it  in  several  respects  unskilfully  or  im¬ 
perfectly  ;  and  with  regard  to  the  last  that  they  have  not  recognised  the  prolongation 
of  natural  life  as  a  principal  part  of  their  science,  being  satisfied  if  they  can  prevent  it 
from  being  shortened  by  diseases.  Under  the  second  he  includes  the  whole  doctrine  of 
diseases,  —  the  causes,  the  symptoms,  and  the  remedies,  all  in  fact  that  is  here  included 
under  the  general  head  of  Medicine,  —  and  so  strikes  again  into  the  text. 


374 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


death.  Therefore  having  an  example  proper  in  the  father  of 
the  art,  I  shall  not  need  to  allege  an  example  foreign,  of  the 
wisdom  of  the  lawyers,  who  are  careful  to  report  new  cases  and 
decisions  for  the  direction  of  future  judgments.  This  con¬ 
tinuance  of  Medicinal  History  I  find  deficient;  which  I  under¬ 
stand  neither  to  be  so  infinite  as  to  extend  to  every  common 
case,  nor  so  reserved  as  to  admit  none  but  wonders  :  for  many 
things  are  new  in  the  manner,  which  are  not  new  in  the  kind  ; 
and  if  men  will  intend  to  observe,  they  shall  find  much  worthy 
to  observe. 

In  the  inquiry  which  is  made  by  Anatomy  I  find  much  de- 
Anatomia  ficience :  for  they  inquire  of  the  parts,  and  their  sub- 
comparata.  s(ances,  fgures,  and  collocations  ;  but  they  inquire  not 
of  the  diversities  of  the  parts  2,  the  secrecies  of  the  passages,  and 
the  seats  or  nestling  of  the  humours,  nor  much  of  the  footsteps 
and  impressions  of  diseases:  the  reason  of  which  omission  I 
suppose  to  be,  because  the  first  inquiry  may  be  satisfied  in  the 
view  of  one  or  a  few  anatomies ;  but  the  latter,  being  com¬ 
parative  and  casual,  must  arise  from  the  view  of  many.  And 
as  to  the  diversity  of  parts,  there  is  no  doubt  but  the  facture  or 
framing  of  the  inward  parts  is  as  full  of  difference  as  the 
outward,  and  in  that  is  the  cause  continent  of  many  diseases ; 
which  not  being  observed,  '.they  quarrel  many  times  with  the 
humours,  which  are  not  in  fault ;  the  fault  being  in  the  very 
frame  and  mechanic  of  the  part,  which  cannot  be  removed  by 
medicine  alterative,  but  must  be  accommodate  and  palliate  by 
diets  and  medicines  familiar.  And  for  the  passages  and  pores, 
it  is  true  which  was  anciently  noted,  that  the  more  subtile  of 
them  appear  not  in  anatomies,  because  they  are  shut  and  latent 
in  dead  bodies,  though  they  be  open  and  manifest  in  live: 
which  being  supposed,  though  the  inhumanity  of  anatomia 
vivorum  [anatomy  of  the  living  subject]  was  by  Celsus  justly 
reproved ;  yet  in  regard  of  the 2  great  use  of  this  observation, 
the  inquiry  needed  not  by  him  so  slightly  to  have  been  re¬ 
linquished  altogether,  or  referred  to  the  casual  practices  of 
surgery  ;  but  might  have  been  well  diverted  upon  the  dissec¬ 
tion  of  beasts  alive,  which  notwithstanding  the  dissimilitude  of 
their  parts,  may  sufficiently  satisfy  this  inquiry.  And  for  the 

1  t.  e.  they  inquire  of  the  parts,  &c.,  of  the  human  body  in  general,  but  not  of  the 
diversities  of  the  parts  in  different  bodies,  —  of  simple,  but  not  of  comparative,  anatomy. 
This  whole  paragraph  is  much  enlarged  in  the  translation,  and  the  order  changed. 

2  So  edd.  1629  and  1633.  The  original  omits  the. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


375 


humours,  they  are  commonly  passed  over  in  anatomies  as  pur- 
gaments ;  whereas  it  is  most  necessary  to  observe  what  cavi¬ 
ties,  nests,  and  receptacles  the  humours  do  find  in  the  parts, 
with  the  differing  kind  of  the  humour  so  lodged  and  received. 
And  as  for  the  footsteps  of  diseases,  and  their  devastations  of 
the  inward  parts,  imposthumations,  exulcerations,  discontinu¬ 
ations,  putrefactions,  consumptions,  contractions,  extensions, 
convulsions,  dislocations,  obstructions,  repletions,  together  with 
all  preternatural  substances,  as  stones,  carnosities,  excrescences, 
worms,  and  the  like ;  they  ought  to  have  been  exactly  observed 
by  multitude  of  anatomies  and  the  contribution  of  men’s  se¬ 
veral  experiences,  and  carefully  set  down  both  historically  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  appearances,  and  artificially  with  a  reference  to 
the  diseases  and  symptoms  which  resulted  from  them,  in  case 
where  the  anatomy  is  of  a  defunct  patient ;  whereas  now  upon 
opening  of  bodies  they  are  passed  over  slightly  and  in  silence. 

In  the  inquiry  of  diseases,  they  do  abandon  the  cures  of 
many,  some  as  in  their  nature  incurable,  and  others  InquhHi0 
as  past  the  period  of  cure  ;  so  that  Sylla  and  the  tri-  Morbis  in - 

r  .  ,  j,  i  sanabilibus. 

umvirs  never  proscribed  so  many  men  to  die,  as  they 
do  by  their  ignorant  edicts ;  whereof 1  numbers  do  escape  with 
less  difficulty  than  they  did  in  the  Roman  proscriptions.  There¬ 
fore  I  will  not  doubt  to  note  as  a  deficience,  that  they  inquire 
not  the  perfect  cures  of  many  diseases,  or  extremities  of  dis¬ 
eases,  but  pronouncing  them  incurable  do  enact  a  law  of  neg¬ 
lect,  and  exempt  ignorance  from  discredit. 

Nay  further,  I  esteem  it  the  office  of  a  physician  not  only 
to  restore  health,  but  to  mitigate  pain  and  dolors ;  De  Euthana - 
and  not  only  when  such  mitigation  may  conduce 
to  recovery,  but  when  it  may  serve  to  make  a  fair  and  easy 
passage  :  for  it  is  no  small  felicity  which  Augustus  Caesar  was 
wont  to  wish  to  himself,  that  same  Euthanasia;  and  which  was 
specially  noted  in  the  death  of  Antoninus  Pius,  whose  death 
was  after  the  fashion  and  semblance  of  a  kindly  and  pleasant 
sleep.  So  it  is  written  of  Epicurus,  that  after  his  disease,  was 
judged  desperate,  he  drowned  his  stomach  and  senses  with  a 
large  draught  and  ingurgitation  of  wine ;  whereupon  the  epi¬ 
gram  was  made,  Hinc  stygias  ebrius  hausit  aquas ;  he  was  not 
sober  enough  to  taste  any  bitterness  of  the  Stygian  water.  But 
the  physicians  contrariwise  do  make  a  kind  of  scruple  and 

1  t.  e.  of  whom  nevertheless  :  quorum  tamen  plurtmi  §*c,  l)e  Aug. 


376 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


religion  to  stay  with  the  patient  after  the  disease  is  deplored ; 
whereas,  in  my  judgment,  they  ought  both  to  enquire  the  skill 
and  to  give  the  attendances  for  the  facilitating  and  assuaging  of 
the  pains  and  agonies  of  death. 

In  the  consideration  of  the  Cures  of  diseases,  I  find  a  defi- 
Medidnce  Ex -  cience  in  the  receipts  of  propriety,  respecting  the 
penmmtaics.  particular  cures  of  diseases  1 :  for  the  physicians  have 
frustrated  the  fruit  of  tradition  and  experience  by  their  ma- 
gistralities,  in  adding  and  taking  out  and  changing  quid  pro 
quo  in  their  receipts,  at  their  pleasures ;  commanding  so  over 
the  medicine  as  the  medicine  cannot  command  over  the  dis¬ 
ease.  For  except  it  be  treacle  and  mithridatum,  and  of  late 
diascordium 2,  and  a  few  more,  they  tie  themselves  to  no  receipts 
severely  and  religiously :  for  as  to  the  confections  of  sale  which 
are  in  the  shops,  they  are  for  readiness  and  not  for  propriety ; 
for  they  are  upon  general  intentions  of  purging,  opening,  com¬ 
forting,  altering,  and  not  much  appropriate  to  particular  dis¬ 
eases  :  and  this  is  the  cause  why  empirics  and  old  women  are 
more  happy  many  times  in  their  cures  than  learned  physicians, 
because  they  are  more  religious  in  holding  their  medicines. 
Therefore  here  is  the  deficience  which  I  find,  that  physicians 
have  not,  partly  out  of  their  own  practice,  partly  out  of  the 
constant  probations  reported  in  books,  and  partly  out  of  the 
traditions  of  empirics,  set  down  and  delivered  over  certain  ex¬ 
perimental  medicines  for  the  cure  of  particular  diseases,  besides 
their  own  conjectural  and  magistral  descriptions.  For  as  they 
were  the  men  of  the  best  composition  in  the  state  of  Rome, 
which  either  being  consuls  inclined  to  the  people,  or  being  tri¬ 
bunes  inclined  to  the  senate ;  so  in  the  matter  we  now  handle, 
they  be  the  best  physicians,  which  being  learned  incline  to  the 
traditions  of  experience,  or  being  empirics  incline  to  the  methods 
of  learning. 

In  preparation  of  Medicines,  I  do  find  strange,  specially 
imitatio  Na-  considering  how  mineral  medicines  have  been  ex- 

tune  in  Bal -  ^ 

Medicinal tolled,  and  that  they  are  safer  for  the  outward  than 
bus  inward  parts,  that  no  man  hath  sought  to  make  an 

imitation  by  art  of  Natural  Baths  and  Medicinable  Fountains; 
wliich  nevertheless  are  confessed  to  receive  their  virtues  from 

1  i.  e.  the  particular  medicines  proper  for  particular  diseases,  as  distinguished  from 
“  general  intentions.” 

2  In  the  translation  he  adds  “  the  confection  of  Alkermes.” 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


377 


minerals :  and  not  so  only,  but  discerned  and  distinguished 
from  what  particular  mineral  they  receive  tincture,  as  sulphur, 
vitriol,  steel,  or  the  like ;  which  nature  if  it  may  be  reduced  to 
compositions  of  art,  both  the  variety  of  them  will  be  increased, 
and  the  temper  of  them  will  be  more  commanded. 1 

But  lest  I  grow  to  be  more  particular  than  is  agreeable 
either  to  my  intention  or  to  proportion,  I  will  con-  Filum  MeJl_ 
elude  this  part  with  the  note  of  one  deficience 
more,  which  seemeth  to  me  of  greatest  consequence  ;  c,narum 
which  is,  that  the  prescripts  in  use  are  too  compendious  to 
attain  their  end:  for,  to  my  understanding,  it  is  a  vain  and 
flattering  opinion  to  think  any  medicine  can  be  so  sovereign 
or  so  happy,  as  that  the  receit  or  use  of  it  can  work  any  great 
effect  upon  the  body  of  man.  It  were  a  strange  speech  which 
spoken,  or  spoken  oft,  should  reclaim  a  man  from  a  vice  to 
which  he  were  by  nature  subject.  It  is  order,  pursuit,  sequence, 
and  interchange  of  application,  which  is  mighty  in  nature  ; 
which  although  it  require  more  exact  knowledge  in  prescribing 
and  more  precise  obedience  in  observing,  yet  is  recompensed 
with  the  magnitude  of  effects.  And  although  a  man  would 
think,  by  the  daily  visitations  of  the  physicians,  that  there 
were  a  pursuance  in  the  cure  ;  yet  let  a  man  look  into  their 
prescripts  and  ministrations,  and  he  shall  find  them  but  in¬ 
constancies  and  every  day’s  devices,  without  any  settled  pro¬ 
vidence  or  project.  Not  that  every  scrupulous  or  superstitious 
prescript  is  effectual,  no  more  than  every  straight  way  is  the 
way  to  heaven;  but  the  truth  of  the  direction  must  precede 
severity  of  observance? 

For  Cosmetic,  it  hath  parts  civil,  and  parts  effeminate  :  for 
cleanness  of  body  was  ever  esteemed  to  proceed  from  a  due 
reverence  to  God,  to  society,  and  to  ourselves.3  As  for  arti¬ 
ficial  decoration,  it  is  well  worthy  of  the  deficiencies  which  it 

1  So  edd.  1629  and  1633.  The  original  has  commended. 

8  The  latter  part  of  this  paragraph  is  considerably  enlarged  in  the  translation,  rather 
however  by  way  of  explanation  than  addition,  till  he  comes  to  the  end  ;  when  in 
closing  his  account  of  the  Desiderata  in  the  science  of  curing  diseases,  he  adds  that 
there  is  however  one  other  remaining  which  is  of  more  consequence  than  all  the  rest  — 
namely  that  of  a  true  and  active  Natural  Philosophy  for  the  Science  of  Medicine  to  be 
built  upon. 

Between  this  paragraph  and  the  next  is  interposed  a  long  passage  upon  the  prolong¬ 
ation  of  life,  of  which  there  are  no  traces  at  all  here. 

3  To  whom  (he  adds  in  the  translation)  we  owe  no  less  reverence  — nay  even  more 
—  than  to  others.  So  in  the  New  Atlantis,  “  and  they  say  ( i .  e.  the  people  of  Ben- 
salem)  that  the  reverence  of  a  man’s  self  is,  next  to  Religion,  the  chiefest  bridle  of  all 
vices.” 


378 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


hath;  being  neither  fine  enough  to  deceive,  nor  handsome  to 
use,  nor  wholesome  to  please.1 

For  Athletic,  I  take  the  subject  of  it  largely;  that  is  to  say, 
for  any  point  of  ability  whereunto  the  body  of  man  may  be 
brought,  whether  it  be  of  activity  or  of  patience ;  whereof 
activity  hath  two  parts,  strength  and  swiftness ;  and  patience 
likewise  hath  two  parts,  hardness  against  wants  and  extremities , 
and  indurance  of  pain  or  torment:  whereof  we  see  the  practices 
in  tumblers,  in  savages  2,  and  in  those  that  suffer  punishment : 
nay,  if  there  be  any  other  faculty  which  falls  not  within  any  of 
the  former  divisions,  as  in  those  that  dive,  that  obtain  a  strange 
power  of  containing  respiration,  and  the  like,  I  refer  it  to  this 
part.  Of  these  things  the  practices  are  known,  but  the  philo¬ 
sophy  that  concerneth  them  is  not  much  enquired ;  the  rather,  I 
think,  because  they  are  supposed  to  be  obtained  either  by  an 
aptness  of  nature,  which  cannot  be  taught,  or  only  by  con¬ 
tinual  custom,  which  is  soon  prescribed ;  which  though  it  be 
not  true,  yet  I  forbear  to  note  any  deficiences ;  for  the  Olympian 
Games  are  down  long  since,  and  the  mediocrity  of  these  things 
is  for  use ;  as  for  the  excellency  of  them,  it  serveth  for  the  most 
part  but  for  mercenary  ostentation. 

F or  Arts  of  Pleasure  Sensual,  the  chief  deficience  in  them  is 
of  laws  to  repress  them.3  For  as  it  hath  been  well  observed 
that  the  arts  which  flourish  in  times  while  virtue  is  in  growth, 
are  military  ;  and  while  virtue  is  in  state,  are  liberal ;  and 
while  virtue  is  in  declination,  are  voluptuary  ;  so  I  doubt  that 

1  So  all  the  editions.  He  must  have  meant  to  write,  “  handsome  to  please,  nor 
wholesome  to  use.” 

By  artificial  decoration  he  means  painting  the  face,  as  we  learn  from  the  translation  ; 
where  he  expresses  wonder  that  this  prava  consuetudo  fucandi  is  not  prohibited  by  the 
laws,  along  with  sumptuous  apparel  and  lovelocks. 

2  The  translation  adds  “  in  the  stupendous  strength  shown  by  maniacs.” 

8  Here  we  have  an  important  addition  in  the  translation.  Whether  when  he  wrote 
the  Advancement  of  Learning  Bacon  had  forgotten  Painting  and  Music  or  meant  to 
find  another  place  for  them,  I  cannot  say  ;  but  in  the  Be  Augments  he  includes  them 
among  the  Artes  Voluptarice  ,■  which  he  cannot  have  intended  to  do  when  he  wrote 
this  sentence.  The  passage  in  which  they  are  introduced  is  to  this  effect : —  The  arts 
of  pleasure,  he  says,  are  as  many  as  the  senses  themselves  are.  To  the  eye  belongs 
Painting,  with  innumerable  other  arts  of  magnificence  in  matter  of  Buildings,  Gardens, 
Dresses,  Vases,  Gems,  &c. ;  to  the  ear  Music,  with  its  various  apparatus  of  voices, 
wind,  and  strings  ;  and  of  all  the  sensual  arts  those  which  relate  to  Sight  and  Hearing 
are  accounted  the  most  liberal ;  for  as  these  two  senses  are  the  purest  and  most  chaste, 
so  the  sciences  which  belong  to  them  are  the  most  learned ;  both  being  waited  upon 
by  the  Mathematics,  and  one  having  some  relation  to  memory  and  demonstrations, 
the  other  to  manners  and  affections  of  the  mind.  The  rest  of  the  sensual  pleasures, 
with  the  arts  appertaining  to  them,  are  held  in  less  honour,  as  being  nearer  akin  to 
luxury  and  magnificence.  Unguents,  perfumes,  delicacies  of  the  table,  and  especially 
stimulants  of  lust,  stand  more  in  need  of  a  censor  to  repress  than  a  master  to  teach 
them  ;  and  as  it  has  been  well  observed,  &c. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


379 


this  age  of  the  world  is  somewhat  upon  the  descent  of  the 
wheel.  With  arts  voluptuary  I  couple  practices  joculary  ;  for 
the  deceiving  of  the  senses  is  one  of  the  pleasures  of  the  senses. 
As  for  games  of  recreation,  I  hold  them  to  belong  to  civil  life 
and  education.1  And  thus  much  of  that  particular  Human  Phi¬ 
losophy  which  concerns  the  Body,  which  is  but  the  tabernacle 
of  the  mind. 


1 2  For  Human  Knowledge  which  concerns  the  Mind,  it  hath 
two  parts ;  the  one  that  enquireth  of  the  substance  or  nature  of 
the  soul  or  mind,  the  other  that  enquireth  of  the  faculties  or 
functions  thereof.  Unto  the  first  of  these,  the  considerations  of 
the  original  of  the  soul,  whether  it  be  native  or  adventive,  and 
how  far  it  is  exempted  from  laws  of  matter,  and  of  the  immor¬ 
tality  thereof,  and  many  other  points,  do  appertain :  which  have 
been  not  more  laboriously  enquired  than  variously  reported ; 
so  as  the  travail  therein  taken  seemeth  to  have  been  rather  in  a 
maze  than  in  a  way.  But  although  I  am  of  opinion  that  this 
knowledge  may  be  more  really  and  soundly  enquired,  even  in 
nature,  than  it  hath  been ;  yet  I  hold  that  in  the  end  it  must 
be  bounded  by  religion,  or  else  it  will  be  subject  to  deceit  and 
delusion ;  for  as  the  substance  of  the  soul  in  the  creation  was 
not  extracted  out  of  the  mass  of  heaven  and  earth  by  the  bene¬ 
diction  of  a  producat,  but  was  immediately  inspired  from  God ; 
so  it  is  not  possible  that  it  should  be  (otherwise  than  by  acci¬ 
dent)  subject  to  the  laws  of  heaven  and  earth,  which  are  the 
subject  of  philosophy ;  and  therefore  the  true  knowledge  of  the 
nature  and  state  of  the  soul,  must  come  by  the  same  inspiration 
that  gave  the  substance.3  Unto  this  part  of  knowledge  touch¬ 
ing  the  soul  there  be  two  appendices ;  which,  as  they  have  been 


1  This  observation  is  omitted  in  the  translation  ;  and  a  new  paragraph  is  introduced, 
stating  that  everything  which  relates  to  the  body  of  man  (though  there  be  some  which 
do  not  properly  belong  to  either  of  the  three  offices  above  mentioned,  viz.  the  preserv¬ 
ation  of  health,  the  cure  of  diseases,  and  the  prolongation  of  life )  is  to  be  considered  as 
included  in  Medicine. 

2  De  Aug.  iv.  3. 

3  In  the  translation  a  new  division  is  introduced  which  does  not  appear  to  be  dis¬ 
tinctly  recognised  here  —  the  hitman  soul  being  divided  into  Rational  and  Irrational  ; 
the  one  divine  and  peculiar  to  humanity,  the  other  (which  is  merely  its  instrument) 
being  of  the  earth  and  common  to  man  and  brute  ;  and  the  remark  in  the  text  is  con- 
fined  to  the  first  of  these  only.  The  other  soul,  which  be  calls  the  anima  sensibilis 
she  producta,  is  represented  as  a  fit  subject  of  physical  enquiry,  in  its  nature  and  sub¬ 
stance  as  well  as  in  its  faculties  ;  though  the  enquiry  has  not  been  well  pursued  with 
regard  to  either.  Concerning  the  doctrine  of  the  Duality  of  the  Soul  see  Mr.  Ellis’s 
General  Introduction,  §  14. 


380 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


handled,  have  rather  vapoured  forth  fables  than  kindled  truth ; 
Divination  and  Fascination. 

Divination  hath  been  anciently  and  fitly  divided  into  artificial 
and  natural;  whereof  artificial  is  when  the  mind  maketh  a 
prediction  by  argument,  concluding  upon  signs  and  tokens ; 
natural  is  when  the  mind  hath  a  presention  by  an  internal 
power,  without  the  inducement  of  a  sign.  Artificial  is  of  two 
sorts ;  either  when  the  argument  is  coupled  with  a  derivation 
of  causes,  which  is  rational ;  or  when  it  is-  only  grounded  upon 
a  coincidence  of  the  effect,  which  is  experimental :  whereof  the 
later  for  the  most  part  is  superstitious ;  such  as  were  the  hea¬ 
then  observations  upon  the  inspection  of  sacrifices,  the  flights 
of  birds,  the  swarming  of  bees  ;  and  such  as  was  the  Chaldean 
Astrology,  and  the  like.  For  artificial  divination,  the  several 
kinds  thereof  are  distributed  amongst  particular  knowledges. 
The  Astronomer  hath  his  predictions,  as  of  conjunctions,  aspects, 
eclipses,  and  the  like.  The  Physician  hath  his  predictions,  of 
death,  of  recovery,  of  the  accidents  and  issues  of  diseases.  The 
Politique  hath  his  predictions ;  O  urbem  venalem,  et  cito  peri- 
turam,  si  emptorem  invenerit !  [a  city  in  which  all  things  are  for 
sale  and  which  will  fall  to  the  first  purchaser,]  which  stayed 
not  long  to  be  performed,  in  Sylla  first,  arid  after  in  Caesar. 
So  as  these  predictions  are  now  impertinent,  and  to  be  referred 
over.  But  the  divination  which  springeth  from  the  internal 
nature  of  the  soul,  is  that  which  we  now  speak  of ;  which  hath 
been  made  to  be  of  two  sorts,  primitive  and  by  influxion.  Pri¬ 
mitive  is  grounded  upon  the  supposition  that  the  mind,  when 
it  is  withdrawn  and  collected  into  itself  and  not  diffused  into 
the  organs  of  the  body,  hath  some  extent  and  latitude  of  pre¬ 
notion  ;  which  therefore  appeareth  most  in  sleep,  in  extasies, 
and  near  death ;  and  more  rarely  in  waking  apprehensions  ;  and 
is  induced  and  furthered  by  those  abstinences  and  observances 
which  make  the  mind  most  to  consist  in  itself.  By  influxion, 
is  grounded  upon  the  conceit  that  the  mind,  as  a  mirror  or 
glass,  should  take  illumination  from  the  foreknowledge  of  God 
and  spirits ;  unto  which  the  same  regiment  doth  likewise  con¬ 
duce.  For  the  retiring  of  the  mind  within  itself  is  the  state 
which  is  most  susceptible  of  divine  influxions ;  save  that  it  is 
accompanied  in  this  case  with  a  fervency  and  elevation  (which 
the  ancients  noted  by  fury),  and  not  with  a  repose  and  quiet,  as 
it  is  in  the  other. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


381 


Fascination  is  the  power  and  act  of  imagination,  intensive 
upon  other  bodies  than  the  body  of  the  imaginant :  for  of  that 
we  spake  in  the  proper  place :  wherein  the  school  of  Paracel¬ 
sus  and  the  disciples  of  pretended  Natural  Magic  have  been  so 
intemperate,  as  they  have  exalted  the  power  of  the  imagina¬ 
tion  to  be  much  one  with  the  power  of  miracle-working  faith  ; 
others  that  draw  nearer  to  probability,  calling  to  their  view 
the  secret  passages  of  things,  and  especially  of  the  contagion 
that  passeth  from  body  to  body  ’,  do  conceive  it  should  likewise 
be  agreeable  to  nature  that  there  should  be  some  transmissions 
and  operations  from  spirit  to  spirit,  without  the  mediation  of  the 
senses;  whence  the  conceits  have  grown  (now  almost  made 
civil)  of  the  Mastering  Spirit,  and  the  force  of  confidence,  and 
the  like.  Incident  unto  this  is  the  inquiry  how  to  raise  and 
fortify  the  imagination;  for  if  the  imagination  fortified  have 
power,  then  it  is  material  to  know  how  to  fortify  and  exalt  it. 
And  herein  comes  in  crookedly  and  dangerously  a  palliation  of 
a  great  part  of  Ceremonial  Magic.  For  it  may  be  pretended 
that  Ceremonies,  Characters,  and  Charms,  do  work  not  by  any 
tacit  or  sacramental  contract  with  evil  spirits,  but  serve  only  to 
strengthen  the  imagination  of  him  that  useth  it;  as  images 
are  said  by  the  Roman  church1  2  to  fix  the  cogitations  and  raise 
the  devotions  of  them  that  pray  before  them.  But  for  mine 
own  judgment,  if  it  be  admitted  that  imagination  hath  power, 
and  that  Ceremonies  fortify  imagination,  and  that  they  be  used 
sincerely  and  intentionally  for  that  purpose3;  yet  I  should  hold 
them  unlawful,  as  opposing  to  that  first  edict  which  God  gave 
unto  man,  In  sudore  vultus  comedes  panem  tuum,  [in  the  sweat 
of  thy  brow  shalt  thou  eat  bread].  For  they  propound  those 
noble  effects  which  God  hath  set  forth  unto  man  to  be  bought 
at  the  price  of  labour,  to  be  attained  by  a  few  easy  and  sloth¬ 
ful  observances.  Deficiences  in  these  knowledges  I  will  report 
none,  other  than  the  general  deficience,  that  it  is  not  known 
how  much  of  them  is  verity  and  how  much  vanity.4 


1  In  the  translation  he  adds  “  the  irradiations  of  the  senses,  and  the  conveyance  of 
magnetic  virtues.” 

8  In  the  translation,  the  words  “  said  by  the  Roman  church”  are  omitted,  and  in 
Religione  usus  imaginum  ....  invaluit  are  substituted.  See  note  p.  277. 

8  i.  e.  as  a  physical  remedy,  without  any  thought  of  inviting  thereby  the  assistance 
of  spirits,  —  as  explained  in  the  translation. 

4  This  sentence  is  omitted  in  the  translation  altogether  ;  and  the  chapter  concludes 
with  a  notice  at  considerable  length  of  two  Desiderata  not  mentioned  here  ;  the  doc¬ 
trine  of  Voluntary  Motion,  and  the  doctrine  of  Sense  and  the  Sensible. 


382 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


IT 1  The  knowledge  which  respecteth  the  Faculties  of  the  Mind 
of  man  is  of  two  kinds;  the  one  respecting  his  Understanding 
and  Reason,  and  the  other  his  Will,  Appetite,  and  Affection ; 
whereof  the  former  produceth  Position  or  Decree,  the  later 
Action  or  Execution.  It  is  true  that  the  Imagination  is  an 
agent  or  nuncius  in  both  provinces,  both  the  judicial  and  the 
ministerial.  For  Sense  sendeth  over  to  Imagination  before 
Reason  have  judged :  and  Reason  sendeth  over  to  Imagination 
before  the  Decree  can  be  acted ;  for  Imagination  ever  pre- 
cedeth  Voluntary  Motion:  saving  that  this  Janus  of  Imagi¬ 
nation  hath  differing  faces ;  for  the  face  towards  Reason  hath 
the  print  of  Truth,  but  the  face  towards  Action  hath  the  print 
of  Good ;  which  nevertheless  are  faces, 

Quales  decet  esse  sororum,  — 

[sister-faces].  Neither  is  the  Imagination  simply  and  only  ames- 
senger ;  but  is  invested  with  or  at  leastwise  usurpeth  no  small 
authority  in  itself,  besides  the  duty  of  the  message.  For  it  was 
well  said  by  Aristotle,  That  the  mind  hath  over  the  body  that  com¬ 
mandment,  which  the  lord  hath  over  a  bondman  ;  but  that  reason 
hath  over  the  imagination  that  commandment  which  a  magistrate 
hath  over  a  free  citizen ;  who  may  come  also  to  rule  in  his  turn. 
For  we  see  that  in  matters  of  Faith  and  Religion  we  raise  our 
Imagination  above  our  Reason 2 ;  which  is  the  cause  why  Reli¬ 
gion  sought  ever  access  to  the  mind  by  similitudes,  types, 
parables,  visions,  dreams.  And  again  in  all  persuasions  that 
are  wrought  by  eloquence  and  other  impression  of  like  nature, 
which  do  paint  and  disguise  the  true  appearance  of  things,  the 
chief  recommendation  unto  Reason  is  from  the  Imagination.3 
Nevertheless,  because  I  find  not  any  science  that  doth  properly 
or  fitly  pertain  to  the  Imagination,  I  see  no  cause  to  alter  the 
former  division.  For  as  for  Poesy,  it  is  rather  a  pleasure  or 
play  of  imagination,  than  a  work  or  duty  thereof.  And  if  it 
be  a  work,  we  speak  not  now  of  such  parts  of  learning  as  the 


1  De  Aug.  v.  1. 

2  Not,  (he  adds  in  the  translation,)  that  the  divine  illumination  resides  in  the  Ima¬ 
gination,  —  its  seat  being  rather  in  the  very  citadel  of  the  mind  and  understanding ; — 
but  that  the  divine  grace  uses  the  motions  of  the  Imagination  as  an  instrument  of 
illumination,  just  as  it  uses  the  motions  of  the  will  as  an  instrument  of  virtue. 

8  This  is  better  explained  in  the  translation  ;  where  it  is  observed  that  the  arts  of 
speech  by  which  men’s  minds  are  soothed,  inflamed,  or  carried  away,  consist  in  exciting 
the  Imag'  ation  till  it  gets  the  better  of  the  Reason. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


383 


Imagination  produceth,  but  of  such  sciences  as  handle  and  con¬ 
sider  of  the  Imagination ;  no  more  than  we  shall  speak  now  of 
such  knowledges  as  Reason  produceth,  (for  that  extendeth  to 
all  philosophy,)  but  of  such  knowledges  as  do  handle  and  in¬ 
quire  of  the  faculty  of  Reason :  so  as  Poesy  had  his  true  place.1 
As  for  the  power  of  the  Imagination  in  nature,  and  the  manner 
of  fortifying  the  same,  we  have  mentioned  it  in  the  doctrine 
De  Anima,  whereunto  most  fitly  it  belongeth.  And  lastly, 
for  Imaginative  or  Insinuative  Reason,  which  is  the  subject  of 
Rhetoric,  we  think  it  best  to  refer  it  to  the  Arts  of  Reason. 
So  therefore  we  content  ourselves  with  the  former  division, 
that  Human  Philosophy  which  respectetli  the  faculties  of  the 
mind  of  man  hath  two  parts,  Rational  and  Moral. 

The  part  of  Human  Philosophy  which  is  rational,  is  of  all 
knowledges,  to  the  most  wits,  the  least  delightful ;  and  seemeth 
but  a  net  of  subtility  and  spinosity.  For  as  it  was  truly  said, 
that  knowledge  is  pabulum  animi,  [the  food  of  the  mind ;]  so  in 
the  nature  of  men’s  appetite  to  this  food,  most  men  are  of  the 
taste  and  stomach  of  the  Israelites  in  the  desert,  that  would 
fain  have  returned  ad  ollas  carnium,  [to  the  flesh-pots,]  and 
were  weary  of  manna ;  which,  though  it  were  celestial,  yet 
seemed  less  nutritive  and  comfortable.  So  generally  men  taste 
well  knowledges  that  are  drenched  in  flesh  and  blood.  Civil 
History,  Morality,  Policy,  about  the  which  men’s  affections, 
praises,  fortunes,  do  turn  and  are  conversant;  but  this  same 
lumen  siccum,  [this  dry  light,]  doth  parch  and  offend  most  men’s 
watery  and  soft  natures.  But  to  speak  truly  of  things  as  they 
are  in  worth.  Rational  Knowledges  are  the  keys  of  all  other 
arts ;  for  as  Aristotle  saith  aptly  and  elegantly.  That  the  hand 
is  the  Instrument  of  Instruments,  and  the  mind  is  the  Form  of 
Forms :  so  these  be  truly  said  to  be  the  Art  of  Arts :  neither 
do  they  only  direct,  but  likewise  confirm  and  strengthen ;  even 
as  the  habit  of  shooting  doth  not  only  enable  to  shoot  a  nearer 
shoot,  but  also  to  draw  a  stronger  bow. 

The  Arts  Intellectual  are  four  in  number ;  divided  according 

1  This  whole  sentence  is  omitted  in  the  translation  ;  the  reason  for  not  altering  the 
former  division  being  stated  simply  thus :  Nam  Phantasia  scientias  fere  non  parii ; 
siquidem  Poesis  (qua  aprincipio  Phantasies  attnbuta  est )  pro  lusu  potius  ingenii  quam 
pro  scientia  habenda.  Poesy,  which  belongs  properly  to  Imagination,  is  not  to  be  con¬ 
sidered  as  a  part  of  knowledge ;  and  the  two  other  offices  of  the  Imagination  belong,  one 
to  the  doctrine  de  anima ,  the  other  to  Rhetoric.  There  is  no  occasion  therefore  to 
make  a  place  for  Imagination  among  the  parts  of  knowledge  which  concern  the  faculties 
of  the  human  mind. 


384 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


to  the  ends  whereunto  they  are  referred :  for  man’s  labour  is  to 
invent 1  that  which  is  sought  or  propounded ;  or  to  judge  that 
which  is  invented ;  or  to  retain  that  which  is  judged;  or  to  de¬ 
liver  over  that  which  is  retained.  So  as  the  arts  must  be  four ; 
Art  of  Inquiry  or  Invention :  Art  of  Examination  or  J udg- 
ment ;  Art  of  Custody  or  Memory ;  and  Art  of  Elocution  or 
Tradition. 

I1 2  Invention  is  of  two  kinds,  much  differing;  the  one,  of 
Arts  and  Sciences ;  and  the  other,  of  Speech  and  Arguments. 
The  former  of  these  I  do  report  deficient ;  which  seemeth  to 
me  to  be  such  a  deficience  as  if  in  the  making  of  an  inventory 
touching  the  estate  of  a  defunct  it  should  be  set  down  that 
there  is  no  ready  money.  For  as  money  will  fetch  all  other 
commodities,  so  this  knowledge  is  that  which  should  purchase 
all  the  rest.  And  like  as  the  West-Indies  had  never  been  dis¬ 
covered  if  the  use  of  the  mariner’s  needle  had  not  been  first 
discovered,  though  the  one  be  vast  regions  and  the  other  a 
small  motion ;  so  it  cannot  be  found  strange  if  sciences  be  no 
further  discovered,  if  the  art  itself  of  invention  and  discovery 
hath  been  passed  over. 

That  this  part  of  knowledge  is  wanting,  to  my  judgment 
standeth  plainly  confessed  :  for  first,  Logic  doth  not  pretend  to 
invent  Sciences  or  the  Axioms  of  Sciences,  but  passeth  it  over 
with  a  cuique  in  sua  arte  credendum,  [the  knowledge  that  per¬ 
tains  to  each  art  must  be  taken  on  trust  from  those  that  profess 
it].  And  Celsus  acknowledgeth  it  3  gravely,  speaking  of  the 
empirical  and  dogmatical  sects  of  physicians,  That  medicines 
and  cures  were  first  found  out,  and  then  after  the  reasons  and 
causes  were  discoursed ;  and  not  the  causes  first  found  out,  and 
by  light  from  them  the  medicines  and  cures  discovered.  And 
Plato  in  his  These tetus 4  noteth  well,  That  particulars  are  infi¬ 
nite,  and  the  higher  generalities  give  no  sufficient  direction  ;  and 
that  the  pith  of  all  sciences,  which  maketh  the  arts-man  differ 
from  the  inexpert,  is  in  the  middle  propositions,  which  in  every 
particular  knowledge  are  taken  from  tradition  and  experience. 
And  therefore  we  see  that  they  which  discourse  of  the  inven- 

1  It  may  perhaps  be  worth  while  to  observe  that  Bacon  uses  the  word  invent  simply 

as  equivalent  to  invenire  —  to  find  out. 

3  De  Aug.  v.  2. 

3  See  note  on  Nov.  Org.  i.  73. 

4  Instead  of  “  Plato  in  his  Thecetetus  noteth  ”  the  translation  has  Plato  non  semel 
innuit.  See  note  Vol.  I.  p.  617. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


385 


tlons  and  originals  of  things,  refer  them  rather  to  chance  than 
to  art,  and  rather  to  beasts,  birds,  fishes,  serpents,  than  to  men. 

Dictamnmn  genetrix  Cret«a  carpit  ab  Ida, 

Puberibus  caulem  foliis  et  flore  comantem 
Purpureo:  non  ilia  feris  incognita  capris 
Gramma,  cum  tergo  volucres  haesere  sagittae. 

[A  sprig  of  dittany  his  mother  brought, 

Gathered  by  Cretan  Ide  ;  a  stalk  it  is 
Of  woolly  leaf,  crested  with  purple  flower ; 

Which  well  the  wild-goat  knows  when  in  his  side 
Sticks  the  winged  shaft.] 

So  that  it  was  no  marvel  (the  manner  of  antiquity  being  to 
consecrate  inventors)  that  the  ^Egyptians  had  so  few  human 
idols  in  their  temples,  but  almost  all  brute : 

Omnigenumque  Deum  monstra,  et  latrator  Anubis, 

Contra  Neptunum  et  Venerem,  contraque  Minervam,  &c. 

[All  kinds  and  shapes  of  Gods,  a  monstrous  host, 

The  dog  Anubis  foremost,  stood  arrayed 
’Gainst  Neptune,  Yenus,  Pallas,  &c.] 

And  if  you  like  better  the  tradition  of  the  Grecians,  and 
ascribe  the  first  inventions  to  men,  yet  you  will  rather  believe 
that  Prometheus  first  struck  the  flints,  and  marvelled  at  the 
spark,  than  that  when  he  first  struck  the  flints  he  expected  the 
spark;  and  therefore  we  see  the  West-Indian  Prometheus  had 
no  intelligence  with  the  European,  because  of  the  rareness 
with  them  of  flint,  that  gave  the  first  occasion.1  So  as  it 


1  This  curious  passage,  which  Is  omitted  in  the  De  Augmentis,  must  refer  to  what 
Bacon  had  read  in  Ramusio  of  the  way  in  which  the  natives  of  the  West  Indian  islands 
kindled  their  fires,  by  rubbing  pieces  of  wood  together.  Several  passages  in  Bacon’s 
writings  show  that  he  was  a  reader  of  Ramusio.  See  Ramusio,  vol.  iii.  p.  103.  a.  for 
Oviedo’s  description  of  the  method. 

In  reality  the  coincidence  between  the  customary  mode  of  kindling  fire  in  the  West 
Indies  and  the  superstitious  usages  of  Europe  is  remarkable.  The  latter  seem  to  point 
back  to  a  time  when  the  use  of  steel  and  flint  was  unknown.  The  Noth-feuer  of  the 
Germans  was  kindled  by  rubbing  pieces  of  wood  together.  This  fire,  originally  con¬ 
nected  with  the  worship  of  Fro,  was  lighted  when  cattle  were  threatened  with  murrain, 
and  they  were  made  to  pass  through  it  Dr.  Jamieson  in  his  Scottish  Dictionary 
mentions  precisely  the  same  practice  at  a  comparatively  recent  period  in  Scotland  in  a 
case  in  which  the  murrain  had  done  great  mischief.  The  long  continuance  of  this 
practice  is  a  sort  of  illustration  of  Spinosa’s  bitter  remark  that  Superstition  is  the 
child  of  Adversity,  there  being  no  man,  he  observes,  who  in  prosperity  does  not 
think  himself  wise  enough  to  take  care  of  himself.  See  Spinosa,  Tract.  Theol. 
Politicus,  chap,  i.:  and  for  the  German  superstition  Wolf’s  Die  Deutsche  Gotterlehre, 
pp.  27.  83. 

The  holy  fire  of  Vesta,  according  to  Festus  (in  voce  Ignis),  was  rekindled  when  it 
had  been  allowed  to  go  out,  by  friction  of  two  pieces  of  wood.  Plutarch’s  statement 
that  the  rays  of  the  sun  concentrated  by  reflexion  were  employed  for  the  purpose 


386 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


should  seem  that  hitherto  men  are  rather  beholden  to  a  wild 
goat  for  surgery,  or  to  a  nightingale  for  music,  or  to  the  Ibis 
for  some  part  of  physic1,  or  to  the  pot  lid  that  flew  open  for 
artillery,  or  generally  to  chance  or  any  thing  else,  than  to 
Logic,  for  the  invention  of  arts  and  sciences.  Neither  is  the 
form  of  invention  which  Virgil  describeth  much  other : 

Ut  varias  usus  meditando  extunderet  artes 
Paulatim : 

[that  practice  with  meditation  might  by  degrees  hammer  out 
the  arts].  For  if  you  observe  the  words  well,  it  is  no  other 
method  than  that  which  brute  beasts  are  capable  of,  and  do  put 
in  ure  ;  which  is  a  perpetual  intending  or  practising  some  one 
thing,  urged  and  imposed  hy  an  absolute  necessity  of  conservation 
of  being :  for  so  Cicero  saith  very  truly,  Usus  uni  rei  deditus  et 
naturam  et  artem  scepe  vincit :  [practice  applied  constantly  to  one 
thing  will  often  do  more  than  either  nature  or  art  can].  And 
therefore  if  it  be  said  of  men. 

Labor  omnia  vincit 

Improbus,  et  duris  urgens  in  rebus  egestas, 

[Stern  labour  masters  all, 

And  want  in  poverty  importunate,] 

it  is  likewise  said  of  beasts,  Quis  psittaco  docuit  suum  you ps  ? 
[who  taught  the  parrot  to  say  how  d’ye  do  ?]  Who  taught  the 
raven  in  a  drowth  to  throw  pebbles  into  an  hollow  tree  where 
she  spied  water,  that  the  water  might  rise  so  as  she  might  come 
to  it  ?  Who  taught  the  bee  to  sail  through  such  a  vast  sea  of 
air,  and  to  find  the  way  from  a  field  in  flower  a  great  way  off 
to  her  hive?  WFo  taught  the  ant  to  bite  every  grain  of  corn 
that  she  burieth  in  her  hill,  lest  it  should  take  root  and  grow  ? 
Add  then  the  word  extundere,  which  importeth  the  extreme  diffi¬ 
culty,  and  the  word  paulatim,  which  importeth  the  extreme  slow¬ 
ness,  and  we  are  where  we  were,  even  amongst  the  -^Egyptians’ 

seems  improbable,  and  is  apparently  founded  on  a  misconception  or  mistranslation 
of  some  earlier  account  of  the  matter.  Pliny  mentions,  but  without  reference  to 
Vesta,  this  mode  of  kindling  fire,  and  states  that  the  best  combination  is  laurel  wood 
with  ivy.  —  R.  L.  E. 

It  is  worth  observing  that  though  the  passage  in  the  text  is  omitted  in  the  De 
Augment,*,  the  substance  of  it  is  retained  in  the  Cogitata  et  Visa.  Nam  idea  in  ignis 
inveuto  Prometlieum  Nova:  Indue  al  Europteo  disseusisse,  quod  apud  eos  silicis  non  est 
copta. —  ./.  S. 

1  pro  lavationibus  intestinorum. —  De  Aug. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


387 


gods ;  there  being  little  left  to  the  faculty  of  Reason,  and 
nothing  to  the  duty  of  Art,  for  matter  of  invention. 

Secondly,  the  induction  which  the  logicians  speak  of,  and 
which  seemeth  familiar  with  Plato whereby  the  Principles 
of  sciences  may  be  pretended  to  be  invented,  and  30  the  middle 
propositions  by  derivation  from  the  principles, — their  form  of 
induction,  I  say,  is  utterly  vicious  and  incompetent :  wherein 
their  error  is  the  fouler,  because  it  is  the  duty  of  Art  to  perfect 
and  exalt  Nature ;  but  they  contrariwise  have  wronged,  abused, 
and  traduced  nature.  For  he  that  shall  attentively  observe 
how  the  mind  doth  gather  this  excellent  dew  of  knowledge, 
like  unto  that  which  the  poet  speaketh  of,  A'erei  mellis  ccelestia 
dona,  [the  gift  of  heaven,  aerial  honey,]  distilling  and  contriv¬ 
ing  it  out  of  particulars  natural  and  artificial,  as  the  flowers  of 
the  field  and  garden,  shall  find  that  the  mind  of  herself  by  na¬ 
ture  doth  manage  and  act  an  induction  much  better  than  they 
describe  it  For  to  conclude  upon  an  enumeration  of  particu¬ 
lars  without  instance  contradictory  is  no  conclusion,  but  a  con¬ 
jecture  ;  for  who  can  assure  (in  many  subjects)  upon  those 
particulars  which  appear  of  a  side,  that  there  are  not  other  on 
the  contrary  side  which  appear  not  ?  As  if  Samuel  should  have 
rested  upon  those  sons  of  Issay2  which  were  brought  before 
him,  and  failed  of  David,  which  was  in  the  field.  And  this 
form  (to  say  truth)  is  so  gross,  as  it  had  not  been  possible  for 
wits  so  subtile  as  have  managed  these  things  to  have  offered  it 
to  the  world,  but  that  they  hasted  to  their  theories  and  dogmati- 
cals,  and  were  imperious  and  scornful  toward  particulars; 
which  their  manner  was  to  use  but  as  lictores  and  viatores,  for 
sergeants  and  whifHers,  ad  summovendam  turham,  to  make  way 
and  make  room  for  their  opinions,  rather  than  in  their  true  use 
and  service.  Certainly  it  is  a  thing  may  touch  a  man  with  a 
religious  wonder,  to  see  how  the  footsteps  of  seducement  are 
the  very  same  in  divine  and  human  truth :  for  as  in  divine  truth 
man  cannot  endure  to  become  as  a  child ;  so  in  human,  they 
reputed  the  attending  the  Inductions  (whereof  we  speak)  as  if 
it  were  a  second  infancy  or  childhood. 

Thirdly,  allow  some  Principles  or  Axioms  were  rightly  in- 

*  This  reference  to  Plato  is  omitted  in  the  translation,  as  well  as  the  allusion  to  the 
derivation  of  the  middle  propositions.  The  induction  in  question  is  merely  described 
as  “  the  form  of  induction  which  Logic  proposes,  whereby  to  discover  and  prove  the 
principles  of  sciences.” 

*  So  in  all  three  editions.  The  De  Augmentis  has  Isai. 


26  Bacon  III 


388 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


duced,  yet  nevertheless  certain  it  is  that  Middle  Propositions 
cannot  he  deduced  from  them  in  subject  of  nature1  by  Syl¬ 
logism,  that  is,  by  touch  and  reduction  of  them  to  principles  in  a 
middle  term.  It  is  true  that  in  sciences  popular,  as  moralities, 
laws,  and  the  like,  yea  and  divinity  (because  it  pleaseth  God  to 
apply  himself  to  the  capacity  of  the  simplest),  that  form  may 
have  use;  and  in  natural  philosophy  likewise, -by  way  of  argu¬ 
ment  or  satisfactory  reason,  quce  assensum  parit,  operis  effceta 
est,  [which  procures  assent  but  can  do  no  work :]  but  the  sub- 
tilty  of  nature  and  operations  will  not  be  enchained  in  those 
bonds :  for  Arguments  consist  of  Propositions,  and  Proposi¬ 
tions  of  Words ;  and  Words  are  but  the  current  tokens  or 
marks  of  Popular  Notions  of  things  ;  which  notions,  if  they  be 
grossly  and  variably  collected  out  of  particulars,  it  is  not  the 
laborious  examination  either  of  consequences  of  arguments  or 
of  the  truth  of  propositions,  that  can  ever  correct  that  error; 
being  (as  the  physicians  speak)  in  the  first  digestion :  and 
therefore  it  was  not  without  cause,  that  so  many  excellent 
philosophers  became  Sceptics  and  Academics,  and  denied  any 
certainty  of  knowledge  or  comprehension,  and  held  opinion 
that  the  knowledge  of  man  extended  only  to  appearances  and 
probabilities.  It  is  true  that  in  Socrates  it  was  supposed  to  be 
but  a  form  of  irony,  Scientiam  dissimulando  simulavit,  [an 
affectation  of  knowledge  under  pretence  of  ignorance :]  for  he 
used  to  disable  his  knowledge,  to  the  end  to  enhance  his  know¬ 
ledge  2 ;  like  the  humour  of  Tiberius  in  his  beginnings,  that 
would  reign,  but  would  not  acknowledge  so  much 3 ;  and  in  the 
later  Academy,  which  Cicero  embraced,  this  opinion  also  of 
acatalepsia  (I  doubt)  was  not  held  sincerely :  for  that  all 
those  which  excelled  in  copie  of  speech  seem  to  have  chosen 
that  sect,  as  that  which  was  fittest  to  give  glory  to  their  elo¬ 
quence  and  variable  discourses ;  being  rather  like  progresses  of 
pleasure  than  journeys  to  an  end.  But  assuredly  many  scat¬ 
tered  in  both  Academies  did  hold  it  in  subtilty  and  integrity. 
But  here  wa3  their  chief  error ;  they  charged  the  deceit  upon 
the  Senses;  which  in  my  judgment  (notwithstanding  all 
their  cavillations)  are  very  sufficient  to  certify  and  report 

1  in  rebus  naturalibus ,  quce  participant  ex  materia. — De  Aug. 

2  i.  e.  pretended  not  to  know  what  it  was  plain  he  knew,  that  he  might  be  thought 
to  know  likewise  what  he  knew  not  —  renun^iando  scilicet  iis  quce  manifesto  sciebat  ut 
eo  modo  ea  etiain  quce  nesciebat  scire  putaretur. 

8  This  allusion  to  Tiberius  is  omitted  in  the  translation. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


389 


truth,  though  not  always  immediately,  yet  by  comparison1, 
by  help  of  instrument,  and  by  producing  and  urging  such 
things  as  are  too  subtile  for  the  sense  to  some  effect  compre¬ 
hensible  by  the  sense,  and  other  like  assistance.  But  they 
ought  to  have  charged  the  deceit  upon  the  weakness  2  of  the 
intellectual  powers,  and  upon  the  manner  of  collecting  and  con¬ 
cluding  upon  the  reports  of  the  senses.  This  I  speak  not  to 
disable  the  mind  of  man,  but  to  stir  it  up  to  seek  help ;  for  no 
man,  be  he  never  so  cunning  or  practised,  can  make  a  straight 
line  or  perfect  circle  by  steadiness  of  hand,  which  may  bo 
easily  done  by  help  of  a  ruler  or  compass.3 

This  part  of  invention,  concerning  the  invention  EtperimH,, 
of  sciences,  I  purpose  (if  God  give  me  leave)  here- 
after  to  propound;  having  digested  it  into  two 
parts ;  whereof  the  one  I  term  Experientia  literata,  and  the 
other  Interpretatio  Natures 4 :  the  former  being  but  a  degree 
and  rudiment  of  the  latter.  But  I  will  not  dwell  too  long,  nor 
speak  too  great  upon  a  promise. 

If  5  The  invention  of  speech  or  argument  is  not  properly  an 
invention :  for  to  invent  is  to  discover  that  we  know  not,  and 
not  to  recover  or  resummon  that  which  we  already  know ;  and 
the  use  of  this  invention  is  no  other  but  out  of  the  knowledge 
whereof  our  mind  is  already  possessed,  to  draw  forth  or  call 
before  us  that  which  may  be  pertinent  to  the  purpose  which  we 
take  into  our  consideration.  So  as,  to  speak  truly,  it  is  no 
Invention,  but  a  Remembrance  or  Suggestion,  with  an  applica¬ 
tion  ;  which  is  the  cause  why  the  schools  do  place  it  after 

1  There  is  nothing  about  comparison  in  the  translation. 

2  In  the  translation  he  adds  contumacy  —  turn  erroribus  turn  contumacies  (qua  rebus 
ipsis  morigera  esse  recusat)  —  and  also  praxis  demonstrationibus  ;  an  insertion  which 
(though  the  observation  is  implied  perhaps  in  the  English )  I  have  thought  worth 
noticing ;  because  these  prava  demonstrationes  were  Idols  of  the  Theatre ,  of  which  in 
the  Advancement  of  Learning  there  is  no  mention. 

*  This  it  is  then  (he  adds,  writing  eighteen  years  later)  which  I  have  in  hand,  and 
am  labouring  with  mighty  effort  to  accomplish — namely  to  make  the  mind  of  man  by 
help  of  art  a  match  for  the  nature  of  things,  —  to  discover  an  art  of  Indication  and 
Direction  whereby  all  other  arts  with  their  axioms  and  works  may  be  detected  and 
brought  to  light. 

4  The  one  being  the  method  of  inquiry  which  proceeds  from  one  experiment  to 
another  by  a  kind  of  natural  sagacity ;  the  other  that  which  proceeds  from  experi¬ 
ments  to  axioms,  and  thence  by  the  light  of  the  axioms  to  new  experiments.  Aut  enim 
defertur  indicium  ab  experimentis  ad  experimenta,  aut  ab  experimentis  ad  axiomata 
qua  et  ipsa  nova  experimenta  designent.  Of  this  Experientia  literata  there  follows  in 
the  Be  Augmentis  an  exposition  at  considerable  length  ;  in  which  the  several  methods 
of  experimenting  are  described,  with  illustrations.  And  this  concludes  the  chapter, 
the  exposition  of  the  other  part,  the  Interpretatio  Nature,  being  reserved  for  the 
Arovum  Organum. 

8  De  Aug.  v.  3. 


390 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


judgment,  as  subsequent  and  not  precedent.  Nevertheless, 
because  we  do  account  it  a  Chase  as  well  of  deer  in  an  inclosed 
park  as  in  a  forest  at  large,  and  that  it  hath  already  obtained 
the  name,  let  it  be  called  invention :  so  as  it  be  perceived  and 
discerned,  that  the  scope  and  end  of  this  invention  is  readiness 
and  present  use  of  our  knowledge,  and  not  addition  or  amplifi¬ 
cation  thereof. 

To  procure  this  ready  use  of  knowledge  there  are  two 
courses,  Preparation  and  Suggestion.1  The  former  of  these 
seemeth  scarcely  a  part  of  Knowledge,  consisting  rather  of 
diligence  than  of  any  artificial  erudition.  And  herein  Aristotle 
wittily,  but  hurtfully,  doth  deride  the  sophists  near  his  time, 
saying,  they  did  as  if  one  that  professed  the  art  of  shoe-making 
should  not  teach  how  to  make  up  a  shoe,  but  only  exhibit  in  a  rea¬ 
diness  a  number  of  shoes  of  all  fashions  and  sizes.  But  yet  a 
man  might  reply,  that  if  a  shoe-maker  should  have  no  shoes  in 
his  shop,  but  only  work  as  he  is  bespoken,  he  should  be  weakly 
customed.  But  our  Saviour,  speaking  of  Divine  Knowledge, 
saith,  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  a  good  householder,  that 
bringeth  forth  both  new  and  old  store ;  and  we  see  the  ancient 
writers  of  rhetoric  do  give  it  in  precept,  that  pleaders  should 
have  the  Places  whereof  they  have  most  continual  use  ready 
handled  in  all  the  variety  that  may  be;  as  that,  to  speak  for 
the  literal  interpretation  of  the  law  against  equity,  and  con¬ 
trary;  and  to  speak  for  presumptions  and  inferences  against 
testimony,  and  contrary.  And  Cicero  himself,  being  broken 
unto  it  by  great  experience,  delivereth  it  plainly,  that  whatso¬ 
ever  a  man  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  of,  (if  he  will  take  the 
pains)  he  may  have  it  in  effect  premeditate,  and  handled  in 
thesi ;  so  that  when  he  cometh  to  a  particular,  he  shall  have 
nothing  to  do  but  to  put  to  names  and  times  and  places,  and 
such  other  circumstances  of  individuals.  We  see  likewise  the 
exact  diligence  of  Demosthenes ;  who,  in  regard  of  the  great 
force  that  the  entrance  and  access  into  causes  hath  to  make  a 
good  impression,  had  ready  framed  a  number  of  prefaces  for 
orations  and  speeches.  All  which  authorities  and  precedents 
may  overweigh  Aristotle’s  opinion,  that  would  have  us  change 
a  rich  wardrobe  for  a  pair  of  shears. 


1  In  the  translation  he  calls  these  respectively  Promptuaria  and  Topicn  :  the  one 
being  a  collection  of  arguments  such  as  you  are  likely  to  want,  laid  up  ready  for  use  ; 
the  other  a  system  of  directions  to  help  you  in  looking  for  the  thing  you  want  to  find. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


391 


But  the  nature  of  the  collection  of  this  provision  or  prepa¬ 
ratory  store,  though  it  be  common  both  to  logic  and  rhetoric, 
yet  having  made  an  entry  of  it  here,  where  it  came  first  to  be 
spoken  of,  I  think  fit  to  refer  over  the  further  handling  of  it  to 
rhetoric. 

The  other  part  of  Invention,  which  I  term  Suggestion,  doth 
assign  and  direct  us  to  certain  marks  or  places,  which  may 
excite  our  mind  to  return  and  produce  such  knowledge  as  it 
hath  formerly  collected,  to  the  end  we  may  make  use  thereof. 
Neither  is  this  use  (truly  taken)  only  to  furnish  argument  to 
dispute  probably  with  others,  but  likewise  to  minister  unto  our 
judgment  to  conclude  aright  within  ourselves.  Neither  may 
these  Places  serve  only  to  apprompt  our  invention,  but  also  to 
direct  our  inquiry.  For  a  faculty  of  wise  interrogating  is  half 
a  knowledge.  For  as  Plato  saith.  Whosoever  seeketh,  knoweth 
that  which  he  seeketh  for  in  a  general  notion  ;  else  how  shall  he 
know  it  when  he  hath  found  it  ?  And  therefore  the  larger 1  your 
Anticipation  is,  the  more  direct  and  compendious  is  ycur 
search.  But  the  same  Places  which  will  help  us  what  to  pro¬ 
duce  of  that  which  we  know  already,  will  also  help  us,  if  a  man 
of  experience  were  before  us,  what  questions  to  ask  ;  or  if  we 
have  books  and  authors  to  instruct  us,  what  points  to  search 
and  revolve:  so  as  I  cannot  report2  that  this  part  of  inven¬ 
tion,  which  is  that  which  the  schools  call  Topics,  is  deficient. 

Nevertheless  Topics  are  of  two  sorts,  general  and  special. 
The  general  we  have  spoken  to ;  but  the  particular  hath  been 
touched  by  some,  but  rejected  generally  as  inartificial  and 
variable.  But  leaving  the  humour  which  hath  reigned  too 

1  amplior  et  certior.  —  De  Aug. 

2  Thus  the  sentence  stands  both  In  the  original  and  in  the  editions  of  1629  and 
1633;  though  I  do  not  understand  the  connexion  between  it  and  the  sentence  pre- 
ceding.  Possibly  an  intermediate  sentence  has  dropped  out,  or  some  alteration  has 
been  inadvertently  made  which  disturbs  the  construction.  In  the  translation  the  ar¬ 
rangement  of  the  whole  passage  is  changed,  and  all  is  made  clear.  He  begins  by 
dividing  Topics  into  two  kinds,  General  and  Particular.  The  General  (he  sa>s)  as 
been  sufficiently  handled  in  Logic,  and  therefore  he  leaves  it  with  a  passing  remark 
(illud  tamen  obiter  nionenduTii  videtur')  to  the  effect  of  that  in  the  text,  ne  t  cr  s 
this  use,”  &c.  down  to  “  search  and  revolve."  But  Particular  Topics,  he  proceeds,  are 
more  to  the  purpose  and  of  great  value,  and  have  not  received  the  attention  they  de¬ 
serve.  He  then  goes  on  to  explain  at  length  what  he  means  ;  repeating  t  e  o  serva- 
tions  in  the  next  paragraph  with  some  amplification  and  greater  clearness,  and  then 
giving  a  specimen  of  the  thing,  in  a  series  of  Particular  Topics  or  articles  of  inquiry 
concerning  Heavy  and  Light ;  with  which  the  chapter  concludes.  i  regar  o  e 
importance  of  these  Topicce  as  a  part  of  Bacon’s  method  of  inquiry  an  impor  nee 
so  considerable  that  he  meant  to  devote  a  special  work  to  the  subject, --see  my  pre  aces 
to  the  Parasceve  (YoL  I.  p.  388.)  and  to  the  Topica  Inquisitions  de  Luce  et  Lumine 
(Vol.  II.  p.  315.). 


392 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


much  in  the  schools,  (which  is  to  be  vainly  subtile  in  a  few 
things  which  are  within  their  command,  and  to  reject  the  rest,) 
I  do  receive  particular  Topics,  that  is  places  or  directions  of 
invention  and  inquiry  in  every  particular  knowledge,  as  things 
of  great  use ;  being  mixtures  of  Logic  with  the  matter  of 
sciences ;  for  in  these  it  holdeth,  Ars  inveniendi  adolescit  cum 
inventis,  [every  act  of  discovery  advances  the  art  of  discovery 
for  as  in  going  of  a  way  we  do  not  only  gain  that  part  of  the 
way  which  is  passed,  but  we  gain  the  better  sight  of  that  part 
of  the  way  which  remaineth ;  so  every  degree  of  proceeding  in 
a  science  giveth  a  light  to  that  which  followeth ;  which  light  if 
we  strengthen,  by  drawing  it  forth  into  questions  or  places  of 
inquiry,  we  do.  greatly  advance  our  pursuit. 

IT  1  Now  we  pass  unto  the  arts  of  Judgment,  which  handle 
the  natures  of  Proofs  and  Demonstrations  ;  which  as  to  Induc¬ 
tion  hath  a  coincidence  with  Invention  ;  for  in  all  inductions, 
whether  in  good  or  vicious  form,  the  same  action  of  the  mind 
which  inventeth,  judgeth  ;  all  one  as  in  the  sense  ;  but  otherwise 
it  is  in  proof  by  syllogism ;  for  the  proof  being  not  immediate 
but  by  mean,  the  invention  of  the  mean  is  one  thing,  and  the 
judgment  of  the  consequence  is  another ;  the  one  exciting  only, 
the  other  examining.  Therefore  for  the  real  and  exact  form 
of  judgment  we  refer  ourselves  to  that  which  we  have  spoken 
of  Interpretation  of  Nature. 

For  the  other  judgment  by  Syllogism,  as  it  is  a  thing  most 
agreeable  to  the  mind  of  man,  so  it  hath  been  vehemently  and 
excellently  laboured.  For  the  nature  of  man  doth  extremely 
covet  to  have  somewhat  in  his  understanding  fixed  and  im¬ 
moveable,  and  as  a  rest  and  support  of  the  mind.  And  there¬ 
fore  as  Aristotle  endeavoureth  to  prove  that  in  all  motion 
there  is  some  point  quiescent;  and  as  he  elegantly  expound¬ 
ed  the  ancient  fable  of  Atlas  (that  stood  fixed  and  bare  up 
the  heaven  from  falling)  to  be  meant  of  the  poles  or  axle-tree 
of  heaven,  whereupon  the  conversion  is  accomplished ;  so  as¬ 
suredly  man  have  a  desire  to  liave  an  Atlas  or  axle-tree  within 
to  keep  them  from  fluctuation,  which  is  like  to  a  perpetual  peril 
of  falling ;  therefore  men  did  hasten  to  set  down  some  Prin¬ 
ciples  about  which  the  variety  of  their  disputations  might  turn. 

So  then  this  art  of  J udgment  is  but  the  reduction  of  proposi¬ 
tions  to  principles  in  a  middle  term :  the  Principles  to  be  agreed 

1  De  Aug.  v.  4. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


393 


by  all  and  exempted  from  argument ;  the  Middle  Term  to  be 
elected  at  the  liberty  of  every  man’s  invention ;  the  Reduction 
to  be  of  two  kinds,  direct  and  inverted ;  the  one  when  the  pro¬ 
position  is  reduced  to  the  principle,  which  they  term  a  Proba¬ 
tion  ostensive ;  the  other  when  the  contradictory  of  the  propo¬ 
sition  is  reduced  to  the  contradictory  of  the  principle,  which  is 
that  which  they  call  per  incommodum,  or  pressing  an  absurdity; 
the  number  of  middle  terms  to  be 1  as  the  proposition  standeth 
degrees  more  or  less  removed  from  the  principle. 

But  this  art  hath  two  several  methods  of  doctrine  ;  the  one 
by  way  of  direction,  the  other  by  way  of  caution :  the  former 
frameth  and  setteth  down  a  true  form  of  consequence,  by  the 
variations  and  deflexions  from  which  errors  and  inconsequences 
may  be  exactly  judged ;  toward  the  composition  and  structure 
of  which  form,  it  is  incident  to  handle  the  parts  thereof,  which 
are  propositions,  and  the  parts  of  propositions,  which  are  simple 
words2 ;  and  this  is  that  part  of  logic  which  is  comprehended 
in  the  Analytics. 

The  second  method  of  doctrine  was  introduced  for  expedite 
use  and  assurance  sake ;  discovering  the  more  subtile  forms  of 
sophisms  and  illaqueations  with  their  redargutions,  which  is 
that  which  is  termed  Blenches.  For  although  in  the  more  gross 
sorts  of  fallacies  it  happeneth  (as  Seneca  maketh  the  comparison 
well)  as  in  juggling  feats,  which  though  we  know  not  how 
they  are  done,  yet  we  know  well  it  is  not  as  it  seemeth  to  be ; 
yet  the  more  subtile  sort  of  them  doth  not  only  put  a  man 
besides  his  answer,  but  doth  many  times  abuse  his  judgment. 

This  part  concerning  Blenches 3  is  excellently  handled  by 
Aristotle  in  precept,  but  more  excellently  by  Plato  in  example, 
not  only  in  the  persons  of  the  Sophists,  but  even  in  Socrates 
himself;  who  professing  to  affirm  nothing,  but  to  infirm  that 
which  was  affirmed  by  another,  hath  exactly  expressed  all  the 
forms  of  objection,  fallace4,  and  redargution.  And  although  we 

1  i.  e.  to  be  more  or  fewer. 

2  This  clause  is  omitted  in  the  translation  ;  and  a  new  observation  is  introduced  in 
its  place ;  viz.  that  though  this  direction  contains  in  itself  a  kind  of  Elenche  or  con¬ 
futation  (for  the  straight  indicates  the  crooked),  yet  it  is  safest  to  employ  Elenches 
(that  is,  Elenches  properly  so  called)  as  monitors,  for  the  better  detection  of  fallacies 
by  which  the  judgment  would  otherwise  be  ensnared. 

*  In  the  translation  the  Doctrine  of  Elenches  is  divided  into  three  kinds  — Elenchos 
Sophismatum,  Elenchos  Hermenice,  Elenchos  imaginum  sive  Idolorum  :  i.  e.  Cautions 
against  Sophisms,  against  ambiguity  of  words,  against  Idols  or  false  appearances ;  and 
it  is  to  the  first  only  that  the  observation  which  follows  is  applied. 

*  So  in  all  the  editions  ;  and  not  (I  think)  a  misprint  for  fallacie,  but  another  word, 
formed  not  from  fullacia  but  from  fallax.  Compare  “  Colours  of  Good  and  Evil,"  §  1. 
“  The  fallux  of  this  colour,”  &c. 


394 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


have  said  that  the  use  of  this  doctrine  is  for  redargution,  yet  it 
is  manifest  the  degenerate  and  corrupt  use  is  for  caption  and 
contradiction 1 ;  which  passeth  for  a  great  faculty,  and  no  doubt 
is  of  very  great  advantage  :  though  the  difference  be  good 
which  was  made  between  orators  and  sophisters,  that  the  one  is 
as  the  greyhound,  which  hath  his  advantage  in  the  race,  and 
the  other  as  the  hare,  which  hath  her  advantage  in  the  turn,  so 
as  it  is  the  advantage  of  the  weaker  creature. 

But  yet  further,  this  doctrine  of  Elenches  hath  a  more  ample 
latitude  and  extent  than  is  perceived ;  namely,  unto  divers 
parts  of  knowledge ;  whereof  some  are  laboured  and  other 
omitted.  For  first,  I  conceive  (though  it  may  seem  at  first 
somewhat  strange)  that  that  part  which  is  variably  referred 
sometimes  to  Logic  sometimes  to  Metaphysic,  touching  the 
common  adjuncts  of  essences,  is  but  an  elenche 2 ;  for  the  great 
sophism  of  all  sophisms  being  equivocation  or  ambiguity  of 
words  and  phrase,  specially  of  such  words  as  are  most  general 
and  intervene  in  every  inquiry,  it  seemeth  to  me  that  the  true 
and  fruitful  use  (leaving  vain  subtilties  and  speculations)  of 
the  inquiry  of  majority,  minority,  priority,  posteriority,  iden¬ 
tity,  diversity,  possibility,  act,  totality,  parts,  existence,  priva¬ 
tion,  and  the  like,  are  but  wise  cautions  against  ambiguities  of 
speech.  So  again  the  distribution  of  things  into  certain  tribes, 
which  we  call  categories  or  predicaments,  are  but  cautions 
against  the  confusion  of  definitions  and  divisions. 

Secondly,  there  is  a  seducement  that  worketh  by  the  strength 
of  the  impression  and  not  by  the  subtilty  of  the  illaqueation  ; 
not  so  much  perplexing  the  reason  as  overruling  it  by  power 
of  the  imagination.  But  this  part  I  think  more  proper  to 
handle  when  I  shall  speak  of  Rhetoric.3 

But  lastly,  there  is  yet  a  much  more  important  and  profound 
kind  of  fallacies  in  the  mind  of  man,  which  I  find  not  observed 
or  enquired  at  all,  and  think  good  to  place  here,  as  that  which 
of  all  others  appertaineth  most  to  rectify  judgment:  the  force 
whereof  is  such,  as  it  doth  not  dazzle  or  snare  the  understand¬ 
ing  in  some  particulars,  but  doth  more  generally  and  inwardly 
infect  and  corrupt  the  state  thereof.4  For  the  mind  of  man  is 

1  i.  e.  the  true  use  is  to  answer  sophistical  arguments,  the  corrupt  use  to  invent 
sophistical  objections. 

2  This  is  the  part  which  in  the  translation  he  calls  Elenc/ios  Hermenim ;  and  ex¬ 
plains  much  more  clearly  and  fully. 

*  This  paragraph  is  omitted  altogether  in  the  translation. 

4  Here  we  have  the  doctrine  of  Idols,  in  its  earliest  form  ;  the  names  not  being  yet 
given,  and  the  Idols  of  the  Theatre  not  yet  introduced  into  the  company.  For  the 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


395 


far  from  the  nature  of  a  clear  and  equal  glass,  wherein  the 
beams  of  things  should  reflect  according  to  their  true  incidence ; 
nay,  it  is  rather  like  an  enchanted  glass,  full  of  superstition 
and  imposture,  if  it  be  not  delivered  and  reduced.  For  this 
purpose,  let  us  consider  the  false  appearances  that  are  imposed 
upon  us  by  the  general  nature  of  the  mind beholding  them 
in  an  example  or  two ;  as  first,  in  that  instance  which  is  the 
root  of  all  superstition,  namely.  That  to  the  nature  of  the  mind 
of  all  men  it  is  consonant  for  the  affirmative  or  active  to  affect 
more  than  the  negative  or  -privative :  so  that  a  few  times  hitting 
or  presence,  countervails  oft-times  failing  or  absence2;  as  was 
well  answered  by  Diagoras  to  him  that  shewed  him  in  Nep¬ 
tune’s  temple  the  great  number  of  pictures  of  such  as  had 
scaped  shipwrack  .and  had  paid  their  vows  to  Neptune,  saying. 
Advise  now,  you  that  think  it  folly  to  invocate  Neptune  in  tem¬ 
pest:  Yea  but  (saith  Diagoras)  where  are  they  painted  that  are 
drowned?  Let  us  behold  it  in  another  instance,  namely.  That 
the  spirit  of  man,  being  of  an  equal  and  uniform  substance,  doth 
usually  suppose  and  feign  in  nature  a  greater  equality  and  uni¬ 
formity  than  is  in  truth.  Hence  it  cometh  that  the  mathemati¬ 
cians  cannot  satisfy  themselves,  except  they  reduce  the  motions 
of  the  celestial  bodies  to  perfect  circles,  rejecting  spiral  lines, 
and  labouring  to  be  discharged  of  eccentrics.  Hence  it  cometh, 
that  whereas  there  are  many  things  in  nature  as  it  were  mono- 
dica3,  sui  juris,  [singular,  and  like  nothing  but  themselves;] 
yet  the  cogitations  of  man  do  feign  unto  them  relatives,  pa¬ 
rallels,  and  conjugates,  whereas  no  such  thing  is;  as  they  have 
feigned  an  element  of  Fire,  to  keep  square  with  Earth,  Water, 
and  Air,  and  the  like :  nay,  it  is  not  credible,  till  it  be  opened, 
what  a  number  of  fictions  and  fancies  the  similitude  of  human 
actions  and  arts  4,  together  with  the  making  of  man  communis 
mensura,  have  brought  into  Natural  Philosophy ;  not  much 

history  of  this  doctrine  see  preface  to  the  Novum  Organum ,  note  C.  In  the  De  Aug- 
mentis  the  names  are  given,  and  the  fourth  kind  mentioned,  though  only,  to  be  set 
aside  as  not  belonging  to  the  present  argument.  The  exposition  of  the  three  first  is 
also  considerably  fuller  than  here,  though  not  nearly  so  full  as  in  the  Novum  Organum, 
to  which  we  are  referred. 

1  These  are  the  Idols  of  the  Tribe. 

2  which  (he  adds  in  the  translation)  is  the  root  of  all  superstition  and  vain  credulity, 
in  matters  of  astrology,  dreams,  omens,  &c. 

3  So  the  word  is  spelt  throughout  Bacon’s  writings,  as  observed  by  Mr.  Ellis,  Voi.  I. 
p.  165.  The  introduction  here  of  sui  juris  as  the  Latin  equivalent  seems  to  show  that 
the  error  arose  from  a  mistake  as  to  the  etymology  of  the  Greek  word. 

■*  i.  e.  the  supposed  resemblance  between  the  arts  and  actions  of  Man  and  the  opera¬ 
tions  of  Nature  :  naturalium  operationum  ad  similitudinem  actionum  humanarum  re- 
ductio  ;  hoc  ipsubi  inquam,  quod  putciur  talia  Naturam  facere  qualia  Homo  facit. 


396 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


better  than  the  heresy  of  the  Anthropomorphites,  bred  in  the 
cells  of  gross  and  solitary  monks,  and  the  opinion  of  Epicurus, 
answerable  to  the  same  in  heathenism,  who  supposed  the  gods 
to  be  of  human  shape.  And  therefore  Velleius  the  Epicurian  1 
needed  not  to  have  asked,  why  God  should  have  adorned  the 
heavens  with  stars,  as  if  he  had  been  an  Aidilis,  one  that 
should  have  set  forth  some  magnificent  shews  or  plays.  For 
if  that  great  work-master  had  been  of  an  human  disposition, 
he  would  have  cast  the  stars  into  some  pleasant  and  beautiful 
works  and  orders,  like  the  frets  in  the  roofs  of  houses ;  whereas 
one  can  scarce  find  a  posture  in  -square  or  triangle  or  straight 
line  amongst  such  an  infinite  number ;  so  differing  an  harmony 
there  is  between  the  spirit  of  Man  and  the  spirit  of  Nature. 

Let  us  consider  again  the  false  appearances  imposed  upon 
us  by  every  man’s  own  individual  nature  and  custom a,  in  that 
feigned  supposition  that  Plato  maketh  of  the  cave :  for  certainly 
if  a  child  were  continued  in  a  grot  or  cave  under  the  earth 
until  maturity  of  age,  and  came  suddenly  abroad,  he  would 
have  strange  and  absurd  imaginations ;  so  in  like  manner, 
although  our  persons  live  in  the  view  of  heaven,  yet  our  spirits 
are  included  in  the  caves  of  our  own  complexions  and  customs; 
which  minister  unto  us  infinite  errors  and  vain  opinions,  if  they 
be  not  recalled  to  examination.3  But  hereof  we  have  given 
many  examples  in  one  of  the  errors,  or  peccant  humours, 
which  we  ran  briefly  over  in  our  first  book. 

And  lastly,  let  us  consider  the  false  appearances  that  are 
imposed  upon  us  by  words 4,  which  are  framed  and  applied  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  conceit  and  capacities  of  the  vulgar  sort:  and 
although  we  think  we  govern  our  words,  and  prescribe  it  well, 
Loquendum  ut  vulgus,  sentiendum  ut  sapientes,  [a  man  should 
speak  like  the  vulgar,  and  think  like  the  wise ;]  yet  certain  it  is 
that  words,  as  a  Tartar’s  bow,  do  shoot  back  upon  the  under¬ 
standing  of  the  wisest,  and  mightily  entangle  and  pervert  the 
judgment ;  so  as  it  is  almost  necessary  in  all  controversies  and 

1  So  in  the  original :  the  word  being  pronounced  in  Bacon’s  time  Epicurian.  See 
Walker  on  Shakespeare's  versification ,  p.  211. 

2  These  are  the  Idols  of  the  Cave. 

8  i.  e.  if  they  be  not  corrected  by  the  continual  contemplation  of  nature  at  large  : 
si  e  specu  sum  raro  tantum  et  ad  breve  aliquod  tempus  prodeant,  et  non  in  c ontempla- 
tione  naturae  perpetuo,  tanquam  sub  dio,  morentur. 

It  may  be  worth  observing  that  Bacon  guards  himself  against  being  supposed  to 
represent  the  full  intention  of  Plato’s  parable,  by  adding  in  a  parenthesis  missa  ilia 
txquisita  parabolce  subtilitate. 

.  4  These  are  the  Idols  of  the  Market-place. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


397 


disputations  to  imitate  the  wisdom  of  the  Mathematicians,  in 
setting  down  in  the  very  beginning  the  definitions  of  our  words 
and  terms,  that  others  may  know  how  we  accept  and  under¬ 
stand  them,  and  whether  they  concur  with  us  or  no.1  For  it 
cometh  to  pass  for  want  of  this,  that  we  are  sure  to  end  there 
where  we  ought  to  have  begun,  which  is  in  questions  and  dif¬ 
ferences  about  words.  To  conclude  therefore,  it  must  be  con¬ 
fessed  that  it  is  not  possible  to  divorce  ourselves  from  these 
fallacies  and  false  appearances,  because  they  are  inseparable 
from  our  nature  and  condition  of  life ;  so  yet  nevertheless  the 
caution  of  them  (for  all  elenches,  as  was  said,  are  Eienchi  magni, 

,  •  \  I  l  1  •  1  StVe  ^  Idoi,s 

but  cautions)  doth  extremely  import  the  true  con-  anmihumani, 

'  J  A  nalivis  et  ad - 

duct  of  human  judgment.  The  particular  elenches  ventim *■ 
or  cautions  against  these  three  false  appearances  I  find  al¬ 
together  deficient. 

There  remaineth  one  part  of  judgment  of  great  excellency, 
which  to  mine  understanding  is  so  slightly  touched,  as  I  may 
report  that  also  deficient ;  which  is  the  application  of  the  dif¬ 
fering  kinds  of  proofs  to  the  differing  kinds  of  subjects ;  for 
there  being  but  four  kinds  of  demonstrations,  that  is,  by  the 
immediate  consent  of  the  mind  or  sense;  by  induction;  by 
sophism ;  and  by  congruity,  which  is  that  which  Aristotle 
calleth  demonstration  in  orb  or  circle,  and  not  a  notioribus 2  ; 
every  of  these  hath  certain  subjects  in  the  matter  of  sciences,  in 
which  respectively  they  have  chiefest  use ;  and  certain  other, 
from  which  respectively  they  ought  to  be  excluded :  and  the 
rigour  and  curiosity  in  requiring  the  more  severe  proofs  in  some 
things,  and  chiefly  the  facility  in  contenting  ourselves  with  the 
more  remiss  proofs  in  others,  hath  been  amongst  the  greatest 
causes  of  detriment  and  hindrance  to  knowledge.  gZz>Z™- 
The  distributions  and  assignations  of  demonstra-  ‘tratwnum. 
tions,  according  to  the  analogy  of  sciences,  I  note  as  deficient. 

If 3  The  custody  or  retaining  of  knowledge  is  either  in  Writing 
or  Memory;  whereof  Whiting  hath  two  parts,  the  nature  of  the 
character,  and  the  order  of  the  entry.  For  the  art  of  characters,  or 
other  visible  notes  of  words  or  things,  it  hath  nearest  conjuga- 

1  It  might  seem  from  this  that  Bacon  thought  the  premising  of  definitions  would  be 
a  sufficient  remedy  for  the  evil.  But  in  the  translation  he  changes  the  sentence  and 
expressly  warns  us  that  it  is  not :  for  the  definitions  themselves,  he  says,  are  made  of 
t cords ;  and  though  we  think  to  remove  ambiguities  by  the  use  of  technical  terms,  &C., 
yet  all  is  not  enough,  and  we  must  look  for  a  remedy  which  goes  deeper. 

?  non  a  notioribus  scilicet ,  sed  tanquam  de  piano. — De  Aug. 

8  De  Aug.  v.  5. 


398  OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 

tion  with  grammar,  and  therefore  I  refer  it  to  the  due  place.1 
For  the  disposition  and  collocation  of  that  knowledge  which  we 
preserve  in  writing,  it  consisteth  in  a  good  digest  of  common¬ 
places;  wherein  I  am  not  ignorant  of  the  prejudice  imputed  to 
the  use  of  common-place  books,  as  causing  a  retardation  of 
reading,  and  some  sloth  or  relaxation  of  memory.  But  because 
it  is  but  a  counterfeit  thing  in  knowledges  to.  be  forward  and 
pregnant,  except  a  man  be  deep  and  full,  I  hold  the  entry  of 
common-places  to  be  a  matter  of  great  use  and  essence  in 
studying ;  as  that  which  assureth  copie  of  invention,  and  con- 
tracteth  judgment  to  a  strength.  But  this  is  true,  that  of  the 
methods  of  common-places  that  I  have  seen,  there  is  none  of 
any  sufficient  worth  ;  all  of  them  carrying  merely  the  face  of 
a  school,  and  not  of  a  world;  and  referring  to  vulgar  matters 
and  pedantical  divisions  without  all  life  or  respect  to  action. 

For  the  other  principal  part  of  the  custody  of  knowledge, 
which  is  Memory,  I  find  that  faculty  in  my  judgment  weakly 
enquired  of.  An  art  there  is  extant  of  it ;  but  it  seemeth  to 
me  that  there  are  better  precepts  than  that  art,  and  better 
practices  of  that  art  than  those  received.  It  is  certain  the  art 
(as  it  is)  may  be  raised  to  points  of  ostentation  prodigious : 
but  in  use  (as  it  is  now  managed)  it  is  barren;  not  burden¬ 
some  nor  dangerous  to  natural  memory,  as  is  imagined,  but 
barren  ;  that  is,  not  dexterous  to  be  applied  to  the  serious  use 
of  business  and  occasions.  And  therefore  I  make  no  more 
estimation  of  repeating  a  great  number  of  names  or  words 
upon  once  hearing,  or  the  pouring  forth  of  a  number  of  verses 
or  rhymes  ex  tempore,  or  the  making  of  a  satirical  simile  of  every 
thing,  or  the  turning  of  every  thing  to  a  jest,  or  the  falsifying 
or  contradicting  of  every  thing  by  cavil,  or  the  like,  (whereof 
in  the  faculties  of  the  mind  there  is  great  copie,  and  such  as 
by  device  and  practice  may  be  exalted  to  an  extreme  degree 
of  wonder,)  than  I  do  of  the  tricks  of  tumblers,  funambuloes, 
baladines ;  the  one  being  the  same  in  the  mind  that  the  other 
is  in  the  body  ;  matters  of  strangeness  without  worthiness. 

This  art  of  Memory  is  but  built  upon  two  intentions ;  the 

1  All  this  is  omitted  in  the  translation.  The  art  of  retaining  knowledge  is  divided 
into  two  doctrines  :  viz.  concerning  the  helps  ( adminicula )  of  memory,  and  concerning 
Memory  itself.  The  only  help  of  memory  which  is  mentioned  is  writing  ;  concerning 
which,  after  remarking  that  without  this  help  the  memory  cannot  be  trusted  to  deal 
with  matters  of  length  and  requiring  exactness,  especially  such  as  the  interpretation 
of  nature,  he  insists  upon  the  value  of  a  good  digest  of  common-places  even  in  the  old 
and  popular  sciences,  and  so  proceeds  as  in  the  text. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


399 


one  Prenotion,  the  other  Emblem.  Prenotion  dischargeth  the 
indefinite  seeking  of  that  we  would  remember,  and  directeth 
us  to  seek  in  a  narrow  compass ;  that  is,  somewhat  that  hath 
congruity  with  our  place  of  memory.  Emblem  reduceth  con¬ 
ceits  intellectual  to  images  sensible,  which  strike  the  memory 
more ;  out  of  which  axioms  may  be  drawn  much  better 
practique  than  that  in  use ;  and  besides  which  axioms,  there 
are  divers  moe  touching  help  of  memory,  not  inferior  to  them.1 
But  I  did  in  the  beginning  distinguish,  not  to  report  those 
things  deficient,  which  are  but  only  ill  managed. 

11 2  There  remaineth  the  fourth  kind  of  Rational  Knowledge, 
which  is  transitive,  concerning  the  expressing  or  transferring 
our  knowledge  to  others ;  which  I  will  term  by  the  general 
name  of  Tradition  or  Delivery.  Tradition  hath  three  parts ; 
the  first  concerning  the  organ  of  tradition ;  the  second  concern¬ 
ing  the  method  of  tradition  ;  and  the  third  concerning  the  illus¬ 
tration  of  tradition.3 

For  the  organ  of  tradition,  it  is  either  Speech  or  Writing: 
for  Aristotle  saith  well.  Words  are  the  images  of  cogitations, 
and  letters  are  the  images  of  words  ;  but  yet  it  is  not  of  neces¬ 
sity  that  cogitations  be  expressed  by  the  medium  of  words. 
For  whatsoever  is  capable  of  sufficient  differences* ,  and  those  per¬ 
ceptible  by  the  sense,  is  in  nature  competent  to  express 5  cogitations. 
And  therefore  we  see  in  the  commerce  of  barbarous6  people 
that  understand  not  one  another’s  language,  and  in  the  practice 
of  divers  that  are  dumb  and  deaf,  that  men’s  minds  are  ex¬ 
pressed  in  gestures,  though  not  exactly,  yet  to  serve  the  turn. 
And  we  understand  further7  that  it  is  the  use  of  China  and 
the  kingdoms  of  the  high  Levant  to  write  in  Characters  Real, 
which  express  neither  letters  nor  words  in  gross,  but  Things  or 
Notions ;  insomuch  as  countries  and  provinces,  which  under¬ 
stand  not  one  another’s  language,  can  nevertheless  read  one 
another’s  writings,  because  the  characters  are  accepted  more 

1  The  nature  and  use  of  these  prasnotions  and  emblems  is  explained  and  illustrated 
in  the  translation  by  several  examples ;  but  the  substance  of  the  observation  is  not 
altered. 

3  De  Aug.  vi.  1. 

»  In  the  De  Augment is,  tradition  (in  these  three  last  cases)  is  translated  sermo  : 
which  appears  to  be  used  in  the  general  sense  of  communication. 

*  i.  e.  sufficient  to  explain  the  variety  of  notions. 

5  i.  e.  to  convey  the  cogitations  of  one  man  to  another  ( fiere  posse  vehiculum  cogi- 
tationum  de  homine  in  hnminem  ),  and  so  to  be  an  organ  of  tradition  ( traditivce ). 

6  Barbarous  is  omitted  in  the  translation:  the  thing  being  equally  seen  in  civilised 
people  who  know  no  common  language. 

7  notissimum  fieri  jam  ccepit. 


400 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  I.EARNINO. 


generally  than  the  languages  do  extend ;  and  therefore  they 
have  a  vast  multitude  of  characters ;  as  many,  I  suppose,  as 
radical  words.1 

These  Notes  of  Cogitations  are  of  two  sorts ;  the  one  when 
the  note  hath  some  similitude  or  congruity  with  the  notion ; 
the  other  ad  placitum,  having  force  only  by  contract  or  accep¬ 
tation.  Of  the  former  sort  are  Hieroglyphics  and  Gestures. 
For  as  to  Hieroglyphics,  (things  of  ancient  use,  and  embraced 
chiefly  by  the  Egyptians,  one  of  the  most  ancient  nations,) 
they  are  but  as  continued  impresses  and  emblems.  And  as  for 
Gestures,  they  are  as  transitory  Hieroglyphics,  and  are  to 
Hieroglyphics  as  words  spoken  are  to  words  written,  in  that 
they  abide  not ;  but  they  have  evermore,  as  well  as  the  other, 
an  affinity  with  the  things  signified :  as  Periander,  being  con¬ 
sulted  with  how  to  preserve  a  tyranny  newly  usurped,  bid  the 
messenger  attend  and  report  what  he  saw  him  do;  and  went 
into  his  garden  and  topped  all  the  highest  flowers ;  signifying, 
that  it  consisted  in  the  cutting  off  and  keeping  low  of  the 
nobility  and  grandest  Ad  placitum  are  the  Characters  Real 
before  mentioned,  and  Words:  although  some  have  been, 
willing  by  curious  inquiry,  or  rather  by  apt  feigning,  to  have 
derived  imposition  of  names  from  reason  and  intendment;  a 
speculation  elegant,  and,  by  reason  it  searcheth  into  antiquity, 
reverent ;  but  sparingly  mixed  with  truth,  and  of  small  fruit.3 

DeNotis  This  portion  of  knowledge,  touching  the  Notes  of 

uerum.  Things  and  cogitations  in  general,  I  find  not  en¬ 
quired,  but  deficient.  And  although  it  may  seem  of  no  great 
use,  considering  that  words  and  writings  by  letters  do  far  excel 
all  the  other  ways ;  yet  because  this  part  concerneth  as  it 
were  the  mint  of  knowledge,  (for  words  are  the  tokens  current 
and  accepted  for  conceits,  as  moneys  are  for  values,  and  that  it 
is  fit  men  be  not  ignorant  that  moneys  may  be  of  another  kind 
than  gold  and  silver,)  I  thought  good  to  propound  it  to  better 
enquiry. 

Concerning  Speech  and  Words,  the  consideration  of  them 
hath  produced  the  science  of  Grammar:  for  man  still  striveth  to 

1  This  observation  is  transferred  in  the  De  Augmentis  to  the  next  paragraph,  and 
applied  generally  to  all  systems  of  writing  in  Characters  Real. 

2  So  in  the  original ;  and  I  believe  always  in  Bacon  ;  the  Spanish  word  being  still 
treated  as  a  foreigner,  and  the  accent  falling  no  doubt  upon  the  first  syllable. 

3  The  substance  of  this  remark  is  introduced  in  the  translation  in  another  place. 
Here  it  is  merely  said  that  Characters  Real  have  nothing  emblematic  in  them ;  but 
are  merely  surds,  framed  ad  placitum  and  silently  agreed  upon  by  custom. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


401 


reintegrate  himself  in  those  benedictions,  from  which  by  his 
fault  he  hath  been  deprived ;  and  as  he  hath  striven  against 
the  first  general  curse  by  the  invention  of  all  other  arts,  so 
hath  he  sought  to  come  forth  of  the  second  general  curse 
(which  was  the  confusion  of  tongues)  by  the  art  of  Grammar : 
whereof  the  use  in  a  mother  1  tongue  is  small ;  in  a  foreign 
tongue  more ;  but  most  in  such  foreign  tongues  as  have  ceased 
to  be  vulgar  tongues,  and  are  turned  only  to  learned  tongues. 
The  duty  of  it  is  of  two  natures ;  the  one  popular 2,  which  is 
for  the  speedy  and  perfect  attaining  languages,  as  well  for  in¬ 
tercourse  of  speech  as  for  understanding  of  authors ;  the  other 
philosophical,  examining  the  power  and  nature  of  words  as 
they  are  the  footsteps  and  prints  of  reason  :  which  kind  of  ana¬ 
logy  between  words  and  reason  is  handled  sparsim,  brokenly, 
though,not  entirely3;  and  therefore  I  cannot  report  it  deficient, 
though  I  think  it  very  worthy  to  be  reduced  into  a  science  by 
itself. 

Unto  Grammar  also  belongeth,  as  an  appendix,  the  con¬ 
sideration  of  the  Accidents  of  Words;  which  are  measure, 
sound,  and  elevation  or  accent,  and  the  sweetness  and  harshness 
of  them  ;  whence  hath  issued  some  curious  observations  in 
^Rhetoric,  but  chiefly  Poesy,  as  we  consider  it  in  respect  of  the 
verse  and  not  of  the  argument :  wherein  though  men  in 
learned  tongues  do  tie  themselves  to  the  ancient  measures,  yet 
in  modern  languages  it  seemeth  to  me  as  free  to  make  new 
measures  of  verses  as  of  dances ;  for  a  dance  is  a  measured 
pace,  as  a  verse  is  a  measured  speech.4  In  these  things  the 
sense  is  better  judge  than  the  art ; 


1  in  another  tongue  ed.  1605:  in  mother  tongue  cdd.  1629  and  1633.  The  trans¬ 
lation  has  in  Unguis  quibusque  vernaculis. 

2  In  the  translation  he  substitutes  literary  for  popular. 

’  Here  are  introduced  in  the  translation  some  interesting  remarks  on  the  subject  of 
the  analogy  between  words  and  reason;  in  which  it  is  worth  observing  among  other 
things,  that  Bacon  appears  to  have  changed  his  opinion  as  to  the  nature  of  Caesar’s 
book  De  Analogia ,  since  he  wrote  the  first  book  of  the  Advancement.  See  above 
p.  311.  There  he  describes  it  as  “a  grammatical  philosophy,  wherein  he  did  labour 
to  make  this  same  vox  ad  placitum  to  become  vox  ad  licitum,  and  to  reduce  custom 
of  speech  to  congruity  of  speech,  and  took  as  it  were  the  picture  of  words  from  the 
life  of  reason.”  Here  he  says  he  has  doubted  whether  that  book  of  Ca:sar’s  treated  of 
such  a  grammatical  philosophy  as  he  is  speaking  of ;  but  that  he  rather  suspects  it  con¬ 
tained  nothing  very  high  or  subtile,  but  only  precepts  for  the  formation  of  a  chaste 
and  perfect  style,  free  from  vulgarity  and  affectation. 

4  This  observation  is  omitted  in  the  translation,  and  instead  we  have  a  censure  of 
the  attempts  (made  not  long  before  Bacon's  time)  to  force  the  modern  languages  into 
the  ancient  measures  ;  measures  (he  says)  which  are  incompatible  with  the  frame  of 
the  languages  themselves,  and  not  less  offensive  to  the  ear.  But  this  censure  may 
perhaps  be  considered  as  a  developement  of  the  remark  which  concludes  this  para- 


402 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


Coen®  fercula  nostrae 
Mallem  convivis  quam  placuisse  cocis : 

[the  dinner  is  to  please  the  guests  that  eat  it,  not  the  cook  that 
dresses  it.]  And  of  the  servile  expressing  antiquity  in  an 
unlike  and  an  unfit  subject,  it  is  well  said.  Quod  tempore  anti¬ 
quum  videtur,  id  incongruitate  est  maxime  novum ;  [there  is 
nothing  more  new  than  an  old  thing  that  has  ceased  to  fit]. 

For  Ciphers,  they  are  commonly  in  letters  or  alphabets,  but 
may  be  in  words.  The  kinds  of  Ciphers  (besides  the  simple 
ciphers  with  changes  and  intermixtures  of  nulls  and  non¬ 
significants)  are  many,  according  to  the  nature  or  rule  of  the 
infolding ;  Wheel-ciphers,  Key-ciphers,  Doubles,  &c.  But  the 
virtues  of  them,  whereby  they  are  to  be  preferred,  are  three ; 
that  they  be  not  laborious  to  write  and  read ;  that  they  be 
impossible  to  decipher;  and,  in  some  cases,  that  they  be  without 
suspicion.  The  highest  degree  whereof  is  to  write  omnia  per 
omnia ;  which  is  undoubtedly  possible,  with  a  proportion  quin¬ 
tuple  at  most  of  the  writing  infolding  to  the  writing  infolded, 
and  no  other  restraint  whatsoever.1  This  art  of  Ciphering, 
hath  for  relative  an  art  of  Disciphering ;  by  supposition 2  un¬ 
profitable;  but,  as  things  are,  of  great  use.  For  suppose  that 
ciphers  were  well  managed,  there  be  multitudes  of  them  which 
exclude  the  decipherer.  But  in  regard  of  the  rawness  and  un¬ 
skilfulness  of  the  hands  through  which  they  pass,  the  greatest 
matters  are  many  times  carried  in  the  weakest  ciphers. 

In  the  enumeration  of  these  private  and  retired  arts,  it  may 
be  thought  I  seek  to  make  a  great  muster-roll  of  sciences ; 
naming  them  for  shew  and  ostentation,  and  to  little  other  pur¬ 
pose.  But  let  those  which  are  skilful  in  them  judge  whether  I 
bring  them  in  only  for  appearance,  or  whether  in  that  which  I 
speak  of  them  (though  in  few  marks)  there  be  not  some  seed 

graph,  and  which  is  also  omitted.  Certainly  there  is  no  English  metre  which  repre¬ 
sents  the  metrical  effect  of  the  Virgilian  hexameter  worse  than  the  English  hexameter 
as  people  write  it  now:  and  if  any  one  would  try  to  write  it  so  as  to  represent  the 
metrical  effect  truly,  by  attending  to  the  distinction  between  accent  and  quantity,  and 
distributing  them  according  to  the  same  laws,  he  would  find  the  truth  of  Bacon’s 
remark  that  ipsa  lingua  fubrica  respuit ;  the  English  language  does  not  supply  the 
materials. 

1  In  the  De  Augmentis  he  gives  a  specimen  of  a  cipher  by  which  this  feat  of  writing 
omnia  per  omnia  (that  is  of  conveying  any  words  you  please  under  cover  of  any  other 
words  you  please,  provided  only  that  they  contain  not  less  than  five  times  as  many 
letters)  may  be  accomplished ;  a  cipher  invented,  he  says,  by  himself  when  he  was 
at  Paris. 

*  i.  e.  if  things  were  as  they  might  be :  attamen  pracaulione  solerti  fieri  possit 
inutilis. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


403 


of  proficience.  And  this  must  be  remembered,  that  as  there  be 
many  of  great  account  in  their  countries  and  provinces,  which 
when  they  come  up  to  the  Seat  of  the  Estate  are  but  of  mean 
rank  and  scarcely  regarded ;  so  these  arts  being  here  placed 
with,  the  principal  and  supreme  sciences,  seem  petty  things ; 
yet  to  such  as  have  chosen  them  to  spend  their  studies  in 
them  *,  they  seem  great  matters. 

IT  2  For  the  Method  of  Tradition,  I  see  it  hath  moved  a  con¬ 
troversy  in  our  time.1 2 3  But  as  in  civil  business,  if  there  be  a 
meeting  and  men  fall  at  words  there  is  commonly  an  end  of 
the  matter  for  that  time  and  no  proceeding  at  all ;  so  in  learn¬ 
ing,  where  there  is  much  controversy  there  is  many  times 
little  inquiry.  F or  this  part  of  knowledge  of  Method  seemeth 
to  me  so  weakly  enquired  as  I  shall  report  it  deficient. 

Method  hath  been  placed,  and  that  not  amiss,  in  Logic,  as  a 
part  of  Judgment:  for  as  the  doctrine  of  Syllogisms  compre- 
hendeth  the  rules  of  judgment  upon  that  which  is  invented,  so 
the  doctrine  of  Method  containeth  the  rules  of  judgment  upon 
that  which  is  to  be  delivered ;  for  judgment  precedeth  De¬ 
livery,  as  it  followeth  Invention.4  Neither  is  the  method  or  the 
nature  of  the  tradition  material  only  to  the  use  of  knowledge, 
but  likewise  to  the  progression  of  knowledge:  for  since  the 
labour  and  life  of  one  man  cannot  attain  to  perfection  of  know¬ 
ledge,  the  wisdom  of  the  Tradition  is  that  which  inspireth  the 
felicity  of  continuance  and  proceeding.  And  therefore  the 
most  real  diversity  of  method  is  of  method  referred  to  Use, 
and  method  referred  to  Progression  ;  whereof  the  one  may  be 
termed  Magistral,  and  the  other  of  Probation.5 

The  later  whereof  seemeth  to  be  via  deserta  et  interclusa, 
[a  way  that  is  abandoned  and  stopped  up].  For  as  knowledges 
are  now  delivered,  there  is  a  kind  of  contract  of  error  between 


1  qui  operarn  illis  pnecipue  impenderint.  —  De  Aug.  The  original  edition  and  that 
of  1629  have  “  to  spend  their  labours  studies  in  them,”  —  which  is  also  the  reading  of 
the  edition  1633,  except  that  it  has  a  comma  after  “  labours.”  “  Labours  and  studies” 
is  the  reading  of  modern  editions  ;  but  I  think  it  is  more  likely  that  one  of  the  words 
was  meant  to  be  substituted  for  the  other. 

2  De  Aug.  vi.  2. 

*  Besides  Ramus  himself  and  Carpentier,  one  of  the  principal  persons  in  this  con- 
troversy  was  the  Cardinal  D’Ossat,  of  whom  some  account  will  be  found  in  De  Thou's 
memoirs. —  R.  L.  E. 

4  So  edd.  1629  "and  1633.  The  original  has  Inventions. 

4  Called  Initiativa  in  the  translation ;  and  explained  to  mean  the  method  which 
discloses  the  inner  mysteries  of  science  ;  and  distinguished  from  the  other  not  as  more 
secret  but  as  more  profound ;  the  one  announcing  the  results  of  enquiry,  the  other 
exhibiting  the  method  and  process  which  led  to  them. 


404 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


the  deliverer  and  the  receiver :  for  he  that  delivereth  knowledge 
desireth  to  deliver  it  in  such  form  as  may  be  best  believed,  and 
not  as  may  be  best  examined ;  and  he  that  receiveth  know¬ 
ledge  desireth  rather  present  satisfaction  than  expectant  in¬ 
quiry;  and  so  rather  not  to  doubt  than  not  to  err:  glory 
making  the  author  not  to  lay  open  his  weakness,  and  sloth 
making  the  disciple  not  to  know  his  strength. 

But  knowledge  that  is  delivered  as  a  thread  to  be  spun  on, 
ought  to  be  delivered  and  intimated  !,  if  it  were  possible,  in  the 
same  method  wherein  it  was  invented ;  and  so  is  it  possible  of 
knowledge  induced.  But  in  this  same  anticipated  and  pre¬ 
vented  knowledge,  no  man  knoweth  how  he  came  to  the  know¬ 
ledge  which  he  hath  obtained.  But  yet  nevertheless,  secundum 
majus  et  minus,  a  man  may  revisit  and  descend  unto  the  found¬ 
ations  of  his  knowledge  and  consent ;  and  so  transplant  it  into 
another  as  it  grew  in  his  own  mind.  For  it  is  in  knowledges 
as  it  is  in  plants :  if  you  mean  to  use  the  plant,  it  is  no  matter 
for  the  roots ;  but  if  you  mean  to  remove  it  to  grow,  then 
it  is  more  assured  to  rest  upon  roots  than  slips.  So  the  de¬ 
livery  of  knowledges  (as  it  is  now  used)  is  as  of  fair  bodies  of 
trees  without  the  roots ;  good  for  the  carpenter,  but  not  for  the 
planter;  but  if  you  will  have  sciences  grow,  it  is  less  matter 
for  the  shaft  or  body  of  the  tree,  so  you  look  well  to  the 
De  Methodo  taking  up  of  the  roots.  Of  which  kind  of  delivery 
adfiiios  s'ci-  the  method  of  the  mathematiques,  in  that  subject, 
entiarum-  hath  some  shadow  ;  but  generally  I  see  it  neither  put 
in  ure  nor  put  in  inquisition,  and  therefore  note  it  for  deficient. 

Another  diversity  of  Method  there  is,  which  hath  some  affi¬ 
nity  with  the  former,  used  in  some  cases  by  the  discretion  of 
the  ancients,  but  disgraced  since  by  the  impostures  of  many 
vain  persons,  who  have  made  it  as  a  false  light  for  their  coun¬ 
terfeit  merchandises ;  and  that  is.  Enigmatical  and  Disclosed.3 

1  So  in  all  the  editions  ;  but  probably  a  misprint  for  insinuated.  The  translation 
has  insinuanda. 

2  In  the  translation  he  gives  it  the  additional  name  of  Traditio  Lampadis ;  alluding 
to  the  transmission  of  the  lighted  torch  from  one  to  another  in  the  Greek  torch-race. 
See  Preface  to  Nov.  Org.  p.  87.  note. 

2  In  the  translation  he  calls  the  latter  exoterica,  the  former  acroamatica  ;  and  ex¬ 
plains  that  the  affinity  between  the  acroamatica  and  the  initialiva  lies  in  this  only  — 
that  each  addresses  itself  to  a  select  audience  ;  for  in  themselves  (re  ipsa)  they  are 
opposite  ;  the  initiativa  adopting  a  method  of  delivery  more  open  than  ordinary  ;  the 
acroamatica,  one  more  obscure ;  the  “  vulgar  capacities”  being  excluded  in  the  one  case 
by  the  necessary  subtilty  of  the  argument,  in  the  other  by  an  affected  obscurity  in 
the  exposition.  Concerning  the  latter  method,  see  Preface  to  the  Novum  Orgunum, 
note  B. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


405 


The  pretence  whereof1  is  to  remove  the  vulgar  capacities  from 
being  admitted  to  the  secrets  of  knowledges,  and  to  reserve 
them  to  selected  auditors,  or  wits  of  such  sharpness  as  can 
pierce  the  veil. 

Another  diversity  of  Method,  whereof  the  consequence  is 
great,  is  the  delivery  of  knowledge  in  Aphorisms,  or  in  Me¬ 
thods  ;  wherein  we  may  observe  that  it  hath  been  too  much 
taken  into  custom,  out  of  a  few  Axioms  or  observations  upon 
any  subject  to  make  a  solemn  and  formal  art ;  filling  it  with 
some  discourses,  and  illustrating  it  with  examples,  and  digesting 
it  into  a  sensible  Method ;  but  the  writing  in  Aphorisms  hath 
many  excellent  virtues,  whereto  the  writing  in  Method  doth 
not  approach. 

For  first,  it  trieth  the  writer,  whether  he  be  superficial  or 
solid  :  for  Aphorisms,  except  they  should  be  ridiculous,  cannot 
be  made  but  of  the  pith  and  heart  of  sciences ;  for  discourse  of 
illustration  is  cut  off ;  recitals  of  examples  are  cut  off ;  dis¬ 
course  of  connexion  and  order  is  cut  off ;  descriptions  of  prac¬ 
tice  are  cut  off ;  so  there  remaineth  nothing  to  fill  the  Apho¬ 
risms  but  some  good  quantity  of  observation :  and  therefore  no 
man  can  suffice,  nor  in  reason  will  attempt,  to  write  Apho¬ 
risms,  but  he  that  is  sound  and  grounded.  But  in  Methods, 

Tantum  series  juncturaque  pollet, 

Tantum  de  medio  sumptis  accedit  honoris, 

[the  arrangement  and  connexion  and  joining  of  the  parts  has  so 
much  effect,]  as  a  man  shall  make  a  great  shew  of  an  art,  which 
if  it  were  disjointed  would  come  to  little.  Secondly,  Methods 
are  more  fit  to  win  consent  or  belief,  but  les«  fit  to  point  to  ac¬ 
tion  ;  for  they  carry  a  kind  of  demonstration  in  orb  or  circle, 
one  part  illuminating  another,  and  therefore  satisfy ;  but  par¬ 
ticulars,  being  dispersed,  do  best  agree  with  dispersed  directions. 
And  lastly.  Aphorisms,  representing  a  knowledge  broken,  do 
invite  men  to  enquire  farther ;  whereas  Methods,  carrying  the 
shew  of  a  total,  do  secure  men,  as  if  they  were  at  furthest. 

Another  diversity  of  Method,  which  is  likewise  of  great 
weight,  is  the  handling  of  knowledge  by  Assertions  and  their 
Proofs,  or  by  Questions  and  their  Determinations ;  the  latter 
kind  whereof,  if  it  be  immoderately  followed,  is  as  prejudi¬ 
cial  to  the  proceeding  of  learning,  as  it  is  to  the  proceeding 

1  i.  e.  of  the  enigmatical  method. 


406 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


of  an  army  to  go  about  to  besiege  every  little  fort  or  hold. 
For  if  the  field  be  kept  and  the  sum  of  the  enterprise  pursued, 
those  smaller  things  will  come  in  of  themselves :  indeed 1  a 
man  would  not  leave  some  important  piece  enemy  at  his  back. 
In  like  manner,  the  use  of  confutation  in  the  delivery  of 
sciences  ought  to  be  very  sparing;  and  to  serve  to  remove 
strong  preoccupations  and  prejudgments,  and  not  to  minister 
and  excite  disputations  and  doubts. 

Another  diversity  of  Methods  is  according  to  the  subject  or 
matter  which  is  handled ;  for  there  is  a  great  difference  in  de¬ 
livery  of  the  Mathematics,  which  are  the  most  abstracted  of 
knowledges,  and  Policy,  which  is  the  most  immersed :  and 
howsoever  contention  hath  been  moved  touching  an  uniformity 
of  method  in  multiformity  of  matter,  yet  we  see  how  that 
opinion,  besides  the  weakness  of  it,  hath  been  of  ill  desert 
towards  learning,  as  that  which  taketh  the  way  to  reduce 
learning  to  certain  empty  and  barren  generalities ;  being  but  the 
very  husks  and  shells  of  sciences,  all  the  kernel  being  forced 
out  and  expulsed  with  the  torture  and  press  of  the  method 2 ; 
and  therefore  as  I  did  allow  well  of  particular  Topics  for  inven¬ 
tion,  so  I  do  allow  likewise  of  particular  Methods  of  tradition. 

Another  diversity  of  judgment3  in  the  delivery  and  teaching 
of  knowledge  is  according  unto  the  light  and  presuppositions 
of  that  which  is  delivered ;  for  that  knowledge  which  is  new 
and  foreign  from  opinions  received,  is  to  be  delivered  in  another 
form  than  that  that  is  agreeable 4  and  familiar ;  and  therefore 
Aristotle,  when  he  thinks  to  tax  Democritus,  doth  in  truth 
commend  him,  where  he  saith.  If  we  shall  indeed  dispute,  and 
not  follow  after  similitudes,  &c.  For  those  whose  conceits  are 
seated  in  popular  opinions,  need  only  but  to  prove  or  dispute ; 
but  those  whose  conceits  are  beyond  popular  opinions,  have  a 
double  labour ;  the  one  to  make  themselves  conceived,  and  the 
other  to  prove  and  demonstrate  ;  so  that  it  is  of  necessity  with 

1  i.  e.  “  although  indeed :  ’’  ( illud  tamen  itificias  non  iverim ,  &c. ) 

2  This  observation  is  introduced  in  the  translation  at  the  beginning  of  the  chapter, 
and  applied  particularly  to  the  method  of  dichotomies ;  which  are  not  mentioned,  I 
think,  by  name  in  the  Advancement. 

8  i.e.  a  diversity  of  method  to  be  used  with  judgment.  ( Sequitur  aliud  methodi 
discrimen  in  tradendis  scientiis  cum  judicio  adhibendum.)  This  may  perhaps  be  an 
error  of  the  press  or  of  the  transcriber,  some  words  having  accidentally  dropped  out. 
It  may  however  be  merely  an  effect  of  hasty  composition,  of  which  there  are  many 
evidences  in  this  part  of  the  work. 

4  i.  e.  in  accordance  with  received  opinions.  ( Opinionibus  jam  pridem  imbibiiis  et 
receptis  affinis .) 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


407 


them  to  have  recourse  to  similitudes  and  translations  to  express 
themselves.  And  therefore  in  the  infancy  of  learning,  and  in 
rude  times,  when  those  conceits  which  are  now  trivial  were 
then  new,  the  world  was  full  of  Parables  and  Similitudes ;  for 
else  would  men  either  have  passed  over  without  mark  or  else 
rejected  for  paradoxes  that  which  was  offered,  before  they 
had  understood  or  judged.  So  in  divine  learning  we  see  how 
frequent  Parables  and  Tropes  are 1 :  for  it  is  a  rule.  That 
whatsoever  science  is  not  consonant  to  presuppositions ,  must  pray 
in  aid  of  similitudes. 

There  be  also  other  diversities  of  Methods,  vulgar  and  re¬ 
ceived  ;  as  that  of  Resolution  or  Analysis,  of  Constitution  or 
Sy stasis,  of  Concealment  or  Cryptic2,  &c.  which  I  do  allow 
well  of ;  though  I  have  stood  upon  those  which  are  least  handled 
and  observed.  All  which  I  have  remembered  to  this  r,e  prva-r„f;a 
purpose,  because  I  would  erect  and  constitute  one  Trad“,on's- 
general  inquiry,  which  seems  to  me  deficient,  touching  the 
Wisdom  of  Tradition. 

But  unto  this  part  of  knowledge  concerning  Method  doth 
further  belong  not  only  the  Architecture  of  the  whole  frame  of 
a  work,  but  also  the  several  beams  and  columns  thereof ;  not 
as  to  their  stuff,  but  as  to  their  quantity  and  figure;  and 
therefore  Method  considereth  not  only  the  disposition  of  the 
Argument  or  Subject,  but  likewise  the  Propositions ;  not  as  to 
their  truth  or  matter,  but  as  to  their  limitation  and  manner. 
For  herein  Ramus  merited  better  a  great  deal  in  r evi  ing  the 
good  rules  of  Propositions,  Ka.0oX.ov  7r pwrov,  Kara  7 ravrls,  &c.3 
than  he  did  in  introducing  the  canker  of  Epitomes 4 ;  and  yet 
(as  it  is  the  condition  of  human  things  that,  according  to  the 
ancient  fables.  The  most  precious  things  have  the  most  pernicious 
keepers ;)  it  was  so,  that  the  attempt  of  the  one  made  him  fall 
upon  the  other.®  For  he  had  need  be  well  conducted  that 
should  design  to  make  Axioms  convertible ,  if  he  make  them  not 
withal  circular,  and  non-promovent,  or  incurring  into  themselves  : 
but  yet  the  intention  was  excellent. 

1  This  allusion  to  divine  learning  is  omitted  in  the  translation. 

8  In  the  translation  he  adds  Dieeretica  and  Homerica,  and  observes  that  he  does  not 
dwell  upon  these  because  they  have  been  rightly  invented  and  distributed. 

8  That  they  should  be  true  generally,  primarily,  and  essentially. —  R.  L.  E. 

4  Instead  of  “  the  canker  of  Epitomes,”  the  translation  substitutes  “  his  peculiar 
method  and  dichotomies.” 

6  The  attempt  to  amend  propositions  cast  him  upon  those  epitomes  and  shallows 
of  knowledge,  as  they  are  called  in  the  translation  —  epitomas  Mas  el  scientiurum 
vada. 


408 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


The  other  considerations  of  Method  concerning  Propositions 
are  chiefly  touching  the  utmost  propositions,  which  limit  the 
dimensions  of  sciences  ;  for  every  knowledge  may  be  fitly  said, 
besides  the  profundity,  (which  is  the  truth  and  substance  of  it, 
that  makes  it  solid,)  to  have  a  longitude  and  a  latitude ;  ac¬ 
counting  the  latitude  towards  other  sciences,  and  the  longitude 
towards  action;  that  is,  from  the  greatest  generality  to  the 
most  particular  precept :  the  one  giveth  rule  how  far  one 
knowledge  ought  to  intermeddle  within  the  province  of  another, 
which  is  the  rule  they  call  K aOavrb  1 ;  the  other  giveth  rule 
unto  what  degree  of  particularity  a  knowledge  should  descend : 
which  latter  I  find  passed  over  in  silence,  being  in  my  judg¬ 
ment  the  more  material ;  for  certainly  there  must  be  somewhat 
left  to  practice 2 ;  but  how  much  is  worthy  the  inquiry.  We 
see  remote  and  superficial  generalities  do  but  offer  knowledge 
to  scorn  of  practical  men ;  and  are  no  more  aiding  to  practice, 
than  an  Ortelius’  universal  map  is  to  direct  the  way  between 
London  and  York.  The  better  sort  of  rules  have  been  not 
unfitly  compared  to  glasses  of  steel  unpolished,  where  you  may 
see  the  images  of  things,  but  first  they  must  be  filed :  so  the 
rules  will  help,  if  they  be  laboured  and  polished  by  practice. 
ii'mJuduc~  k°w  chrystalline  they  may  be  made  at  the  first, 

Axiomatum.  an(J  how  far  forth  they  may  be  polished  aforehand,  is 
the  question ;  the  inquiry  whereof  seemeth  to  me  deficient. 

There  hath  been  also  laboured  and  put  in  practice  a  method, 
which  is  not  a  lawful  method,  but  a  method  of  imposture ; 
which  is  to  deliver  knowledges  in  such  manner,  as  men  may 
speedily  come  to  make  a  shew  of  learning  who  have  it  not : 
such  was  the  travail  of  Raymundus  Lullius,  in  making  that  art 
which  bears  his  name ;  not  unlike  to  some  books  of  Typocosmy 
which  have  been  made  since ;  being  nothing  but  a  mass  of 
words  of  all  arts,  to  give  men  countenance  that  those  which 
use  the  terms  might  be  thought  to  understand  the  art ;  which 
collections  are  much  like  a  fripper’s  or  broker’s  shop,  that  hath 
ends  of  every  thing,  but  nothing  of  worth. 

IT 3  Now  we  descend  to  that  part  which  concerneth  the  Illus- 

1  This  is  omitted  in  the  translation.  “  The  rule  they  call  tea Oavrb  ”  is  the  rule 
that  propositions  should  be  true  essentially. 

2  For  we  must  not  fall  into  the  error  of  Antoninus  Pius  (he  adds  in  the  trans¬ 
lation) —  to  become  Cymini  Sectores,  multiplying  divisions  to  the  last  degree  of  mi¬ 
nuteness. 

1  'o  Aug.  vi.  3. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


409 


tration  of  Tradition,  comprehended  in  that  science  which  we 
call  Rhetoric,  or  Art  of  Eloquence ;  a  science  excellent,  and 
excellently  well  laboured.  For  although  in  true  value  it  is 
inferior  to  wisdom,  as  it  is  said  by  God  to  Moses,  when  he 
disabled  himself  for  want  of  this  faculty,  Aaron  shall  be  thy 
speaker,  and  thou  shalt  be  to  him  as  God;  yet  with  people  it  is 
the  more  mighty :  for  so  Salomon  saith,  Sapiens  corde  appella- 
bitur  prudens,  sed  dulcis  eloquio  majora  reperiet,  [the  wise  in 
heart  shall  be  called  prudent,  but  he  that  is  sweet  of  speech 
shall  compass  greater  things ;]  signifying  that  profoundness  of 
wisdom  will  help  a  man  to  a  name  or  admiration,  but  that  it  is 
eloquence  that  prevaileth  in  an  active  life.  And  as  to  the 
labouring  of  it,  the  emulation  of  Aristotle  with  the  rhetoricians 
of  his  time,  and  the  experience  of  Cicero,  hath  made  them  in 
their  works  of  Rhetorics  exceed  themselves.  Again,  the  excel¬ 
lency  of  examples  of  eloquence  in  the  orations  of  Demosthenes 
and  Cicero,  added  to  the  perfection  of  the  precepts  of  elo¬ 
quence,  hath  doubled  the  progression  in  this  art ;  and  therefore 
the  deficiences  which  I  shall  note  will  rather  be  in  some  collec¬ 
tions  which  may  as  handmaids  attend  the  art,  than  in  the  rules 
or  use  of  the  art  itself. 

Notwithstanding,  to  stir  the  earth  a  little  about  the  roots  of 
this  science,  as  we  have  done  of  the  rest :  The  duty  and  office 
of  Rhetoric  is  to  apply  Reason  to  Imagination 1  for  the  better 
moving  of  the  will.  F or  we  see  Reason  is  disturbed  in  the 
administration  thereof  by  three  means ;  by  Rlaqueation  or  So¬ 
phism,  which  pertains  to  Logic;  by  Imagination  or  Impres¬ 
sion 1  2,  which  pertains  to  Rhetoric ;  and  by  Passion  or  Affection, 
which  pertains  to  Morality.3  And  as  in  negotiation  with  others 
men  are  wrought  by  cunning,  by  importunity,  and  by  vehe- 
mency ;  so  in  this  negotiation  within  ourselves  men  are  under¬ 
mined  by  Inconsequences,  solicited  and  importuned  by  Impres¬ 
sions  or  Observations,  and  transported  by  Passions.  Neither  is 
the  nature  of  man  so  unfortunately  built,  as  that  those  powers 
and  arts  should  have  force  to  disturb  reason,  and  not  to  esta¬ 
blish  and  advance  it :  for  the  end  of  Logic  is  to  teach  a  form 
of  argument  to  secure  reason,  and  not  to  entrap  it ;  the  end  of 

1  Rhetoric  being  to  the  Imagination  what  Logic  is  to  the  Understanding. — De  Aug. 

2  In  the  translation  he  substitutes  per  prastigiat  verborum ;  false  impressions 
produced  by  words  on  the  imagination. 

3  i.  e.  moral  philosophy.  ( Etliica .) 


410 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


Morality  is  to  procure  the  affections  to  obey  1  reason,  and  not 
to  invade  it ;  the  end  of  Rhetoric  is  to  fill  the  imagination  to 
second  reason,  and  not  to  oppress  it :  for  these  abuses  of  arts 
come  in  but  ex  obliquo,  for  caution. 

And  therefore  it  was  great  injustice  in  Plato,  though  spring¬ 
ing  out  of  a  just  hatred  of  the  rhetoricians  of  his  time,  to  esteem 
of  Rhetoric  but  as  a  voluptuary  art,  resembling  it  to  cookery, 
that  did  mar  wholesome  meats,  and  help  unwholesome  by 
variety  of  sauces  to  the  pleasure  of  the  taste.  For  we  see  that 
speech  is  much  more  conversant  in  adorning  that  which  is  good 
than  in  colouring  that  which  is  evil ;  for  there  is  no  man  but 
speaketh  more  honestly  than  he  can  do  or  think :  and  it  was 
excellently  noted  by  Thucydides  in  Cleon 2,  that  because  he 
used  to  hold  on  the  bad  side  in  causes  of  estate,  therefore  he 
was  ever  inveighing  against  eloquence  and  good  speech ;  know¬ 
ing  that  no  man  can  speak  fair  of  courses  sordid  and  base.  And 
therefore  as  Plato  said  elegantly.  That  virtue,  if  she  could  be 
seen,  would  move  great  love  and  affection ;  so  seeing  that  she 
cannot  be  shewed  to  the  Sense  by  corporal  shape,  the  next 
degree  is  to  shew  her  to  the  Imagination  in  lively  representa¬ 
tion  :  for  to  shew  her  to  Reason  only  in  subtilty  of  argument, 
was  a  thing  ever  derided  in  Chrysippus  and  many  of  the  Stoics; 
who  thought  to  thrust  virtue  upon  men  by  sharp  disputations 
and  conclusions,  which  have  no  sympathy  with  the  will  of  man. 

Again,  if  the  affections  in  themselves  were  pliant  and  obedient 
to  reason,  it  were  true  there  should  be  no  great  use  of  per¬ 
suasions  and  insinuations  to  the  will,  more  than  of  naked  pro¬ 
position  and  proofs ;  but  in  regard  of  the  continual  mutinies 
and  seditions  of  the  affections, 

Video  meliora,  proboque ; 

Deteriora  sequor : 

[whereby  they  who  not  only  see  the  better  course,  but  approve 
it  also,  nevertheless  follow  the  worse,]  reason  would  become 
captive  and  servile,  if  Eloquence  of  Persuasions  did  not  practise 
and  win  the  Imagination  from  the  Affection’s  part,  and  contract 
a  confederacy  between  the  Reason  and  Imagination  against 
the  Affections.  For  the  affections  themselves  carry  ever  an  ap- 

1  In  the  translation  he  says  ut  rationi  militent ;  to  fight  on  the  side  of  reason. 

2  In  the  translation  he  says,  more  correctly,  “  it  was  noted  by  Thucydides  as  a  cen¬ 
sure  passed  upon  Cleon  ”  ( tale  quidpiam  solitum  fuisse  objici  Cleoni )  ;  for  the  obser¬ 
vation  is  made  by  Diodotus  in  his  answer  to  Cleon’s  speech,  iii.  42. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


411 


petite  to  good,  as  reason  doth ;  the  difference  is,  that  the  affec¬ 
tion  beholdeth  merely  the  present ;  reason  beholdeth  the  future 
and  sum  of  time ;  and  therefore  the  present  filling  the  imagi¬ 
nation  more,  reason  is  commonly  vanquished;  but  after  that 
force  of  eloquence  and  persuasion  hath  made  things  future  and 
remote  appear  as  present,  then  upon  the  revolt  of  the  imagina¬ 
tion  reason  prevaileth. 

We  conclude  therefore,  that  Rhetoric  can  be  no  more 
charged  with  the  colouring  of  the  worse  part,  than  Logic  with 
Sophistry,  or  Morality  with  Vice.1  For  we  know  the  doctrines 
of  contraries  are  the  same,  though  the  use  be  opposite.  It  ap- 
peareth  also  that  Logic  differeth  from  Rhetoric,  not  only  as  the 
fist  from  the  palm,  the  one  close  the  other  at  large ;  but  much 
more  in  this,  that  Logic  handleth  reason  exact  and  in  truth, 
and  Rhetoric  handleth  it  as  it  is  planted  in  popular  opinions 
and  manners.  And  therefore  Aristotle  doth  wisely  place  Rhe¬ 
toric  as  between  Logic  on  the  one  side  and  moral  or  civil 
knowledge  on  the  other,  as  participating  of  both :  for  the  proofs 
and  demonstrations  of  Logic  are  toward  all  men  indifferent  and 
the  same  ;  but  the  proofs  and  persuasions  of  Rhetoric  ought  to 
differ  according  to  the  auditors : 

Orpheus  in  sylvis,  inter  delphinas  Arion  : 

[to  be  in  the  woods  an  Orpheus,  among  the  dolphins  an  Arion :] 
which  application,  in  perfection  of  idea,  ought  to  extend  so  far, 
that  if  a  man  should  speak  of  the  same  thing  to  several  per¬ 
sons,  he  should  speak  to  them  all  respectively  and  several  ways: 
though  this  politic  part  of  eloquence  in  private  speech  it  is  easy 
for  the  greatest  orators  to  want,  whilst  by  the  observing  their 
well- graced  forms  of  speech  they  leese  the  volu-  Deprudmim 
bility  of  application:  and  therefore  it  shall  not  be 
amiss  to  recommend  this  to  better  inquiry  2 * * * * * 8 ;  not  being  curi¬ 
ous  whether  we  place  it  here,  or  in  that  part  which  concern- 
eth  policy. 

1  The  last  clause  is  omitted  in  the  translation.  I  do  not  know  why.  For  ac¬ 

cording  to  Bacon’s  doctrine,  expounded  originally  in  the  Meditationes  Sacra  upon  the 

text  non  accipit  stultus  verba  prudential  nisi  ea  dixeris  quae  versantur  in  corde  ejus , 

and  repeated  here  a  little  further  on,  —  namely,  that  a  man  can  neither  protect  his 

own  virtue  against  evil  arts,  nor  reclaim  others  from  vice,  without  the  help  of  the 

knowledge  of  evil,  —  Morality  has  a  relation  to  Vice  exactly  corresponding  with  that 
of  Logic  to  Sophistry  ;  unless  it  be  maintained  that  the  Logician  ought  to  be  prepared 

to  practice  Sophistry  as  well  as  to  detect  and  defeat  it. 

8  Being  a  thing  which  the  more  it  is  considered  the  more  it  will  be  valued  ( rem 
certe  qitam  quo  atientius  quis  recogitet ,  eo  pluris  facief). 


412 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


Now  therefore  will  I  descend  to  the  deficiences,  which  (as  I 
said)  are  hut  attendances  1 :  and  first,  I  do  not  find  the  wisdom 
and  diligence  of  Aristotle  well  pursued,  who  began  to  make  a 
coiores  bom  et  collection  of  the  popular  siqns  and  colours  of  qood  and 

mail,  simpUcis  .  ,  .  ,  , , 

etcomparati.  evil,  both  simple  and  comparative,  which  are  as  the 
Sophisms  of  Rhetoric  (as  I  touched  before).  For  example : 

SOPHISMA. 

Quod  laudatur,  bonum :  quod  vituperatur,  malum. 

REDARGUTIO. 

Laudat  venales  qui  vult  extrudere  merces. 

Malum  est,  malum  est,  inquit  emptor  :  sed  cum  recesserit,  turn  gloriabltur* 

The  defects  in  the  labour  of  Aristotle  are  three :  one,  that 
there  be  but  a  few  of  many ;  another,  that  their  Elenches  are 
not  annexed 3 :  and  the  third,  that  he  conceived  birt  a  part  of 
the  use  of  them:  for  their  use  is  not  only  in  probation,  but 
much  more  in  impression.  For  many  forms  are  equal  in  signi¬ 
fication  which  are  differing  in  impression ;  as  the  difference  is 
great  in  the  piercing  of  that  which  is  sharp  and  that  which  is 
flat,  though  the  strength  of  the  percussion  be  the  same;  for 
there  is  no  man  but  will  be  a  little  more  raised  by  hearing  it 
said,  Your  enemies  will  be  glad  of  this : 

Hoc  Ithacus  velit,  et  magno  mercentur  Atridaa  : 

than  by  hearing  it  said  only.  This  is  evil  for  you. 

Secondly,  I  do  resume  also  that  which  I  mentioned  before 
touching  Provision  or  Preparatory  store  for  the  furniture  of 
speech  and  readiness  of  invention;  which  appeareth  to  be  of 
two  sorts ;  the  one  in  resemblance  to  a  shop  of  pieces  unmade 
up,  the  other  to  a  shop  of  things  ready  made  up;  both  to 
be  applied  to  that  which  is  frequent  and  most  in  request : 


1  and  which  are  all  of  the  nature  of  collections  for  store  ( pertinent  omnia  ad  prom- 
ptuariam). 

8  Sophism. — That  which  people  praise  is  good,  that  which  they  blame  is  bad. 

Elenche. — He  praises  his  wares  who  wants  to  get  them  off  his  hands. 

It  is  naught,  it  is  naught,  sayth  the  buyer  ;  but  when  he  is  gone  he  will  vaunt. 

8  In  the  translation,  instead  of  the  single  example  given  above,  he  inserts  a  col¬ 
lection  of  twelve,  by  way  of  specimen  ;  each  having  the  elenche  annexed  and  com¬ 
pletely  explained.  This  collection  is  a  translation,  with  corrections  and  additions,  of 
the  English  tract  entitled  “  Colours  of  Good  and  Evil,”  which  was  printed  along  with 
the  Essays  in  1597,  and  will  be  found  in  this  edition  among  the  literary  works. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


413 


the  former  of  these  I  will  call  Antitheta,  and  the  latter 
Formulae. 

Antitlieta  are  Theses  argued  pro  et  contra ;  wherein  men  may 
be  more  large  and  laborious  :  but  (in  such  as  are  able  to  AntitMa 
do  it)  to  avoid  prolixity  of  entry,  I  wish  the  seeds  of  Rerum- 
the  several  arguments  to  be  cast  up  into  some  brief  and  acute 
sentences ;  not  to  be  cited,  but  to  be  as  skeins  or  bottoms  of 
thread,  to  be  unwinded  at  large  when  they  come  to  be  used ; 
supplying  authorities  and  examples  by  reference. 

PRO  VERBIS  LEGIS. 

Non  est  interpretatio,  sed  divinatio,  qu®  recedit  a  litera. 

Cum  receditur  a  litera,  judex  transit  in  legislatorem. 


PRO  SENTENTIA  LEGIS. 

Ex  omnibus  verbis  est  eliciendus  sensus  qui  interpretatur  singula.1 2 

Formulae  are  but  decent  and  apt  passages  or  conveyances 
of  speech,  which  may  serve  indifferently  for  differing  subjects ; 
as  of  preface,  conclusion,  digression,  transition,  excusation,  &c. 
For  as  in  buildings  there  is  great  pleasure  and  use  in  the  well¬ 
casting  of  the  stair-cases,  entries,  doors,  windows,  and  the  like  ; 
so  in  speech  the  conveyances  and  passages  are  of  special  orna¬ 
ment  and  effect. 

A  CONCLUSION  IN  A  DELIBERATIVE. 

So  may  we  redeem  the  faults  passed,  and  prevent  the  inconveniences  future. 

t 3  There  remain  two  appendices  touching  the  tradition  of 
knowledge,  the  one  Critical,  the  other  Pedantical.4  For  all 
knowledge  is  either  delivered  by  teachers,  or  attained  by  men’s 
proper  endeavours :  and  therefore  as  the  principal  part  of  tradi- 


1  For  the  Words  of  the  Law.  —  Interpretation  which  departs  from  the  letter,  is 
not  interpretation  but  divination. 

When  the  letter  is  departed  from  the  Judge  becomes  the  Lawgiver. 

For  the  Intention  of  the  Law. — The  sense  according  to  which  each  word  is  to 
be  interpreted  must  be  collected  from  all  the  words  together. 

Of  these  antitheta  a  large  collection  will  be  found  in  the  De  Auy mentis,  set  forth  by 
way  of  specimen  in  the  manner  here  recommended. 

2  Of  these  formulae  —  or  formulae  minores  as  he  afterwards  called  them  —  three  other 
examples  are  given  in  the  De  Augmentis,  all  from  Cicero.  Bacon’s  own  speeches  and 
narrative  writings  would  supply  many  very  good  ones. 

*  De  Aug.  vi.  4. 

i  Peedagogica,  in  the  translation. 


414 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


tion  of  knowledge  concerneth  chiefly  writing  1  of  books,  so 
the  relative  part  thereof  concerneth  reading  of  books.  Where- 
unto  appertain  incidently  these  considerations.  The  first  is 
concerning  the  true  correction  and  edition  of  authors ;  wherein 
nevertheless  rash  diligence  hath  done  great  prejudice.  For 
these  critics  have  often  presumed  that  that  which  they  under¬ 
stand  not  is  false  set  down :  as  the  Priest  that  where  he  found 
it  written  of  St.  Paul,  Demissus  est  per  sportam,  [he  was  let 
down  in  a  basket,]  mended  his  book,  and  made  it  Demissus  est 
per  portam,  [he  was  let  out  by  the  gate ;]  because  sporta  was 
an  hard  word,  and  out  of  his  reading 2 ;  and  surely  their  errors, 
though  they  be  not  so  palpable  and  ridiculous,  are  yet  of  the 
same  kind.  And  therefore  as  it  hath  been  wisely  noted,  the 
most  corrected  copies  are  commonly  the  least  correct. 

The  second  is  concerning  the  exposition  and  explication  of 
authors,  which  resteth  in  annotations  and  commentaries ; 
wherein  it  is  over  usual  to  blanch  the  obscure  places,  and  dis¬ 
course  upon  the  plain. 

The  third  is  concerning  the  times,  which  in  many  cases  give 
great  light  to  true  interpretations. 3 

The  fourth  is  concerning  some  brief  censure  and  judgment  of 
the  authors  ;  that  men  thereby  may  make  some  election  unto 
themselves  what  books  to  read. 

And  the  fifth  is  concerning  the  syntax  and  disposition  of 

*  in  writing,  in  the  original ;  and  also  in  the  editions  1629  and  1633.  The  trans¬ 
lation  has  in  lectione  librorum  consistit. 

2  For  this  illustration,  which  as  reflecting  upon  a  Priest  might  have  been  offensive 
at  Rome,  another  is  substituted  in  the  De  Augmentis,  which  is  “  not  so  palpable  and 
ridiculous.”  A  striking  instance  of  the  same  kind  occurs  in  two  recent  editions  of 
this  very  work.  In  an  edition  of  the  Advancement  of  Learning,  published  by  J.  W. 
Parker  in  1852,  Orosius  is  substituted  for  Osorius  in  the  passage  (p.  283.),  “Then  grew 
the  flowing  and  watery  vein  of  Osorius,  the  Portugal  Bishop,  to  be  in  price ;  ”  with  the 
following  note  :  “  All  the  editions  have  Osorius,  which  however  must  be  a  mere  mis¬ 
print.  He  was  not  a  Portuguese,  but  a  Spaniard,  born  at  Tarragona,  nor  indeed  ever 
a  bishop.  He  was  sent  by  St.  Augustine  on  a  mission  to  Jerusalem,  and  is  supposed 
to  have  died  in  Africa  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  fifth  century.”  In  the  following  year 
Mr.  H.  Bohn  published  a  translation  of  the  De  Augmentis,  which  is  little  more  than 
a  reprint  of  Shaw’s  translation,  revised  and  edited  by  Mr.  Joseph  Devey.  In  this 
edition  Orosius  is  silently  substituted  for  Osorius  in  the  same  passage,  with  this  note  : 
“  Neither  a  Portuguese,  nor  a  bishop,  but  a  Spanish  monk  born  at  Tarragona,  and 
sent  by  St.  Augustine  on  a  mission  to  Jerusalem  in  the  commencement  of  the  fifth 
century.”  The  mistake  is  the  more  remarkable  because  the  passage  in  Bacon  refers 
obviously  and  unmistakably  to  the  period  of  the  Reformation. 

2  This  point  is  omitted  in  the  translation,  except  in  so  far  as  it  is  involved  in  an 
observation  which  is  added  under  the  next  head  —  viz.  that  editors  besides  giving 
“  some  brief  censure  and  judgment  of  their  authors  ”  should  compare  them  with  other 
writers  on  the  same  subjects.  But  I  am  inclined  to  suspect  that  the  omission  wa 
accidental ;  for  the  truth  is,  that  without  constant  reference  to  the  times  and  circum¬ 
stances  in  which  he  wrote  hardly  any  author  can  be  properly  understood. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


415 


studies ;  that  men  may  know  in  what  order  or  pursuit  to 
read.1 

For  Pedantical  knowledge,  it  containeth  that  difference  of 
Tradition  which  is  proper  for  youth;  whereunto  appertain 
diyers  considerations  of  great  fruit. 

As  first,  the  timing  and  seasoning  of  knowledges ;  as  with 
what  to  initiate  them,  and  from  what  for  a  time  to  refrain  them. 

Secondly,  the  consideration  wThere  to  begin  with  the  easiest 
and  so  proceed  to  the  more  difficult ;  and  in  what  courses 2  to 
press  the  more  difficult  and  then  to  turn  them  to  the  more 
easy :  for  it  is  one  method  to  practise  swimming  with  bladders, 
and  another  to  practise  dancing  with  heavy  shoes. 

A  third  is  the  application  of  learning  according  unto  the 
propriety  of  the  wits  ;  for  there  is  no  defect  in  the  faculties 
intellectual  but  seemeth  to  have  a  proper  cure  contained  in 
some  studies :  as  for  example,  if  a  child  be  bird-witted,  that  is, 
hath  not  the  faculty  of  attention,  the  Mathematics  giveth  a 
remedy  thereunto ;  for  in  them,  if  the  wit  be  caught  away  but 
a  moment,  one  is  new  to  begin.  And  as  sciences  have  a  pro¬ 
priety  towards  faculties  for  cure  and  help,  so  faculties  or  powers 
have  a  sympathy  towards  sciences  for  excellency  or  speedy 
profiting  ;  and  therefore  it  is  an  inquiry  of  great  wisdom,  what 
kinds  of  wits  and  natures  are  most  apt  and  proper  for  what 
sciences. 

Fourthly,  the  ordering  of  exercises  is  matter  of  great  conse¬ 
quence  to  hurt  or  help ;  for  as  is  well  observed  by  Cicero, 
men  in  exercising  their  faculties,  if  they  be  not  well  advised, 
do  exercise  their  faults  and  get  ill  habits  as  well  as  good ;  so 
as  there  is  a  great  judgment  to  be  had  in  the  continuance  and 
intermission  of  exercises.  It  were  too  long  to  particularise  a 
number  of  other  considerations  of  this  nature,  things  but  of 
mean  appearance,  but  of  singular  efficacy.  For  as  the  wrong¬ 
ing  or  cherishing  of  seeds  or  young  plants  is  that  that  is  most 
‘important  to  their  thriving;  and  as  it  was  noted  that  the  first 
six  kings  being  in  truth  as  tutors  of  the  state  of  Rome  in  the 
infancy  thereof,  was  the  principal  cause  of  the  immense  great¬ 
ness  of  that  state  which  followed :  so  the  culture  and  man- 

1  This  point  is  also  omitted  in  the  translation  ;  perhaps  as  included  in  the  “  censure 
and  judgment;  ”  which  (he  adds)  is  as  it  were  the  Critic’s  chair  ;  an  office  ennobled 
in  his  time  by  some  great  men,  majores  certe  nostro  judicio  quam  pro  modulo  criti- 
corum,  —  men  above  the  stature  of  critics. 

2  So  all  the  editions  :  probably  a  misprint  for  cases. 


416  OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 

urance  of  minds  in  youth  hath  such  a  forcible  (though  unseen) 
operation,  as  hardly  any  length  of  time  or  contention  of  labour 
can  countervail  it  afterwards.  And  it  is  not  amiss  to  observe 
also  how  small  and  mean  faculties  gotten  by  education,  yet 
when  they  fall  into  great  men  or  great  matters,  do  work  great 
and  important  etfects ;  whereof  we  see  a  notable  example  in 
Tacitus  of  two  stage-players,  Percennius  and  Vibulenus,  who 
by  their  faculty  of  playing  put  the  Pannonian  armies  into  an 
extreme  tumult  and  combustion.  For  there  arising  a  mutiny 
amongst  them  upon  the  death  of  Augustus  Caesar,  Blaesus  the 
lieutenant  had  committed  some  of  the  mutiners ;  which  were 
suddenly  rescued ;  whereupon  Vibulenus  got  to  be  heard 
speak,  which  he  did  in  this  manner :  —  These  poor  innocent 
wretches,  appointed  to  cruel  death,  you  have  restored  to  behold  the 
light.  But  who  shall  restore  my  brother  to  me,  or  life  unto  my 
brother  ?  that  was  sent  hither  in  message  from  the  legions  of 
Germany  to  treat  of  the  common  cause,  and  he  hath  murdered 
him  this  last  night  by  some  of  his  fencers  and  ruffians,  that  he 
hath  about  him  for  his  executioners  upon  soldiers.  Answer, 
Blaesus,  what  is  done  with  his  body  ?  The  mortalest  enemies  do 
not  deny  burial.  When  I  have  perfotmed  my  last  duties  to  the 
corpse  with  kisses,  with  tears,  command  me  to  be  slain  besides 
him ;  so  that  these  my  fellows,  for  our  good  meaning  and  our 
true  hearts  to  the  legions,  may  have  leave  to  bury  usd  With 


1  The  last  clause  does  not  give  the  exact  meaning  of  the  original,  from  which  it  may 
seem  that  Bacon  was  reporting  the  speech  from  memory ;  unless  it  be  that  a  line 
has  accidentally  dropped  out.  By  inserting  after  “  fellows  ”  the  words  “  seeing  us  put 
to  death  for  no  crime,  but  only  for,”  &c.  the  sense  would  be  represented  with  sufficient 
accuracy. 

In  the  translation,  this  passage  relating  to  “  Pedantical  knowledge,” —  that  is  the 
knowledge  which  concerns  the  instruction  of  youth,  —  is  considerably  enlarged,  and 
a  distinct  opinion  is  expressed  upon  many  of  the  points  which  are  here  only  noticed 
as  worthy  of  enquiry.  He  begins  by  recommending  the  schools  of  the  Jesuits  as  the 
best  model, — an  opinion  which  he  had  already  intimated  in  the  first  book  of  the 
Advancement.  He  approves  of  a  collegiate  education  both  for  boys  and  young  men, 
as  distinguished  from  a  private  education  under  masters.  He  wishes  compendiums  to 
be  avoided,  and  the  system  which,  aiming  at  precocity,  produces  overconfidence  and 
a  mere  shew  of  proficiency.  He  would  encourage  independence  of  mind,  and  if  any 
one  shews  a  taste  for  studies  which  lie  out  of  the  regular  course,  and  can  find  time  to 
pursue  them,  he  would  by  no  means  have  him  restrained.  Of  the  two  methods 
mentioned  in  the  text,  one  beginning  with  the  easiest  tasks,  the  other  with  the 
most  difficult,  he  recommends  a  judicious  intermixture,  as  best  for  the  advancement 
of  the  powers  both  of  mind  and  body.  With  regard  to  the  “  application  of  learning 
according  unto  the  propriety  of  the  wits,”  he  observes  (besides  its  use  as  a  corrective 
of  mental  defects)  that  masters  ought  to  attend  to  it  for  the  guidance  of  the  parents 
in  choosing  their  sons’  course  of  life  ;  and  also  because  a  man  will  advance  so  much 
faster  in  studies  for  which  he  has  a  natural  aptitude  than  in  any  others.  With  regard 
to  the  “ordering  of  exercises”  he  recommends  the  system  of  intermissions.  ( Itaque 
tutius  est  intermiltere  exercitia  et  subinde  repetere,  qua,,  's  si  due  continuare  et  urgere .) 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


417 


wliich  speech  he  put  the  army  into  an  infinite  fury  and  up¬ 
roar  ;  whereas  truth  was  he  had  no  brother,  neither  was  there 
any  such  matter,  but  he  played  it  merely  as  if  he  had  been 
upon  the  stage. 

But  to  return :  we  are  now  come  to  a  period  of  Rational 
Knowledges  ;  wherein  if  I  have  made  the  divisions  other  than 
those  that  are  received,  yet  would  I  not  be  thought  to  disallow 
all  those  divisions  which  I  do  not  use.  For  there  is  a  double 
necessity  imposed  upon  me  of  altering  the  divisions.  The  one, 
because  it  differeth  in  end  and  purpose,  to  sort  together  those 
things  which  are  next  in  nature,  and  those  things  which  are 
next  in  use.  For  if  a  secretary  of  state  should  sort  his  papers, 
it  is  like  in  his  study  or  general  cabinet  he  would  sort  together 
things  of  a  nature,  as  treaties,  instructions,  &c.  but  in  his  boxes 
or  particular  cabinet  he  would  sort  together  those  that  he  were 
like  to  use  together,  though  of  several  natures ;  so  in  this  general 
cabinet  of  knowledge  it  was  necessary  for  me  to  follow  the 
divisions  of  the  nature  of  things  ;  whereas  if  myself  had  been  to 
handle  any  particular  knowledge,  I  would  have  respected  the 
divisions  fittest  for  use.  The  other,  because  the  bringing  in  of 
the  deficiences  did  by  consequence  alter  the  partitions  of  the  rest : 
for  let  the  knowledge  extant  (for  demonstration  sake)  be  fifteen  ; 
let  the  knowledge  with  the  deficiences  be  twenty  ;  the  parts 
of  fifteen  are  not  the  parts  of  twenty ;  for  the  parts  of  fifteen 
are  three  and  five ;  the  parts  of  twenty  are  two,  four,  five,  and 
ten.  So  as  these  things  are  without  contradiction,  and  could 
not  otherwise  be. 

IT 1  We  proceed  now  to  that  knowledge  which  considereth  of 


Lastly  he  would  decidedly  have  the  art  of  acting  ( actio  theatralis)  made  a  part  of 
the  education  of  youth.  The  Jesuits,  he  says,  do  not  despise  it ;  and  he  thinks  they 
are  right ;  for  though  it  be  of  ill  repute  as  a  profession  (si  sit  professoria,  infamis 
est)  yet  as  a  part  of  discipline  it  is  of  excellent  use.  It  strengthens  the  memory,  it 
regulates  the  tone  and  effect  of  the  voice  and  pronunciation,  it  teaches  a  decent 
carriage  of  the  countenance  and  gesture,  it  begets  no  small  degree  of  confidence,  and 
accustoms  young  men  to  bear  being  looked  at.  In  Bacon’s  time,  when  masques  acted 
by  young  gentlemen  of  the  Universities  or  Inns  of  Court  were  the  favourite  enter¬ 
tainment  of  princes,  these  things  were  probably  better  attended  to  than  they  are  now  — 
and  he  could  have  pointed  no  doubt  to  many  living  examples  in  illustration  of  his 
remark.  The  examples  which  modern  experience  supplies  are  all  of  the  negative 
kind,  but  not  therefore  the  less  significant.  The  art  of  speaking,  of  recitation,  even 
of  reading  aloud,  is  not  now  taught  at  all ;  and  the  consequence  is,  that  even  among 
men  otherwise  accomplished  not  many  will  be  found  who  can  either  speak  a  speech  of 
their  own,  or  recite  the  speech  of  another,  or  read  a  book  aloud,  so  as  to  be  listened  to 
with  pleasure  in  a  mixed  company  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour  together. 

1  De  Aug.  vii.  1. 


418 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


the  Appetite 1  and  Will  of  Man ;  whereof  Salomon  saith, 
Ante  omnia,  fill,  custodi  cor  tvum  ;  nam  inde  procedunt  actiones 
vita :  [keep  thy  heart  with  all  diligence,  for  thereout  come 
the  actions  of  thy  life].  In  the  handling  of  this  science, 
those  which  have  written  seem  to  me  to  have  done  as  if  a  man 
that  professeth  to  teach  to  write  did  only  exhibit  fair  copies  of 
alphabets  and  letters  joined,  without  giving  any  precepts  or 
directions  for  the  carriage  of  the  hand  and  framing  of  the 
letters.  So  have  they  made  good  and  fair  exemplars  and  copies, 
carrying  the  draughts  and  portraitures  of  Good,  Virtue,  Duty, 
Felicity;  propounding  them  well  described  as  the  true  objects 
and  scopes  of  man’s  will  and  desires ;  but  how  to  attain  these 
excellent  marks,  and  how  to  frame  and  subdue  the  will  of  man 
to  become  true  and  conformable  to  these  pursuits,  they  pass  it 
over  altogether,  or  slightly  and  unprofitably.  For  it  is  not  the 
disputing  that  moral  virtues  are  in  the  mind  of  man  by  habit  and 
not  by  nature,  or  the  distinguishing  that  generous  spirits  are  icon 
by  doctrines  and  persuasions,  and  the  vulgar  sort  by  reward  and 
punishment 2,  and  the  like  scattered  glances  and  touches,  that 
can  excuse  the  absence  of  this  part. 

The  reason  of  this  omission  I  suppose  to  be  that  hidden  rock 
whereupon  both  this  and  many  other  barks  of  knowledge  have 
been  cast  away  ;  which  is,  that  men  have  despised  to  be  con¬ 
versant  in  ordinary  and  common  matters  ;  the  judicious  direc¬ 
tion  whereof  nevertheless  is  the  wisest  doctrine  (for  life  con- 
sisteth  not  in  novelties  or  subtilities)  :  but  contrariwise  they 
have  compounded  sciences  chiefly  of  a  certain  resplendent  or 
lustrous  mass  of  matter,  chosen  to  give  glory  either  to  the  sub¬ 
tility  of  disputations  or  to  the  eloquence  of  discourses.  But 
Seneca  giveth  an  excellent  check  to  eloquence ;  Nocet  illis 
eloquentia,  quibus  non  rerum  cupiditatem  facit,  sed  sui:  [elo¬ 
quence  does  mischief  when  it  draws  men’s  attention  away  from 
the  matter  to  fix  it  on  itself].  Doctrines  should  be  such  as 
should  make  men  in  love  with  the  lesson,  and  not  with  the 
teacher ;  being  directed  to  the  auditor’s  benefit,  and  not  to  the 
author’s  commendation :  and  therefore  those  are  of  the  right 
kind  which  may  be  concluded  as  Demosthenes  concludes  his 

1  In  the  translation  the  word  Appetite  is  omitted :  and  the  Will  is  described  as 
governed  by  right  reason,  seduced  by  apparent  good,  having  the  passions  for  spurs, 
the  organs  and  voluntary  motions  for  ministers. 

2  Or  the  giving  it  in  precept  (he  adds  in  the  translation)  that  if  you  would  rectify 
the  miud  you  must  bend  it  like  a  wand  in  the  direction  contrary  to  its  inclination. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


419 


counsel.  Qua  si  feceritis,  non  oratorem  duntaxat  in  prcesentia 
laudabitis ,  sed  vosmetipsos  etiam  non  ita  multo  post  statu  rerum. 
vestrarum  meliore :  [if  you  follow  this  advice  you  will  do  a 
grace  to  yourselves  no  less  than  to  the  speaker,  —  to  him  by 
your  vote  to-day,  to  yourselves  by  the  improvement  which  you 
will  presently  find  in  your  affairs]. 

Neither  needed  men  of  so  excellent  parts  to  have  despaired  of 
a  fortune  which  the  poet  Yirgil  promised  himself,  (and  indeed 
obtained,)  who  got  as  much  glory  of  eloquence,  wit,  and  learn¬ 
ing  in  the  expressing  of  the  observations  of  husbandry,  as  of 
the  heroical  acts  of  .ZEneas  :  — 

Nee  sum  animi  dubius,  verbis  ea  vincere  magnum 
Quam  sit,  et  angustis  his  addere  rebus  honorem. 

[How  hard  the  task  alas  full  well  I  know 
With  charm  of  words  to  grace  a  theme  so  low.] 

And  surely  if  the  purpose  be  in  good  earnest  not  to  write 
at  leisure  that  which  men  may  read  at  leisure,  but  really  to 
instruct  and  suborn  action  and  active  life,  these  Georgies  of 
the  mind,  concerning  the  husbandry  and  tillage  thereof,  are  no 
less  worthy  than  the  heroical  descriptions  of  Virtue,  Duty,  and 
Felicity.  Wherefore  the  main  and  primitive  division  of  moral 
knowledge  seemeth  to  be  into  the  Exemplar  or  Platform  of 
Good,  and  the  Regiment  or  Culture  of  the  Mind ;  the  one  de¬ 
scribing  the  nature  of  good,  the  other  prescribing  rules  how  to 
subdue,  apply,  and  accommodate  the  will  of  man  thereunto. 

The  doctrine  touching  the  Platform  or  Nature  of  Good  con- 
sidereth  it  either  Simple  or  Compared ;  either  the  kinds  of 
good,  or  the  degrees  of  good :  in  the  later  whereof  those  in¬ 
finite  disputations  which  were  touching  the  supreme  degree 
thereof,  which  they  term  felicity,  beatitude,  or  the  highest 
good,  the  doctrines  concerning  which  were  as  the  heathen 
divinity,  are  by  the  Christian  faith  discharged.  And  as  Aristo¬ 
tle  saith.  That  young  men  may  he  happy ,  but  not  otherwise  but 
by  hope;  so  we  must  all  acknowledge  our  minority,  and 
embrace  the  felicity  which  is  by  hope  of  the  future  world. 

Freed  therefore  and  delivered  from  this  doctrine  of  the  phi¬ 
losophers’  heaven,  whereby  they  feigned  an  higher  elevation  of 
man’s  nature  than  was,  (for  we  see  in  what  an  height  of  style 
Seneca  writeth,  Vere  magnum ,  habere  fragilitatem  hominis, 
securitatem  Dei,  [it  is  true  greatness  to  have  in  one  the  frailty 
of  a  man  and  the  security  of  a  God,]  we  may  with  more  so- 


28  Bacon  III 


420 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


briety  and  truth  receive  the  rest  of  their  inquiries  and  labours. 
Wherein  for  the  Nature  of  Good  Positive  or  Simple,  they  have 
set  it  down  excellently,  in  describing  the  forms  of  Virtue  and 
Duty,  with  their' situations  and  postures,  in  distributing  them 
into  their  kinds,  parts,  provinces,  actions,  and  administrations, 
and  the  like  :  nay  farther,  they  have  commended  them  to  man’s 
nature  and  spirit  with  great  quickness  of  argument  and  beauty 
of  persuasions ;  yea,  and  fortified  and  intrenched  them  (as  much 
as  discourse  can  do)  against  corrupt  and  popular  opinions. 
Again,  for  the  Degrees  and  Comparative  Nature  of  Good,  they 
have  also  excellently  handled  it  in  their  triplicity  of  Good,  in 
the  comparisons  between  a  contemplative  and  an  active  life,  in 
the  distinction  between  virtue  with  reluctation  and  virtue 
secured,  in  their  encounters  between  honesty  and  profit,  in 
their  balancing  of  virtue  with  virtue,  and  the  like  ;  so  as  this 
part  deserveth  to  be  reported  for  excellently  laboured.1 

Notwithstanding,  if  before  they  had  comen  to  the  popular  and 
received  notions  of  virtue  and  vice,  pleasure  and  pain,  and  the 
rest,  they  had  stayed  a  little  longer  upon  the  inquiry  concern¬ 
ing  the  roots  of  good  and  evil,  and  the  strings  of  those  roots, 
they  had  given,  in  my  opinion,  a  great  light  to  that  which 
followed ;  and  specially  if  they  had  consulted  with  nature,  they 
had  made  their  doctrines  less  prolix  and  more  profound ;  which 
being  by  them  in  part  omitted  and  in  part  handled  with  much 
confusion,  we  will  endeavour  to  resume  and  open  in  a  more 
clear  manner. 

There  is  formed  in  every  thing  a  double  nature  of  good :  the 
one,  as  every  thing  is  a  total  or  substantive  in  itself ;  the  other, 
as  it  is  a  part  or  member  of  a  greater  body ;  whereof  the  later 
is  in  degree  the  greater  and  the  worthier,  because  it  tendeth  to 
the  conservation  of  a  more  general  form.  Therefore  we  see 
the  iron  in  particular  sympathy  moveth  to  the  loadstone  ;  but 
yet  if  it  exceed  a  certain  quantity,  it  forsaketh  the  affection  to 
the  loadstone,  and  like  a  good  patriot  moveth  to  the  earth, 
which  is  the  region  and  country  of  massy  bodies ;  so  may  we 
go  forward,  and  see  that  water  and  massy  bodies  move  to  the 
centre  of  the  earth  ;  but  rather  than  to  suffer  a  divulsion  in  the 
continuance  of  nature,  they  will  move  upwards  from  the  centre 

1  Well  by  the  ancient  philosophers,  but  still  better  (according  to  the  translation)  by 
the  divines  in  their  discussions  of  moral  duties  and  virtues,  cases  of  conscience, 
sins,  &c. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


421 


of  the  earth,  forsaking  their  duty  to  the  earth  in  regard  of  their 
duty  to  the  world.  This  double  nature  of  good,  and  the  com¬ 
parative  thereof,  is  much  more  engraven  upon  man,  if  he  de¬ 
generate  not;  unto  whom  the  conservation  of  duty  to  the 
public  ought  to  be  much  more  precious  than  the  conservation 
of  life  and  being  :  according  to  that  memorable  speech  of  Pom- 
peius  Magnus,  when  being  in  commission  of  purveyance  for  a 
famine  at  Rome,  and  being  dissuaded  with  great  vehemency 
and  instance  by  his  friends  about  him  that  he  should  not  hazard 
himself  to  sea  in  an  extremity  of  weather,  he  said  only  to  them, 
Necesse  est  ut  earn,  non  ut  vivam :  [it  is  needful  that  I  go,  not 
that  I  live].  But  it  may  be  truly  affirmed  that  there  was  never 
any  philosophy,  religion,  or  other  discipline,  which  did  so 
plainly  and  highly  exalt  the  good  which  is  communicative,  and 
depress  the  good  which  is  private  and  particular,  as  the  Holy 
Faith  ;  well  declaring,  that  it  was  the  same  God  that  gave  the 
Christian  law  to  men,  who  gave  those  laws  of  nature  to  inani¬ 
mate  creatures  that  we  spake  of  before  ;  for  we  read  that  the 
elected  saints  of  God  have  wished  themselves  anathematized 
and  razed  out  of  the  book  of  life,  in  an  ecstasy  of  charity  and 
infinite  feeling  of  communion. 

This  being  set  down  and  strongly  planted,  doth  judge  and 
determine  most  of  the  controversies  wherein  Moral  Philosophy 
is  conversant.  For  first  it  decideth  the  question  touching  the 
preferment  of  the  contemplative  or  active  life,  and  decideth  it 
against  Aristotle.  For  all  the  reasons  .which  he  bringeth  for 
the  contemplative  are  private,  and  respecting  the  pleasure  and 
dignity  of  a  man’s  self,  (in  which  respects  no  question  the 
contemplative  life  hath  the  pre-eminence  :)  not  much  unlike 
to  that  comparison  which  Pythagoras  made  for  the  gracing 
and  magnifying  of  philosophy  and  contemplation ;  who  being 
asked  what  he  was,  answered.  That  if  Hiero  were  ever  at  the 
Olympian  games,  he  knew  the  manner,  that  some  came  to  try 
their  fortune  for  the  prizes,  and  some  came  as  merchants  to  utter 
their  commodities,  and  some  came  to  make  good  cheer  and  meet 
their  friends,  and  some  came  to  look  on  ;  and  that  he  was  one  of 
them  that  came  to  look  on.  But  men  must  know,  that  in  this 
theatre  of  man’s  life  it  is  reserved  only  for  God  and  Angels  to 
be  lookers  on.  Neither  could  the  like  question  ever  have  been 
received  in  the  church,  notwithstanding  their  Pretiosa  in  oculis 
Domini  mors  sanetorinn  ejus,  [precious  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord 


422 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


is  tlie  death  of  his  saints,]  by  which  place  they  would  exalt 
their  civil  death  and  regular  professions,  but  upon  this  defence, 
that  the  monastical  life  is  not  simple  1  contemplative,  but  per¬ 
formed  the  duty  either  of  incessant  prayers  and  supplications, 
which  hath  been  truly  esteemed  as  an  office  in  the  church,  or 
else  of  writing  or  taking  2  instructions  for  writing  concerning 
the  law  of  God,  as  Moses  did  when  he  abode  so  long  in  the 
mount.  And  so  we  see  Henoch  the  seventh  from  Adam,  who 
was  the  first  Contemplative  and  walked  with  God,  yet  did 
also  endow  the  church  with  prophecy,  which  St.  J ude  citeth. 
But  for  contemplation  which  should  be  finished  in  itself  with¬ 
out  casting  beams  upon  society,  assuredly  divinity  knoweth 
it  not. 

It  decideth  also  the  controversies  between  Zeno  and  Socrates 
and  their  schools  and  successions  on  the  one  side,  who  placed 
felicity  in  virtue  simply  or  attended  ;  the  actions  and  exercises 
whereof  do  chiefly  embrace  and  concern  society ;  and  on  the 
other  side3,  the  Cyrenaics  and  Epicureans,  who  placed  it  in 
pleasure,  and  made  virtue  (as  it  is  used  in  some  comedies  of 
errors,  wherein  the  mistress  and  the  maid  change  habits,)  to  be 
but  as  a  servant,  without  which  pleasure  cannot  be  served  and 
attended ;  and  the  reformed  school  of  the  Epicureans,  which 
placed  it  in  serenity  of  miifd  and  freedom  from  perturbation ;  as 
if  they  would  have  deposed  Jupiter  again,  and  restored  Saturn 
and  the  first  age,  when  there  was  no  summer  nor  winter, 
spring  nor  autumn,  but  all  after  one  air  and  season ;  and 
Herillus4 5,  which  placed  felicity  in  extinguishment  of  the  dis¬ 
putes  of  the  mind,  making  no  fixed  nature  of  good  and  evil,  es¬ 
teeming  things  according  to  the  clearness  of  the  desires,  or  the 
reluctation6 ;  which  opinion  was  revived  in  the  heresy  of  the 
Anabaptists,  measuring  things  according  to  the  motions  of  the 
spirit,  and  the  constancy  or  wavering  of  belief :  all  which  are 


1  Edd.  1629  and  1633  have  simply. 

2  So  edd.  1629  and  1633.  The  original  has  in  taking.  In  the  translation  the  words 
“  taking  instructions  for  writing  ”  are  omitted  ;  as  applicable,  I  suppose,  to  the  case  of 
Moses  only,  not  of  the  Church  ;  and  mu/to  in  otio  substituted. 

8  Et  reliquas  complures  sectas  et  scholas ,  ex  altera  parte  :  velutiy  &c.  All  the  opinions 
which  are  about  to  be  cited  belong  to  “the  other  side” — i.  e.  the  side  opposed  to  that 
of  Zeno  and  Socrates ;  a  point  which  from  the  careless  composition  of  the  English  is 
not  immediately  clear. 

4  The  translation  has  “and  lastly  that  exploded  school  of  Pyrrho  and  Herillus.” 

5  That  is,  esteeming  those  actions  good  which  are  attended  with  clearness  and  com¬ 

posure  of  mind,  those  bad  which  proceed  with  dislike  and  reluctation — ( uctiones  pro 
bonis  aut  malis  hubevtes ,  p-out  ex  animo ,  main  puro  et  irrefracto ,  aut  contra  cum  aver - 
satione  et  reluctutiune ,  prodirent). 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


423 


manifest  to  tend  to  private  repose  and  contentment,  and  not  to 
point  of  society. 

It  censureth  also  the  philosophy  of  Epictetus,  which  presup- 
poseth  that  felicity  must  be  placed  in  those  things  which  are  in 
our  power,  lest  we  be  liable  to  fortune  and  disturbance  :  as  if 
it  were  not  a  thing  much  more  happy  to  fail  in  good  and  vir¬ 
tuous  ends  for  the  public,  than  to  obtain  all  that  we  can  wish 
to  ourselves  in  our  proper  fortune;  as  Consalvo  said  to  his 
soldiers,  shewing  them  Naples,  and  protesting  he  had  rather 
die  one  foot  forwards  than  to  have  his  life  secured  for  long  by 
one  foot  of  retreat ;  whereunto  the  wisdom  of  that  heavenly 
leader  hath  signed,  who  hath  affirmed  that  a  good  conscience  is  a 
continual  feast:  shewing  plainly  that  the  conscience  of  good 
intentions,  howsoever  succeeding,  is  a  more  continual  joy  to 
nature  than  all  the  provision  which  can  be  made  for  security 
and  repose. 

It  censureth  likewise  that  abuse  of  philosophy  which  grew 
general  about  the  time  of  Epictetus,  in  converting  it  into  an 
occupation  or  profession ;  as  if  the  purpose  had  been,  not  to 
resist  and  extinguish  perturbations,  but  to  fly  and  avoid  the 
causes  of  them,  and  to  shape  a  particular  kind  and  course  of 
life  to  that  end ;  introducing  such  an  health  of  mind,  as  was 
that  health  of  body  of  which  Aristotle  speaketh  of  Herodicus, 
who  did  nothing  all  his  life  long  but  intend  his  health:  whereas 
if  men  refer  themselves  to  duties  of  society,  as  that  health 
of  body  is  best  which  is  ablest  to  endure  all  alterations  and 
extremities,  so  likewise  that  health  of  mind  is  most  proper1 
which  can  go  through  the  greatest  temptations  and  perturba¬ 
tions.  So  as  Diogenes’  opinion  is  to  be  accepted,  who  com¬ 
mended  not  them  which  abstained,  but  them  which  sustained, 
and  could  refrain  their  mind  in  prcccipitio,  and  could  give  unto 
the  mind  (as  is  used  in  horsemanship)  the  shortest  stop  or 
turn. 

Lastly,  it  censureth  the  tenderness  and  want  of  application2 
in  some  of  the  most  ancient  and  reverend  philosophers  and 
philosophical  men,  that  did  retire  too  easily  from  civil  business, 
for  avoiding  of  indignities  and  perturbations ;  whereas  the  re¬ 
solution  of  men  truly  moral  ought  to  be  such  as  the  same  Con- 

1  i.  e.  that  mind  is  to  be  considered  truly  and  properly  healthy—  (animus  Hit  demum 
vere  et  propria  sanvs  et  validns  censendus  eat). 

*  meaning  what  we  should  now  rather  call  want  of  compliance  or  accommodation  — 

( imptitudinem  ad  iiaji  ijerundum ), 


424 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


salvo  said  the  honour  of  a  soldier  should  he,  e  tela  crassiore, 
[of  a  stouter  web,]  and  not  so  fine  as  that  every  thing  should 
catch  in  it  and  endanger  it. 

IT 1  To  resume  Private  or  Particular  Good,  it  falleth  into 
the  division  of  Good  Active  and  Passive :  for  this  difference 
of  Good  (not  unlike  to  that  which  amongst  the  Romans  was 
expressed  in  the  familiar  or  household  terms  of  Promus  and 
Condus)  is  formed  also  in  all  things ;  and  is  best  disclosed  in 
the  two  several  appetites  in  creatures,  the  one  to  preserve  or 
continue  themselves,  and  the  other  to  dilate  or  multiply  them¬ 
selves;  whereof  the  later  seemeth  to  be  the  worthier.  For  in 
nature,  the  heavens,  which  are  the  more  worthy,  are  the  agent; 
and  the  earth,  which  is  the  less  worthy,  is  the  patient.  In  the 
pleasures  of  living  creatures,  that  of  generation  is  greater 
than  that  of  food.  In  divine  doctrine,  Beatius  est  dare  quam 
accipere :  [it  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive].  And  in 
life,  there  is  no  man’s  spirit  so  soft,  but  esteemeth  the  effecting 
of  somewhat  that  he  hath  fixed  in  his  desire  more  than  sensua¬ 
lity.  Which  priority  of  the  Active  Good  is  much  upheld  by 
the  consideration  of  our  estate  to  be  mortal  and  exposed  to 
fortune ;  for  if  we  might  have  a  perpetuity  and  certainty  in  our 
pleasures,  the  state2  of  them  would  advance  their  price ;  but 
when  we  see  it  is  but  Magni  cestimamns  mori  tardius,  [we  think 
it  a  great  matter  to  be  a  little  longer  in  dying,]  and  Ne  glo- 
rieris  de  crastino,  nescis  partum  diei,  [boast  not  thyself  of  to¬ 
morrow,  thou  knowest  not  what  the  day  may  bring  forth,]  it 
maketh  us  to  desire  to  have  somewhat  secured  and  exempted 
from  time ;  which  are  only  our  deeds  and  works  ;  as  it  is  said 
Opera  eorum  sequuntur  eos :  [their  works  follow  them].  The 
pre-eminence  likewise  of  this  Active  Good  is  upheld  by  the 
affection  which  is  natural  in  man  towards  variety  and  proceed¬ 
ing  ;  which  in  the  pleasures  of  the  sense  (which  is  the  principal 
part  of  Passive  Good)  can  have  no  great  latitude :  Cogita 
quamdiu  eadem  fcceris ;  cibus,  somnus,  ludus  ;  per  kune  circulum 
curritur ;  mori  velle  non  tantum  fortis,  aut  miser,  aut  prudens, 
sed  etiam  fastidiosus  potest :  [if  you  consider,  says  Seneca,  how 
often  you  do  the  same  thing  over  and  over ;  food  sleep  exer¬ 
cise,  and  then  food  sleep  exercise  again,  and  so  round  and 
round ;  you  will  think  that  there  needs  neither  fortitude  nor 


1  De  Aug.  vii.  2. 


t.  e.  the  stability.  ( securitns  et  morn.y 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


425 


misery  nor  wisdom  to  reconcile  a  man  to  death ;  one  might 
wish  to  die  for  mere  weariness  of  being  alive].  But  in  en¬ 
terprises,  pursuits,  and  purposes  of  life,  there  is  much  variety ; 
whereof  men  are  sensible  with  pleasure  in  their  inceptions,  pro¬ 
gressions,  recoils,  reintegrations,  approaches,  and  attainings  to 
their  ends :  so  as  it  was  well  said.  Vita  sine  proposito  languida  et 
vaga  est :  [life  without  an  object  to  pursue  is  a  languid  and 
tiresome  thing].  Neither  hath  this  Active  Good  any  1  identity 
with  the  good  of  society,  though  in  some  case  it  hath  an  in¬ 
cidence  into  it :  for  although  it  do  many  times  bring  forth  acts 
of  beneficence,  yet  it  is  with  a  respect  private  to  a  man’s  own 
power,  glory,  amplification,  continuance ;  as  appeareth  plainly 
when  it  findeth  a  contrary  subject.  For  that  gigantine  state  of 
mind  which  possesseth  the  troublers  of  the  world,  such  as  was 
Lucius  Sylla,  and  infinite  other  in  smaller  model,  who  would 
have  all  men  happy  or  unhappy  as  they  were  their  friends  or 
enemies,  and  would  give  form  to  the  world  according  to  their 
own  humours,  (which  is  the  true  Theomachy,)  pretendeth  and 
aspireth  to  active  good2,  though  it  recedeth  furthest  from  good 
of  society,  which  we  have  determined  to  be  the  greater. 

To  resume  Passive  Good,  it  receiveth  a  subdivision  of  Con¬ 
servative  and  Perfective.  For  let  us  take  a  brief  review  of 
that  which  we  have  said  :  we  have  spoken  first  of  the  Good  of 
Society,  the  intention  whereof  embraceth  the  form  of  Human 
Nature,  whereof  we  are  members  and  portions,  and  not  our 
own  proper  and  individual  form ;  we  have  spoken  of  Active 
Good,  and  supposed  it  as  a  part  of  Private  and  Particular 
Good ;  and  rightly  3 ;  for  there  is  impressed  upon  all  things 
a  triple  desire  or  appetite  proceeding  from  love  to  themselves ; 
one  of  preserving  and  continuing  their  form ;  another  of  ad¬ 
vancing  and  perfecting  their  form  ;  and  a  third  of  multiplying 
and  extending  their  form  upon  other  things ;  whereof  the  mul¬ 
tiplying  or  signature  of  it  upon  other  things  is  that  which  we 
handled  by  the  name  of  Active  Good.  So  as  there  remaineth 
the  conserving  of  it,  and  perfecting  or  raising  of  it;  which 
later  is  the  highest  degree  of  Passive  Good.  For  to  preserve 
in  state  is  the  less,  to  preserve  with  advancement  is  the  greater. 

1  So  edd.  1629  and  1633.  The  original  has  and. 

2  /.  e.  apparent  good  of  the  individual — ( bonum  uctivum  individuate  saltern  appare?is). 

3  This  passage,  from  fur  let  us  take  &c.  to  rightly,  is  omitted  in  the  translation  ;  and 
the  argument  proceeds  more  dearly  without  it. 


426 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


So  in  man, 

Igneus  est  ollis  vigor,  et  coelestis  origo.1 

[The  living  fire  that  glows  those  seeds  within 

Remembers  its  celestial  origin.] 

His  approach  or  assumption  to  divine  or  angelical  nature  is  the 
perfection  of  his  form ;  the  error  or  false  imitation  of  which 
good  is  that  which  is  the  tempest  of  human  life ;  while  man, 
upon  the  instinct  of  an  advancement  formal  and  essential, 
is  carried  to  seek  an  advancement  local.  For  as  those 
which  are  sick,  and  find  no  remedy,  do  tumble  up  and  down 
and  change  place,  as  if  by  a  remove  local  they  could  obtain 
a  remove  internal ;  so  is  it  with  men  in  ambition,  when  failing 
of  the  mean  to  exalt  their  nature,  they  are  in  a  perpetual 
estuation  to  exalt  their  place.  So  then  Passive  Good  is,  as 
was  said,  either  Conservative  or  Perfective. 

To  resume  the  good  of  Conservation  or  Comfort,  which  con- 
sisteth  in  the  fruition  of  that  which  is  agreeable  to  our  natures  ; 
it  seemeth  to  be  the  most  pure  and  natural  of  pleasures,  but 
yet  the  softest  and  the  lowest.  And  this  also  receiveth  a  dif¬ 
ference,  which  hath  neither  been  well  judged  of  nor  well 
enquired.  For  the  good  of  fruition  or  contentment  is  placed 
either  in  the  sincereness  of  the  fruition,  or  in  the  quickness 
and  vigour  of  it ;  the  one  superinduced  by  the  equality,  the 
other  by  vicissitude ;  the  one  having  less  mixture  of  evil,  the 
other  more  impression  of  good.  Whether  of  these  is  the  greater 
good,  is  a  question  controverted ;  but  whether  man’s  nature 
may  not  be  capable  of  both,  is  a  question  not  enquired. 

Ihe  former  question  being  debated  between  Socrates  and  a 
Sophist,  Socrates  placing  felicity  in  an  equal  and  constant 
peace  of  mind,  and  the  Sophist  in  much  desiring  and  much 
enjoying,  they  fell  from  argument  to  ill  words :  the  Sophist  say- 
ing  that  Socrates  felicity  was  the  felicity  of  a  block  or  stone; 
and  Socrates  saying  that  the  Sophist’s  felicity  was  the  felicity 
of  one  that  had  the  itch,  who  did  nothing  but  itch  and  scratch. 
And  both  these  opinions  do  not  want  their  supports.  For  the 
opinion  of  Socrates  is  much  upheld  by  the  general  consent 
even  of  the  Epicures  themselves,  that  virtue  beareth  a  great 
part  in  felicity ;  and  if  so,  certain  it  is  that  virtue  hath  more 

1  The  connexion  of  this  with  the  preceding  sentence  is  made  clearer  in  the  trans¬ 
lation  by  the  remark  that  there  are  found  throughout  the  universe  certain  nobler 
natuies  which  inferior  natures  recognise  as  their  origin  and  towards  which  they  aspire. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


427 


use  in  clearing  perturbations  than  in  compassing  desires.  The 
Sophist’s  opinion  is  much  favoured  by  the  assertion  we  last 
spake  of,  that  good  of  advancement  is  greater  than  good  of 
simple  preservation  ;  because  every  obtaining  a  desire  hath  a 
shew  of  advancement  *,  as  motion  though  in  a  circle  hath  a 
shew  of  progression. 

But  the  second  question,  decided  the  true  way,  maketh  the 
former  superfluous.  For  can  it  be  doubted  but  that  there  are 
some  who  take  more  pleasure  in  enjoying  pleasures  than  some 
other,  and  yet  nevertheless  are  less  troubled  with  the  loss  or 
leaving  of  them  ?  so  as  this  same  Non  uti  ut  non  appetas,  non 
appetere  ut  non  metuas,  sunt  animi  pusilli  et  diffidentis :  [to 
abstain  from  the  use  of  a  thing  that  you  may  not  feel  a  want  of 
it;  to  shun  the  want  that  you  may  not  fear  the  loss  of  it;  are 
the  precautions  of  pusillanimity  and  cowardice  2].  And  it 
seemeth  to  me,  that  most  of  the  doctrines  of  the  philosophers 
are  more  fearful  and  cautionary  than  the  nature  of  things 
requireth.  So  have  they  increased  the  fear  of  death  in  offering 
to  cure  it.  For  when  they  would  have  a  man’s  whole  life  to 
be  but  a  discipline  or  preparation  to  die,  they  must  needs  make 
men  think  that  it  is  a  terrible  enemy  against  whom  there  is  no 
end  of  preparing.  Better  saith  the  poet : 

Qui  finem  vit®  extremum  inter  munera  ponat 
Natur® : 

[the  end  of  life  is  to  be  counted  among  the  boons  of  nature]. 
So  have  they  sought  to  make  men’s  minds  too  uniform  and 
harmonical,  by  not  breaking  them  sufficiently  to  contrary 
motions :  the  reason  whereof  I  suppose  to  be,  because  they 
themselves  were  men  dedicated  to  a  private,  free,  and  unap¬ 
plied  course  of  life.  For  as  we  see,  upon  the  lute  or  like 
instrument,  a  ground,  though  it  be  sweet  and  have  shew  ot 
many  changes,  yet  breaketh  not  the  hand  to  such  strange  and 
hard  stops  and  passages  as  a  set  song  or  voluntary ;  much  after 
the  same  manner  was  the  diversity  between  a  philosophical  and 
a  civil  life. 3  And  therefore  men  are  to  imitate  the  wisdom  of 

1  i.  e.  towards  the  perfection  of  nature ;  only  a  shew  of  advancement,  however, 
not  necessarily  a  real  one  —  ( quia  rerum  cupiturum  adeptiones  naturam  videantur 
sensim  perficere  ;  quod  licet  vere  non  fuciant,  tamen,  & c.). 
a  Compare  Sbakspeare’s  sonnet — 

I  cannot  chuse 

But  weep  to  have  that  which  I  tear  to  lose. 
s  This  illustration  is  omitted  in  the  translation. 


428 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


jewellers  ;  who,  if  there  be  a  grain  or  a  cloud  or  an  ice  which 
may  be  ground  forth  without  taking  too  much  of  the  stone, 
they  help  it ;  but  -if  it  should  lessen  and  abate  the  stone  too 
much,  they  will  not  meddle  with  it :  so  ought  men  so  to  pro¬ 
cure  serenity  as  they  destroy  not  magnanimity. 

Having  therefore  deduced  the  Good  of  Man  which  is  Pri- 
vate  and  Particular  as  far  as  seemeth  fit,  we  will  now  return 
to  that  good  of  man  which  respecteth  and  beholdeth  society, 
which  we  may  term  Duty ;  because  the  term  of  Duty  is  more 
proper  to  a  mind  well  framed  and  disposed  towards  others, 
as  the  term  of  Virtue  is  applied  to  a  mind  well  formed  and 
composed  in  itself;  though  neither  can  a  man  understand 
Virtue  without  some  relation  to  society,  nor  Duty  without  an 
inward  disposition.  This  part  may  seem  at  first  to  pertain  to 
science  civil  and  politic  ;  but  not  if  it  be  well  observed.  For  it 
coneerneth  the  regiment  and  government  of  every  man  over 
himself,  and  not  over  others.  And  as  in  architecture  the 
direction  of  framing  the  posts,  beams,  and  other  parts  of  build¬ 
ing,  is  not  the  same  with  the  manner  of  joining  them  and 
erecting  the  building ;  and  in  mechanicals,  the  direction  how 
to  frame  an  instrument  or  engine,  is  not  the  same  with  the 
manner  of  setting  it  on  work  and  employing  it;  and  yet  never¬ 
theless  in  expressing  of  the  one  you  incidently  express  the 
aptness  towards  the  other;  so  the  doctrine  of  conjugation  of 
men  in  society  differeth  from  that  of  their  conformity  there¬ 
unto.  1 

This  part  of  Duty  is  subdivided  into  two  parts;  the  common 
duty  of  every  man,  as  a  man  or  member  of  a  state  ;  the  other, 
the  respective  or  special  duty  of  every  man,  in  his  profession, 
vocation,  and  place.  The  first  of  these  is  extant  and  well 
laboured,  as  hath  been  said.  The  second  likewise  I  may  report 
rather  dispersed  than  deficient ;  which  manner  of  dispersed 
writing  in  this  kind  of  argument  I  acknowledge  to  be  best. 
For  who  can  take  upon  him  to  write  of  the  proper  duty,  virtue, 
challenge,  and  right  of  every  several  vocation,  profession  and 
place?  For  although  sometimes  a  looker  on  may  see  more  than 
a  gamester,  and  there  be  a  proverb  more  arrogant  than  sound, 

1  z.  e .  of  the  conformation  of  men  to  the  business  of  society — (qua  eos  reddit  ad 
hnjusmodi  societutis  cominoda  conformed  et  bene  uffectos\ 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


429 


That  the  vale  best  discover eth  the  hill;  yet  there  is  small 
doubt  but  that  men  can  write  best  and  most  really  and  materi¬ 
ally  in  their  own  professions ;  and  that  the  writing  of  specu¬ 
lative  men  of  active  matter  for  the  most  part  doth  seem  to 
men  of  experience,  as  Phormio’s  argument  of  the  wars  seemed 
to  Hannibal,  to  be  but  dreams  and  dotage.  Only  there  is  one 
vice  which  accompanieth  them  that  write  in  their  own  pro¬ 
fessions,  that  they  magnify  them  in  excess.  But  generally 
it  were  to  be  wished  (as  that  which  would  make  learning 
indeed  solid  and  fruitful)  that  active  men  would  or  could 
become  writers. 

In  which  kind  I  cannot  but  mention,  honoris  causa,  your 
Majesty’s  excellent  book  touching  the  duty  of  a  king:  a  work 
richly  compounded  of  divinity,  morality,  and  policy,  with  great 
aspersion  of  all  other  arts ;  and  being  in  mine  opinion  one  of 
the  most  sound  and  healthful  writings  that  I  have  read ;  not 
distempered  in  the  heat  of  invention,  nor  in  the  coldness  of 
negligence ;  not  sick  of  dizziness  ',  as  those  are  who  leese  them¬ 
selves  in  their  order;  nor  of  convulsions2,  as  those  which  cramp 
in  matters  impertinent ;  not  savouring  of  perfumes  and  paint¬ 
ings,  as  those  do  who  seek  to  please  the  reader  more  than  na¬ 
ture  3  beareth ;  and  chiefly  well  disposed  in  the  spirits  thereof, 
being  agreeable  to  truth  and  apt  for  action ;  and  far  removed 
from  that  natural  infirmity,  whereunto  I  noted  those  that  write 
in  their  own  professions  to  be  subject,  which  is,  that  they  exalt 
it  above  measure.  For  your  Majesty  hath  truly  described,  not 
a  king  of  Assyria  or  Persia  in  their  extern  glory,  but  a  Moses 
or  a  David,  pastors  of  their  people.  Neither  can  I  ever  leese 
out  of  my  remembrance  what  I  heard  your  Majesty  in  the  same 
sacred  spirit  of  government  deliver  in  a  great  cause  of  judica¬ 
ture,  which  was.  That  Kings  ruled  by  their  laws  as  God  did 
by  the  laws  of  nature,  and  ought  as  rarely  to  put  in  use  their 
supreme  prerogative  as  God  doth  his  power  of  working  miracles. 
And  yet  notwithstanding,  in  your  book  of  a  free  monarchy, 
you  do  well  give  men  to  understand,  that  you  know  the  pleni- 

1  Dusinesse  in  the  original.  Businesse  in  edd.  1629  and  1623.  Vertigine  in  De  Aug. 

2  The  words  “convulsion”  and  “cramp”  seem  to  describe  a  forced  and  abrupt 
style;  an  idea  not  implied  in  the  words  of  the  translation,  which  may  be  retranslated 
thus  :  “not  distracted  in  digressions,  as  those  which  wind  about  to  take  in  matters 
impertinent  ”  —  (ut  iUu  qua  nihil  ad  rhombum  sunt  expatiatione  aliqua  Jlexuosa  com- 
plcctatur ). 

3  i.  e.  the  nature  of  the  argument. — (gut  lectorum  potius  delectationi  quam  arguments 
natures  inserviuut ). 


430 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


tude  of  the  power  and  right  of  a  King,  as  well  as  the  circle  of 
his  office  and  duty.  Thus  have  I  presumed  to  allege  this  ex¬ 
cellent  writing  of  your  Majesty,  as  a  prime  or  eminent  example 
of  tractates  concerning  special  and  respective  duties ;  wherein 
I  should  have  said  as  much,  if  it  had  been  written  a  thousand 
years  since.  Neither  am  I  moved  with  certain  courtly  decencies, 
which  esteem  it  flattery  to  praise  in  presence.  No,  it  is  flat¬ 
tery  to  praise  in  absence;  that  is,  when  either  the  virtue  is 
absent,  or  the  occasion  is  absent ;  and  so  the  praise  is  not  na¬ 
tural,  but  forced,  either  in  truth  or  in  time.  But  let  Cicero 
be  read  in  his  oration  pro  Marcello,  which  is  nothing  but  an 
excellent  table  of  Caesar’s  virtue,  and  made  to  his  face ;  besides 
the  example  of  many  other  excellent  persons,  wiser  a  great  deal 
than  such  observers  1 ;  and  we  will  never  doubt,  upon  a  full 
occasion,  to  give  just  praises  to  present  or  absent. 

But  to  return:  there  belongeth  further  to  the  handling  of 
this  part2  touching  the  duties  of  professions  and  vocations,  a 
Relative  or  opposite,  touching  the  frauds,  cautels,  impostures, 
and  vices  of  every  profession;  which  hath  been  likewise  handled: 
but  how  ?  rather  in  a  satire  and  cynically,  than  seriously  and 
wisely :  for  men  have  rather  sought  by  wit  to  deride  and  tra¬ 
duce  much  of  that  which  is  good  in  professions,  than  with  judg¬ 
ment  to  discover  and  sever  that  which  is  corrupt.  For,  as 
Salomon  saith,  He  that  cometh  to  seek  after  knowledge  with  a 
mind  to  scorn  and  censure,  shall  be  sure  to  find  matter  for  his 
humour,  but  no  matter  for  his  instruction :  Qucerenti  derisori 
scientiam  ipsa  se  abscondit ;  sed  studioso  Jit  obviam.  But  the 
managing  of  this  argument  with  integrity  and  truth,  which  I 
note  as  deficient,  seemeth  to  me  to  be  one  of  the  best  fortifica¬ 
tions  for  honesty  and  virtue  that  can  be  planted.  For  as  the 
fable  goeth  of  the  Basilisk,  that  if  he  see  you  first  you  die  for 
it,  but  if  you  see  him  first  he  dieth ;  so  is  it  with  deceits  and 
evil  arts ;  which  if  they  be  first  espied  they  leese  their  life, 
but  if  they  prevent  they  endanger.  So  that  we  are  much  be¬ 
holden  to  Machiavel  and  others,  that  write  what  men  do  and 
not  what  they  ought  to  do.  For  it  is  not  possible  to  join  ser¬ 
pentine  wisdom  with  the  columbine  innocency,  except  men 

'  In  the  translation  he  merely  adds  the  single  example  of  Pliny  the  younger  in  his 
Panegyric  on  Trajan.  When  he  wrote  the  Advancement  of  Learning ,  he  appears  to 
have  been  under  the  impression  that  Pliny’s  Panegyric  was  spoken  after  Trajan’s 
death.  See  below,  p.  442. 

2  So  edd.  1629  and  1633.  The  original  has  partie. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


431 


know  exactly  all  the  conditions  of  the  serpent ;  his  baseness 
and  going  upon  his  belly,  his  volubility  and  lubricity,  his  envy 
and  sting,  and  the  rest ;  that  is,  all  forms  and  natures  of  evil. 
For  without  this,  virtue  lieth  open  and  unfenced.  Nay  an 
honest  man  can  do  no  good  upon  those  that  are  wicked  to  re¬ 
claim  them,  without  the  help  of  the  knowledge  of  evil.  For 
men  of  corrupted  minds  presuppose  that  honesty  groweth  out 
of  simplicity  of  manners,  and  believing  of  preachers,  school¬ 
masters,  and  men’s  exterior  language :  so  as,  except  you  can 
make  them  perceive  that  you  know  the  utmost  reaches  of  their 
own  corrupt  opinions,  they  despise  all  morality.  Non  recipit 
stultus  verba  prudential,  nisi  ea  dixeris  quae  versantur  in  corde 
ejus :  [the  fool  will  not  listen  to  the  words  of  the  wise,  unless 
you  first  tell  him  what  is  in  his  own  heart].1 

Unto  this  part  touching  Respective  Duty  doth  also  apper¬ 
tain  the  duties  between  husband  and  wife,  parent  and  child, 
master  and  servant :  so  likewise  the  laws  of  friendship  and 
gratitude,  the  civil  bond  of  companies,  colleges,  and  politic 
bodies,  of  neighbourhood,  and  all  other  proportionate  duties; 
not  as  they  are  parts  of  government  and  society,  but  as  to  the 
framing  of  the  mind  of  particular  persons. 

The  knowledge  concerning  good  respecting  Society  doth 
handle  it  also  not  simply  alone,  but  comparatively ;  whereunto 
belongeth  the  weighing  of  duties  between  person  and  person, 
case  and  case,  particular  and  public :  as  we  see  in  the  proceed¬ 
ing  2  of  Lucius  Brutus  against  his  own  sons,  which  was  so  much 
extolled ;  yet  what  was  said  ? 

Infelix,  utcunque  ferent  ea  facta3  minores : 

[unhappy  man  !  whatever  judgment  posterity  shall  pass  upon 
that  deed,  &c.].  So  the  case  was  doubtful,  and  had  opinion  on 
both  sides.  Again,  we  see  when  M.  Brutus  and  Cassius  invited 
to  a  supper  certain  whose  opinions  they  meant  to  feel,  whether 
they  were  fit  to  be  made  their  associates,  and  cast  forth  the 
question  touching  the  killing  of  a  tyrant  being  an  usurper, 
they  were  divided  in  opinion  ;  some  holding  that  servitude  was 
the  extreme  of  evils,  and  others  that  tyranny  was  better  than 
a  civil  war :  and  a  number  of  the  like  cases  there  are  of  com- 

1  In  the  translation  this  is  set  down  as  a  desideratum  under  the  title  of  Satira  Seria 
sive  traetatus  de  interioribus  rerum. 

2  in  animadversione  ilia  severa  et  atroci.  —  De  Aug. 

3  Fata  both  in  the  Advancement  and  in  the  De  Aupmentis. 


432  OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 

parative  duty.  Amongst  which  that  of  all  others  is  the  most 
frequent,  where  the  question  is  of  a  great  deal  of  good  to  ensue 
of  a  small  injustice.  Which  Jason  of  Thessalia  determined 
against  the  truth:  Aliqua  sunt  injuste  facienda,  ut  multa  juste 
fieri  possint:  [that  there  may  be  justice  in  many  things  there 
must  be  injustice  in  some].  But  the  reply  is  good,  Authorem 
preescntis  justifies  habes,  sponsor em  futures  non  liabes  :  [the  jus¬ 
tice  that  is  to  be  done  now  is  in  your  power,  but  where  is  your 
security  for  that  which  is  to  be  done  hereafter  ?]  Men  must 
pursue  things  which  are  just  in  present,  and  leave  the  future  to 
the  divine  Providence.  So  then  we  pass  on  from  this  general 
part  touching  the  exemplar  and  description  of  good. 

If 1  Now  therefore  that  we  have  spoken  of  this  fruit  of  life,  it 
De  Cuitwa  remaineth  to  speak  of  the  husbandry  that  belongeth 
An,m-  thereunto ;  without  which  part  the  former  seemeth 
to  be  no  better  than  a  fair  image  or  statua,  which  is  beautiful 
to  contemplate,  but  is  without  life  and  motion :  whereunto 
Aristotle  himself  subscribeth  in  these  words  :  Necesse  est  scilicet 
de  virtute  dicere,  et  quid  sit,  et  ex  quibus  gignatur.  Inutile  enim 
fere  fuerit  virtutem  quidem  nosse,  acquirendes  autem  ejus  modos  et 
vias  ignorare.  Non  enim  de  virtute  tantum,  qua  specie  sit,  quee- 
rendum  est,  sed  et  quomodo  sui  copiam  faciat :  utrumque  enim 
volumus,  et  rem  ipsam  nosse,  ef  ejus  compotes  fieri :  hoc  autem  ex 
voto  non  succedet,  nisi  sciamus  et  ex  quibus  et  quomodo  :  [it  is 
necessary  to  determine  concerning  Virtue  not  only  what  it  is 
but  whence  it  proceeds.  For  there  would  be  no  use  in  knowing 
Virtue  without  knowing  the  ways  and  means  of  acquiring 
it.  For  we  have  to  consider  not  only  what  it  is,  but  how  it  is 
to  be  had.  For  we  want  both  to  know  virtue  and  to  be  vir¬ 
tuous  ;  which  we  cannot  be  without  knowing  both  the  whence 
and  the  how].  In  such  full  words  and  with  such  iteration 
doth  he  inculcate  this  part.  So  saith  Cicero  in  great  com¬ 
mendation  of  Cato  the  second,  that  he  had  applied  himself  to 
philosophy  non  ita  disputandi  causa,  sed  ita  vivendi :  [not  that 
he  might  talk  like  a  philosopher,  but  that  he  might  live  like 
one].  And  although  the  neglect  of  our  times,  wherein  few 
men  do  hold  any  consultations  touching  the  reformation  of 
their  life,  (as  Seneca  excellently  saith,  De  partibus  vita  quisque 
deliberat,  de  summa  nemo,)  [every  man  takes  thought  about 


1  De  Aug.  vii.  3. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


433 


the  parts  of  his  life,  no  man  about  the  whole,]  may  make  this 
part  seem  superfluous  ;  yet  I  must  conclude  with  that  aphorism 
of  Hippocrates,  Qui  gravi  morbo  correpti  dolores  non  sentiunt,  iis 
mens  cegrotat ;  [they  that  are  sick  and  yet  feel  no  pain  are 
sick  in  their  minds ;]  they  need  medicine  not  only  to  assuage 
the  disease  but  to  awake  the  sense.  And  if  it  be  said  that  the 
cure  of  men’s  minds  belongeth  to  sacred  Divinity,  it  is  most 
true  :  but  yet  Moral  Philosophy  may  be  preferred  unto  her  as 
a  wise  servant  and  humble  handmaid.  For  as  the  Psalm  saitli, 
that  the  eyes  of  the  handmaid  look  perpetually  towards  the 
mistress,  and  yet  no  doubt  many  things  are  left  to  the  discretion 
of  the  handmaid  to  discern  of  the  mistress’  will ;  so  ou^ht 

O 

Moral  Philosophy  to  give  a  constant  attention  to  the  doctrines 
of  Divinity,  and  yet  so  as  it  may  yield  of  herself  (within 
due  limits)  many  sound  and  profitable  directions. 

This  part  therefore,  because  of  the  excellency  thereof,  I  can¬ 
not  but  find  exceeding  strange  that  it  is  not  reduced  to  written 
inquiry ;  the  rather  because  it  consisteth  of  much  matter 
wherein  both  speech  and  action  is  often  conversant,  and  such 
wherein  the  common  talk  of  men  (which  is  rare,  but  yet 
cometh  sometimes  to  pass)  is  wiser  than  their  books.  It  is 
reasonable  therefore  that  we  propound  it  in  the  more  particu¬ 
larity,  both  for  the  worthiness,  and  because  we  may  acquit 
ourselves  for  reporting  it  deficient;  which  seemeth  almost 
incredible,  and  is  otherwise  conceived  and  presupposed  by  those 
themselves  that  have  written.  We  will  therefore  enumerate 
some  heads  or  points  thereof,  that  it  may  appear  the  better 
what  it  is,  and  whether  it  be  extant. 

First  therefore,  in  this,  as  in  all  things  which  are  practical, 
we  ought  to  cast  up  our  account,  what  is  in  our  power  and 
what'  not ;  for  the  one  may  be  dealt  with  by  way  of  alteration, 
but  the  other  by  way  of  application  only.  The  husbandman 
cannot  command  neither  the  nature  of  the  earth  nor  the  sea¬ 
sons  of  the  weather ;  no  more  can  the  physician  the  constitu¬ 
tion  of  the  patient  nor  the  variety  of  accidents.  So  in  the 
culture  and  cure  of  the  mind  of  man,  two  things  are  without 
our  command ;  points  of  nature,  and  points  of  fortune  ;  for  to 
the  basis  of  the  one,  and  the  conditions  of  the  other,  our  work 
is  limited  and  tied.  In  these  things  therefore  it  is  left  unto  us 
to  proceed  by  application  : 

Vincenda  est  omnis  fortuna  <erendo : 


434 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


[all  fortune  may  be  overcome  by  endurance  or  suffering ;]  and 
so  likewise, 

Vineenda  est  omnis  natura  ferendo  : 

[all  nature  may  be  overcome  by  suffering].  But  when  that 
we  speak  of  suffering,  we  do  not  speak  of  a  dull  and  neglected 
suffering,  but  of  a  wise  and  industrious  suffering,  which 
draweth  and  contriveth  use  and  advantage  out  of  that  which 
seemeth  adverse  and  contrary ;  which  is  that  property  which 
we  call  Accommodating  or  Applying.1  Now  the  wisdom  of 
application  resteth  principally  in  the  exact  and  distinct  know¬ 
ledge  of  the  precedent  state  or  disposition  unto  which  we  do 
apply :  for  we  cannot  fit  a  garment,  except  we  first  take 
measure  of  the  body. 

So  then  the  first  article  of  this  knowledge  is  to  set  down 
sound  and  true  distributions  and  descriptions  of  the  several 
characters  and  tempers  of  men’s  natures  and  dispositions, 
specially  having  regard  to  those  differences  which  are  most 
radical  in  being  the  fountains  and  causes  of  the  rest,  or  most 
frequent  in  concurrence  or  commixture  2 ;  wherein  it  is  not  the 
handling  of  a  few  of  them  in  passage,  the  better  to  describe  the 
mediocrities  of  virtues,  that  can  satisfy  this  intention  ;  for  if  it 
deserve  to  be  considered,  that  there  are  minds  ivhich  are  pro¬ 
portioned  to  great  matters,  and  others  to  small,  (which  Aristotle 
handleth  or  ought  to  have  handled  by  the  name  of  Magna¬ 
nimity,)  doth  it  not  deserve  as  well  to  be  considered,  that  there 
are  minds  proportioned  to  intend  many  matters,  and  others  to 
few?3  so  that  some  can  divide  themselves,  others  can  perchance 
do  exactly  well,  but  it  must  be  but  in  few  things  at  once ;  and 
so  there  cometh  to  be  a  narrowness  of  mind,  as  well  as  a  pusilla¬ 
nimity.  And  again,  that  some  minds  are  proportioned  to  that 
which  may  he  dispatched  at  once,  or  within  a  short  return  of 
time  ;  others  to  that  which  begins  afar  off,  and  is  to  be  won  with 
length  of  pursuit; 

Jam  turn  tenditque  fovetque : 

[he  begins  to  attend  and  nursfe  his  project  while  it  is  yet 
in  the  cradle ;]  so  that  there  may  be  fitly  said  to  be  a  lon- 

1  These  observations  are  omitted  in  the  translation,  and  the  whole  passage  is  re¬ 
written,  though  rather  with  a  view  of  expressing  the  meaning  more  clearly  than  of 
altering  it. 

2  It  is  remarkable  that  the  observations  which  follow,  down  to  “  benignity  or  ma¬ 
lignity,”  are  entirely  omitted  in  the  translation. 

s  So  all  the  editions  :  a  second  intend  having  probably  dropped  out  accidentally. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


435 


ganimity ;  which  is  commonly  also  ascribed  to  God  as  a  mag¬ 
nanimity.  So  further  deserved  it  to  be  considered  by  Aristotle, 
that  there  is  a  disposition  in  conversation  ( supposing  it  in  things 
which  do  in  no  sort  touch  or  concern  a  man's  self )  to  soothe  and 
please,  and  a  disposition  contrary  to  contradict  and  cross  ;  and 
deserveth  it  not  much  better  to  be  considered,  that  there  is  a 
disposition,  not  in  conversation  or  talk  but  in  matter  of  more 
serious  nature,  ( and  supposing  it  still  in  things  merely  indif¬ 
ferent ,)  to  take  pleasure  in  the  good  of  another,  and  a  disposition 
contrariwise  to  take  distaste  at  the  good  of  another;  which  is  that 
property 1  which  we  call  good-nature  or  ill-nature,  benignity  or 
malignity  ?  And  therefore  I  cannot  sufficiently  marvel  that 
this  part  of  knowledge  touching  the  several  characters  of 
natures  and  dispositions  should  be  omitted  both  in  morality  and 
policy,  considering  it  is  of  so  great  ministery  and  suppeditation 
to  them  both.  A  man  shall  find  in  the  traditions  of  astrology 
some  pretty  and  apt  divisions  of  men’s  natures,  according  to 
the  predominances  of  the  planets ;  lovers  of  quiet,  lovers  of 
action,  lovers  of  victory,  lovers  of  honour,  lovers  of  pleasure, 
lovers  of  arts,  lovers  of  change,  and  so  forth.  A  man  shall  find 
in  the  wisest  sort  of  these  Relations  which  the  Italians  make 
touching  Conclaves,  the  natures  of  the  several  Cardinals  hand¬ 
somely  and  lively  painted  forth.  A  man  shall  meet  with  in 
every  day’s  conference  the  denominations  of  sensitive,  dry, 
formal,  real,  humorous,  certain,  huomo  di  prima  impressione, 
huomo  di  ultima  impressione,  and  the  like  2:  and  yet  neverthe¬ 
less  this  kind  of  observations  wandereth  in  words,  but  is3  not 
fixed  in  inquiry.  For  the  distinctions  are  found  (many  of 
them),  but  we  conclude  no  precepts  upon  them;  wherein  our 
fault  is  the  greater,  because  both  history,  poesy,  and  daily 
experience  are  as  goodly  fields  where  these  observations  grow  ; 
whereof  we  make  a  few  posies  to  hold  in  our  hands,  but  no 
man  bringeth  them  to  the  confectionary,  that  receits  might  be 
tnade  of  them  for  use  of  life. 4 


1  properly  both  in  the  original,  and  in  edd.  1629  and  1633. 

2  This  sentence  is  omitted  in  the  translation  ;  perhaps  from  the  difficulty  of  finding 
equivalent  terms  in  Latin  ;  but  the  substance  of  the  observation  is  contained  in  the 
remark  (transplanted  from  a  former  paragraph)  that  in  this  matter  the  common  talk 
of  men  is  wiser  than  their  books. 

3  as  both  in  the  original  and  in  edd.  1629  and  1633. 

3  In  place  of  this  we  have  in  the  translation  a  passage  of  considerable  length  recom¬ 
mending  the  wiser  sort  of  historians  as  supplying  the  best  material  for  this  kind  of 
treatise  ;  not  only  in  the  formal  character  which  they  commonly  give  of  any  principal 
personage  on  recording  his  death,  but  still  more  in  the  occasional  observations  inter- 


29  Bacon  III 


436 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


Of  much  like  kind  are  those  impressions  of  nature,  which  are 
imposed  upon  the  mind  by  the  sex,  by  the  age,  by  the  region,  by 
health  and  sickness,  by  beauty  and  deformity,  and  the  like,  which 
are  inherent  and  not  extern ;  and  again  those  which  are  caused 
by  extern  fortune ;  as  sovereignty ,  nobility,  obscure  birth,  riches, 
want,  magistracy,  privateness,  prosperity ,  adversity,  constant  for¬ 
tune,  variable  fortune,  rising  per  saltum,  per  gradus,  and  the  like. 
And  therefore  we  see  that  Plautus  maketh  it  a  wonder  to  see  an 
old  man  beneficent ;  benignitas  hujus  ut  adolescentuli  est :  [he  is 
as  generous  as  if  he  were  a  young  man  :]  St.  Paul  concludeth 
that  severity  of  discipline  was  to  be  used  to  the  Cretans,  Increpa 
eos  dure,  [rebuke  them  sharply,]  upon  the  disposition  of  their 
country  ;  Cretenses  semper  mendaces,  malce  bestice,  ventres  pigri  : 
[the  Cretans  are  alway  liars,  evil  beasts,  slow  bellies:]  Sallust 
noteth  that  it  is  usual  with  Kings  to  desire  contradictories ;  Sed 
plerumque  regia  voluntates,  ut  vehementes  sunt,  sic  mobiles,  scepe- 
que  ipsa  sibi  adversa :  [royal  desires,  as  they  are  violent,  so 
are  they  changeable,  and  often  incompatible  with  each  other :] 
Tacitus  observeth  how  rarely  raising  of  the  fortune  mendeth 
the  disposition  ;  Solus  Vespasianus  mutatus  in  melius :  [Ves¬ 
pasian  the  only  one  of  the  emperors  that  changed  for  the  better:] 
Pindarus  maketh  an  observation  that  great  and  sudden  fortune 
for  the  most  part  defeateth  men' ;  Qui  magnam  felicitatem  con- 
coquere  non  possunt :  [that  cannot  digest  great  felicity  :]  so  the 
Psalm  sheweth  it  is  more  easy  to  keep  a  measure  in  the  enjoy¬ 
ing2  of  fortune  than  in  the  increase  of  fortune;  Divitia  si  afflu- 
ant,  nolite  cor  apponere :  [if  riches  increase  set  not  your  heart 
upon  them].  These  observations  and  the  like  I  deny  not  but 
are  touched  a  little  by  Aristotle  as  in  passage  in  his  Rhetorics, 
and  are  handled  in  some  scattered  discourses ;  but  they  were 
never  incorporate  into  Moral  Philosophy,  to  which  they  do 

woven  into  the  body  of  the  narrative,  when  in  relating  any  of  his  actions  they  intro¬ 
duce  some  remark  upon  his  nature  and  disposition.  Bacon  instances  the  character  of 
African  us  and  the  elder  Cato  as  drawn  by  Livy  ;  of  Tiberius,  Claudius,  and  Nero  in 
Tacitus;  of  Septimius  Severus,  in  Herod ian  ;  of  Louis  XI.  in  Philip  de  Comines  ;  of 
Ferdinand,  Maximilian,  Leo,  and  Clement,  in  Guicciardini.  (His  own  Henry  VII. 
would  have  furnished  another  instance,  as  good  as  any.)  Of  these  he  would  have  a 
lull  and  careful  analysis  made,  exhibiting  not  the  entire  character,  but  the  several 
features  and  individual  peculiarities  of  mind  and  disposition  which  make  it  up,  (mu- 
ginum  ipsarum  hneaiet  duct-us  magis  simptices,)  with  their  connexion  and  bearing  one 
upon  another  :—a  kind  of  moral  and  mental  anatomy,  as  a  basis  for  a  system  of  moral 
and  mental  medicine.  He  prefers  the  historians  to  the  poets  for  this  purpose,  because 
in  the  poets  the  characters  are  commonly  drawn  with  exaggeration. 
animos  plerumque  enervare  et  solvere . —  De  Aug. 

2  statu.  —  De  Aug. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


437 


essentially  appertain ;  as  the  knowledge  of  the  diversity  of 
grounds  and  moulds  doth  to  agriculture,  and  the  knowledge  of 
the  diversity  of  complexions  and  constitutions  doth  to  the  phy¬ 
sician  ;  except  we  mean  to  follow  the  indiscretion  of  empirics, 
which  minister  the  same  medicines  to  all  patients. 

Another  article  of  this  knowledge  is  the  inquiry  touching  the 
affections ;  for  as  in  medicining  of  the  body  it  is  in  order  first 
to  know  the  divers  complexions  and  constitutions,  secondly  the 
diseases,  and  lastly  the  cures ;  so  in  medicining  of  the  mind, 
after  knowledge  of  the  divers  characters  of  men’s  natures,  it 
followeth  in  order  to  know  the  diseases  and  infirmities  of  the 
mind,  which  are  no  other  than  the  perturbations  and  distempers 
of  the  affections.  For  as  the  ancient  politiques 1  in  popular 
estates  were  wont  to  compare  the  people  to  the  sea  and  the 
orators  to  the  winds,  because  as  the  sea  would  of  itself  be  calm 
and  quiet  if  the  winds  did  not  move  and  trouble  it,  so  the 
people  would  be  peaceable  and  tractable  if  the  seditious  orators 
did  not  set  them  in  working  and  agitation  ;  so  it  may  be  fitly 
said,  that  the  mind  in  the  nature  thereof  would  be  temperate 
and  stayed,  if  the  affections,  as  winds,  did  not  put  it  into 
tumult  and  perturbation.  And  here  again  I  find  strange,  as 
before,  that  Aristotle  should  have  written  divers  volumes  of 
Ethics,  and  never  handled  the  affections,  which  is  the  principal 
subject  thereof ;  and  yet  in  his  Rhetorics,  where  they  are  con¬ 
sidered  but  collaterally  and  in  a  second  degree  (as  they  may  be 
moved  by  speech ),  he  findeth  place  for  them,  and  handleth  them 
well  for  the  quantity ;  but  where  their  true  place  is,  he  preter- 
mitteth  them.  For  it  is  not  his  disputations  about  pleasure  and 
pain  that  can  satisfy  this  inquiry,  no  more  than  he  that  should 
generally  handle  the  nature  of  light  can  be  said  to  handle  the 
nature  of  colours ;  for  pleasure  and  pain  are  to  the  particular 
affections  as  light  is  to  particular  colours.  Better  travails  I 
suppose  had  the  Stoics  taken  in  this  argument,  as  far  as  I  can 
gather  by  that  which  we  have  at  second  hand :  but  yet  it  is 
like  it  was  after  their  manner,  rather  in  subtilty  of  definitions 
(which  in  a  subject  of  this  nature  are  but  curiosities)  than  in 
active  and  ample  descriptions  and  observations.  So  likewise  I 
find  some  particular  writings  of  an  elegant  nature  touching 
some  of  the  affections ;  as  of  anger,  of  comfort  upon  adverse 


*  So  edd.  1629  and  1633.  The  original  has  in  politiques. 


438 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


accidents  ',  of  tenderness  of  countenance  2,  and  other.  But  the 
poets  and  writers  of  histories  are  the  best  doctors  of  this  know¬ 
ledge  ;  where  we  may  find  painted  forth  with  great  life,  how 
affections  are  kindled  and  incited ;  and  how  pacified  and  re¬ 
frained  ;  and  how  again  contained  from  act  and  further  degree ; 
how  they  disclose  themselves,  how  they  work,  how  they  vary, 
how  they  gather  and  fortify3,  how  they  are  inwrapped  one 
within  another,  and  how  they  do  fight  and  encounter  one  with 
another,  and  other  the  like  particularities :  amongst  the  which 
this  last  is  of  special  use  in  moral  and  civil  matters ;  how  (I 
say)  to  set  affection  against  affection,  and  to  master  one  by 
another ;  even  as  we  use  to  hunt  beast  with  beast  and  fly  bird 
with  bird,  which  otherwise  percase  we  could  not  so  easily  re  - 
cover :  upon  which  foundation  is  erected  that  excellent  use  of 
preemium  and  poena,  whereby  civil  states  consist ;  employing 
the  predominant  affections  of  fear  and  hope,  for  the  suppressing 
and  bridling  the  rest.  For  as  in  the  government  of  states  it  is 
sometimes  necessary  to  bridle  one  faction  with  another,  so  it  is 
in  the  government  within. 

Now  come  we  to  those  points  which  are  within  our  own 
command,  and  have  force  and  operation  upon  the  mind  to  affect 
the  will  and  appetite  and  to  alter  manners:  wherein  they 
ought  to  have  handled  custom,  exercise,  habit,  education,  ex¬ 
ample,  imitation,  emulation,  company,  friends,  praise,  reproof, 
exhortation,  fame,  laws,  boohs,  studies :  these  as  4  they  have 
determinate  use  in  moralities,  from  these  the  mind  suffereth, 
and  of  these  are  such  receipts  and  regiments  compounded  and 
described,  as  may  seem  to  recover  or  preserve  the  health  and 
good  estate  of  the  mind,  as  far  as  pertaineth  to  human  me¬ 
dicine  :  of  which  number  we  will  visit 5  upon  some  one  or  two 
as  an  example  of  the  rest,  because  it  were  too  long  to  prosecute 
all;  and  therefore  we  do  resume  Custom  and  Habit  to  speak  of. 

The  opinion  of  Aristotle  seemeth  to  me  a  negligent  opinion, 
that  of  those  things  which  consist  by  nature  nothing  can  be 
changed  by  custom ;  using  for  example,  that  if  a  stone  be 

1  This  is  omitted  in  the  translation. 

2  This  I  suppose  is  what,  the  French  call  mauvaise  honte.  The  translation  is  De 
inutili  verecundidy  which  is  the  Latin  rendering  of  nep\  Suo-amias,  the  title  of  a  tract 
by  Plutarch. 

3  This  is  omitted  in  the  translation. 

*  So  in  all  the  editions.  Perhaps  it  should  be  are.  ( Hcec  enim  sunt  il/a  qua:  regnant 
in  moralibus .)  If  as  be  right,  we  should  probably  read,  far  from  these  &c. 

5  So  the  original.  Edd.  1629  and  1633  have  insist:  perhaps  rightly.  The  trans¬ 
lation  has  unurn  aut  alle/um  dc/iyemus  in  quibus  paullulum  immorabimur. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


439 


thrown  ten  thousand  times  up,  it  will  not  learn  to  ascend ;  and 
that  by  often  seeing  or  hearing,  we  do  not  learn  to  see  or  hear 
the  better.  For  though  this  principle  be  true  in  things  where¬ 
in  nature  is  peremptory ,  (the  reason  whereof  we  cannot  now 
stand  to  discuss,)  yet  it  is  otherwise  in  things  wherein  nature 
admitteth  a  latitude.  For  he  might  see  that  a  strait  glove  will 
come  more  easily  on  with  use,  and  that  a  wand  will  by  use 
bend  otherwise  than  it  gx-ew,  and  that  by  use  of  the  voice  we 
speak  louder  and  stronger,  and  that  by  use  of  enduring  heat  or 
cold  we  endure  it  the  better,  and  the  like :  which  later  sort 
have  a  nearer  resemblance  unto  that  subject  of  manners  he 
handleth  than  those  instances  which  he  allegeth.  But  allowing 
his  conclusion,  that  virtues  and  vices  consist  in  habit,  he  ought 
so  much  the  more  to  have  taught  the  manner  of  superinducing 
that  habit :  for  there  be  many  precepts  of  the  wise  ordering 
the  exercises  of  the  mind,  as  there  is  of  ordering  the  exercises 
of  the  body ;  whereof  we  will  recite  a  few. 

The  first  shall  be,  that  we  beware  we  take  not  at  the  first 
either  too  high  a  strain  or  too  weak :  for  if  too  high,  in  a 
diffident 1  nature  you  discourage ;  in  a  confident  nature  you 
breed  an  opinion  of  facility,  and  so  a  sloth  ;  and  in  all  natures 
you  breed  a  further  expectation  than  can  hold  out,  and  so  an 
in  satisfaction 2  on  the  end  :  if  too  weak  of  the  other  side,  you 
may  not  look  to  perform  and  overcome  any  great  task. 

Another  precept  is,  to  practise  all  things  chiefly  at  two 
several  times,  the  one  when  the  mind  is  best  disposed,  the 
other  when  it  is  worst  disposed ;  that  by  the  one  you  may 
gain  a  great  step,  by  the  other  you  may  work  out  the  knots 
and  stonds  of  the  mind,  and  make  the  middle  times  the  more 
easy3  and  pleasant. 

Another  precept  is,  that  which  Aristotle  mentioneth  by  the 
way,  which  is  to  bear  ever  towards  the  contrary  extreme  of 
that  whereunto  we  are  by  nature  inclined :  like  unto  the  rowing 
against  the  stream,  or  making  a  wand  straight  by  bending4  him 
contrary  to  his  natural  crookedness. 

Another  precept  is,  that  the  mind  is  brought  to  any  thing 
better,  and  with  more  sweetness  and  happiness,  if  that  where- 

1  So  edd.  1629  and  1633.  The  original  has  different . 

2  And  thence  a  discouragement  —  (id  quod  animum  semper  dejicit  et  con fundi t). 

3  So  edd.  1629  and  1633.  The  original  has  easily.  Possibly  Bacon  wrote  run  more 
easily.  The  translation  has  facile  et  placide  delabentur.  This  part  of  the  original 
edition  is  carelessly  printed. 

1  So  ed.  1633.  The  original  has  bynding ,  and  ed.  1629  binding. 


440 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


unto  you  pretend  be  not  first  in  the  intention,  but  tanquam 
aliud  agendo,  because  of  the  natural  hatred  of  the  mind  against 
necessity  and  constraint.  Many  other  axioms  there  are  touch¬ 
ing  the  managing  of  Exercise  and  Custom ;  which  being  so 
conducted,  doth  prove  indeed  another  nature;  but  being  go¬ 
verned  by  chance,  doth  commonly  prove  but  an  ape  of  nature, 
and  bringeth  forth  that  which  is  lame  and  counterfeit. 

So  if  we  should  handle  books  and  studies,  and  what  influence 
and  operation  they  have  upon  manners,  are  there  not  divers 
precepts  of  great  caution  and  direction  appertaining  thereunto  ? 
Did  not  one  of  the  fathers  in  great  indignation  call  Poesy  vinum 
daemonum,  because  it  increaseth  temptations,  perturbations,  and 
vain  opinions?  Is  not  the  opinion  of  Aristotle  worthy  to  be 
regarded,  wherein  he  saith  that  young  men  are  no  fit  auditors 
of  moral  philosophy  ',  because  they  are  not  settled  from  the 
boiling  heat  of  their  affections,  nor  attempered  with  time  and 
experience  ?  And  doth  it  not  hereof  come,  that  those  ex¬ 
cellent  books  and  discourses  of  the  ancient  writers  (whereby 
they  have  persuaded  unto  virtue  most  effectually,  by  repre¬ 
senting  her  in  state  and  majesty,  and  popular  opinions  against 
virtue  in  their  parasites’  coats,  fit  to  be  scorned  and  derided,) 
are  of  so  little  effect  towards  honesty  of  life,  because  they  are 
not  read  and  revolved  by  men  in  their  mature  and  settled 
years,  but  confined  almost  to  boys  and  beginners  ?  But  is  it 
not  true  also,  that  much  less  young  men  are  fit  auditors  of 
matters  of  policy,  till  they  have  been  throughly  seasoned  in  re¬ 
ligion  and  morality ;  lest  their  judgments  be  corrupted,  and 
made  apt  to  think  that  there  are  no  true  differences  of  things, 
but  according  to  utility  and  fortune  ;  as  the  verse  describes  it, 
Prosperum  et  felix  scelus  virtus  vocatur ;  [a  crime  that  is  suc¬ 
cessful  is  called  a  virtue;]  and  again,  Ille  crucem  pretium  sceleris 
tulit,  liic  diadem  a ;  [the  same  crime  is  rewarded  in  one  man 
with  a  gibbet  and  in  another  with  a  crown ;]  which  the  poets  do 
speak  satirically,  and  in  indignation  on  virtue’s  behalf ;  but 
books  of  policy  do  speak  it  seriously  and  positively ;  for  so  it 
pleaseth  Machiavel  to  say,  that  if  Caesar  had  been  overthrown 

1  Not  of  moral  but  of  political  philosophy.  See  Mr.  Ellis’s  note,  Vol.  I.  p.  739. 
That  in  the  passage  there  quoted  from  Troilus  and  Cressida  the  observation  and  the 
error  were  both  derived  directly  from  the  Advancement  of  Learning  admits  of  little 
doubt.  But  how  came  Virgilio  Malvezzi,  in  his  Viscorsi  sopra  Comelio  Tacito 
published  in  1622,  to  make  the  same  mistake  ?  “E  non  e  discordante  da  questa  mia 
opinione  Aristotele,  il  qua!  dice,  che  i  giovani  non  sono  buoni  ascultatori  delle moridi,” 
1  quote  from  ed.  1 035.  The  passage  occurs  in  the  address  to  the  reader,  p.  3, 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


441 


lie  would  have  been  more  odious  than  ever  was  Catiline ;  as  if 
there  had  been  no  difference  but  in  fortune,  between  a  very 
fury  of  lust  and  blood,  and  the  most  excellent  spirit  (his  ambi¬ 
tion  reserved)  of  the  world?  Again,  is  there  not  a  caution 
likewise  to  be  given  of  the  doctrines  of  moralities  themselves 
(some  kinds  of  them,)  lest  they  make  men  too  precise,  arrogant, 
incompatible ;  as  Cicero  saith  of  Cato,  In  Marco  Catone  hose 
bona  qua  videmus  divina  et  egregia,  ipsius  seitote  esse  propria  ; 
qua  nonnunquam  requirimus,  ea  sunt  omnia  non  a  naturd,  sed  a 
magistro :  [his  excellencies  were  his  own,  his  defects  came 
from  the  school-master]  ?  Many  other  axioms  and  advices  there 
are  touching  those  proprieties  and  effects  which  studies  do 
infuse  and  instil  into  manners.  And  so  likewise  is  there  touch¬ 
ing  the  use  of  all  those  other  points,  of  company,  fame,  laws, 
and  the  rest,  which  we  recited  in  the  beginning  in  the  doctrine 
of  morality. 

But  there  is  a  kind  of  Culture  of  the  Mind  that  seemeth  yet 
more  accurate  and  elaborate  than  the  rest,  and  is  built  upon 
this  ground ;  that  the  minds  of  all  men  are  at  some  times  in  a 
state  more  perfect,  and  at  other  times  in  a  state  more  depraved. 
The  purpose  therefore  of  this  practice  1  is  to  fix  and  cherish 
the  good  hours  of  the  mind,  and  to  obliterate  and  take  forth 
the  evil.  The  fixing  of  the  good  hath  been  practised  by  two 
means ;  vows  or  constant  resolutions ;  and  observances  or  ex¬ 
ercises  ;  which  are  not  to  be  regarded  so  much  in  themselves, 
as  because  they  keep  the  mind  in  continual  obedience.  The 
obliteration  of  the  evil  hath  been  practised  by  two  means ; 
some  kind  of  redemption  or  expiation  <jf  that  which  is  past ; 
and  an  inception  or  account  de  novo  for  the  time  to  come.  But 
this  part  seemeth  sacred  and  religious,  and  justly ;  for  all  good 
Moral  Philosophy  (as  was  said)  is  but  an  handmaid  to  re¬ 
ligion. 

Wherefore  we  will  conclude  with  that  last  point  which  is  of 
all  other  means  the  most  compendious  and  summary,  and 
again  the  most  noble  and  effectual,  to  the  reducing  of  the  mind 
unto  virtue  and  good  estate  ;  which  is  the  electing  and  pro¬ 
pounding  unto  a  man’s  self  good  and  virtuous  ends  of  his  life, 
such  as  may  be  in  a  reasonable  sort  within  his  compass  to  attain. 
For  if  these  two  things  be  supposed,  that  a  man  set  before  him 
honest  and  good  ends,  and  again  that  he  be  resolute,  constant, 

1  i,  c  method  of  culture  (Jtnjus  culturic  intents  et  institution). 


442 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


and  true  unto  them,  it  will  follow  that  he  shall  mould  himself 
into  all  virtue  at  once.  And  this  is  indeed  like  the  work  of 
nature ;  whereas  the  other  course  is  like  the  work  of  the  hand. 
For  as  when  a  carver  makes  an  image,  he  shapes  only  that  part 
whereupon  he  worketh ;  as  if  he  be  upon  the  face,  that  part 
which  shall  be  the  body  is  but  a  rude  stone  still,  till  such  times 
as  he  comes  to  it;  but  contrariwise  when  nature  makes  a  flower 
or  living  creature,  she  formeth  rudiments  of  all  the  parts  at  one 
time ;  so  in  obtaining  virtue  by  habit,  while  a  man  practiseth 
temperance,  he  doth  not  profit  much  to  fortitude,  nor  the  like  ; 
but  when  he  dedicateth  and  applieth  himself  to  good  ends,  look 
what  virtue  soever  the  pursuit  and  passage  towards  those  ends 
doth  commend  unto  him,  he  is  invested  of  a  precedent  disposi¬ 
tion  to  conform  himself  thereunto ;  which  state  of  mind  Ari¬ 
stotle  doth  excellently  express  himself,  that  it  ought  not  to  be 
called  virtuous,  but  divine :  his  words  are  these :  Immanitati 
autem  consentaneum  est  opponere  earn,  quce  supra  humanitatem 
est,  heroicam  sive  divinam  virtutem  :  and  a  little  after,  Nam  ut 
ferae  neque  vitium  ncque  virtus  est,  sic  neque  Dei:  sed  hie  quidem 
status  altius  quiddam  virtute  est,  ille  aliud  quiddam  a  vitio : 
[that  which  answers  to  the  brutal  degree  of  vice  is  the  heroical 
or  divine  degree  of  virtue.  ...  For  as  neither  virtue  nor  vice 
can  be  predicated  of  a  brute,  so  neither  can  it  of  a  God :  the  di¬ 
vine  condition  being  something  higher  than  virtue,  the  brutal 
something  different  from  vice].  And  >  therefore  we  may  see 
what  celsitude  of  honour  Plinius  Secundus  attributeth  to  Tra¬ 
jan  in  his  funeral  oration1,  where  he  said,  that  men  needed  to 
make  no  other  prayers  to  the  gods,  but  that  they  would  continue  as 
good  lords  to  them  as  Trajan  had  been ;  as  if  he  had  not  been 
only  an  imitation  of  divine  nature,  but  a  pattern  of  it.  But 
these  be  heathen  and  profane  passages,  having  but  a  shadow  of 
that  divine  state  of  mind  which  religion  and  the  holy  faith  doth 
conduct  men  unto,  by  imprinting  upon  their  souls  Charity, 
which  is  excellently  called  the  bond  of  Perfection,  because  it 
comprehendeth  and  fasteneth  all  virtues  together.  And  as2  it  is 
elegantly  said  by  Menander  of  vain  love,  which  is  but  a  false 
imitation  of  divine  love,  Amor  melior  sophista  Icevo  ad  humanam 
vitam,  that  love  teacheth  a  man  to  carry  himself  better  than 
the  sophist  or  preceptor,  which  he  calleth  left-handed,  because 

1  The  words  “  funeral  oration  ”  are  omitted  in  the  translation.  It  was  not  a  funeral 
oration,  but  a  Panegyric  spoken  in  Trajan’s  presence.  See  above,  p.  430. 

*  So  edd.  1629  and  1633.  The  original  omits  at. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


443 


with  all  his  rules  and  preceptions  he  cannot  form  a  man  so 
dexterously ,  nor  with  that  facility  to  prize  himself  and  govern 
himself,  as  love  can  do  ;  so  certainly  if  a  man’s  mind  be  truly 
inflamed  with  charity,  it  doth  work  him  suddenly  into  greater 
perfection  than  all  the  doctrine  of  morality  can  do,  which  is  but 
a  sophist  in  comparison  of  the  other.  Nay  further,  as  Xenophon 
observed  truly  that  all  other  affections,  though  they  raise  the 
mind,  yet  they  do  it  by  distorting  and  uncomeliness  of  ecstasies 
or  excesses;  but  only  love  doth  exalt  the  mind,  and  nevertheless 
at  the  same  instant  doth  settle  and  compose  it ;  so  in  all  other 
excellencies,  though  they  advance  nature,  yet  they  are  subject 
to  excess ;  only  charity  admitteth  no  excess :  for  so  we  see, 
aspiring  to  be  like  God  in  power,  the  angels  transgressed  and 
fell ;  Ascendam,  et  ero  similis  Altissimo ;  [I  will  ascend  and 
be  like  unto  the  Highest:]  by  aspiring  to  be  like  God  in  know¬ 
ledge,  man  transgressed  and  fell ;  Eritis  sicut  DU,  scientes  bonum 
et  malum  ;  [ye  shall  be  as  Gods,  knowing  good  and  evil ;]  but 
by  aspiring  to  a  similitude  of  God  in  goodness  or  love,  neither 
man  nor  angel  ever  transgressed  or  shall  transgress.  For  unto 
that  imitation  we  are  called :  Diligite  inimicos  vestros,  benefacite 
eis  qui  oderunt  vos,  et  orate  pro  persequentibus  et  calumniantibus 
vos,  ut  sitis  Jilii  Patris  vestri  qui  in  ccelis  est ,  qui  solem  suum 
oriri  facit  super  bonos  et  malos,  et  pluit  super  justos  et  injustos  ; 
[love  your  enemies,  do  good  to  them  that  hate  you,  and  pray 
for  them  which  despitefully  use  you  and  persecute  you ;  that 
ye  may  be  the  children  of  your  Father  which  is  in  Heaven, 
who  maketh  his  sun  to  rise  on  the  evil  and  on  the  good,  and 
sendeth  rain  on  the  just  and  on  the  unjust].  So  in  the  first  plat¬ 
form  of  the  divine  nature  itself,  the  heathen  religion  speaketh 
thus,  Optimus  Maximus,  [Best  and  Greatest :]  and  the  sacred 
Scriptures  thus,  Misericordia  ejus  super  omnia  opera  ejus,  [his 
mercy  is  over  all  his  works]. 

Wherefore  I  do  conclude  this  part  of  moral  knowledge,  con¬ 
cerning  the  Culture  and  Regiment  of  the  Mind  ;  wherein  if  any 
man,  considering  the  parts  thereof  which  I  have  enumerated, 
do  judge  that  my  labour  is  but  to  collect  into  an  Art  or  Science 
that  which  hath  been  pretermitted  by  others  as  matter  of  com¬ 
mon  sense  and  experience,  he  judgeth  well.  But  as  Philocrates 
sported  with  Demosthenes,  You  may  not  marvel  ( Athenians ,) 
that  Demosthenes  and  I  do  differ,  for  he  drinketh  water,  and  I 
drink  wine;  and  like  as  we  read  of  an  ancient  parable  of  the  two 
gates  of  sleep, 


444 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


Sunt  gemin®  somni  port®  :  quarum  altera  fertur 
Cornea,  qua  verls  facilis  datur  exitus  umbris  : 

Altera  candenti  perfecta  nitens  elephanto, 

Sed  falsa  ad  ccelum  mittunt  insomnia  manes : 

[Two  gates  there  are  of  sleep  ;  of  horn  the  one, 

By  which  the  true  shades  pass  ;  of  ivory 
Burnished  and  white  the  other,  but  through  it 
Into  the  upper  world  false  dreams  are  sent :] 

so  If  we  put  on  sobriety  and  attention,  we  shall  find  it  a  sure 
maxim  in  knowledge,  that  the  more  pleasant  liquor  (of  icine )  is 
the  more  vaporous,  and  the  braver  gate  (of  ivory)  sendeth  forth 
the  falser  dreams.1 

But  we  have  now  concluded  that  general  part  of  Human 
Philosophy,  which  contemplatetli  man  segregate,  and  as  he  con- 
sisteth  of  body  and  spirit.  Wherein  we  may  further  note,  that 
there  seemeth  to  be  a  relation  or  conformity  between  the  good 
of  the  mind  and  the  good  of  the  body.  For  as  we  divided  the 
good  of  the  body  into  health,  beauty,  strength,  and  pleasure ;  so 
the  good  of  the  mind,  inquired  in  rational  and  moral  know¬ 
ledges  2,  tendeth  to  this,  to  make  the  mind  sound,  and  without 
perturbation ;  beautiful,  and  graced  with  decency ;  and  strong 
and  agile  for  all  duties  of  life.  These  three,  as  in  the  body  so 
in  the  mind,  seldom  meet,  and  commonly  sever.  For  it  is  pasy 
to  observe  that  many  have  strength  of  wit  and  courage,  but 
have  neither  health  from  perturbations,  nor  any  beauty  or  de¬ 
cency  in  their  doings :  some  again  have  an  elegancy  and  fine¬ 
ness  of  carriage,  which  have  neither  soundness  of  honesty,  nor 
substance  of  sufficiency :  and  some  again  have  honest  and  re¬ 
formed  minds,  that  can  neither  become  themselves  nor  manage 
business :  and  sometimes  two  of  them  meet,  and  rarely  all 
three.  As  for  pleasure,  we  have  likewise  determined  that  the 
mind  ought  not  to  be  reduced  to  stupid,  but  to  retain  pleasure ; 

1  The  allusion  to  Phlloerates  and  Demosthenes  and  to  the  difference  between  wine 
and  water  is  omitted  in  the  translation  ;  probably  because  Bacon  had  since  used  the  same 
illustration  in  an  opposite  sense  (see  Nov.  Org.  1.  1 23. ),  taking  the  wine  to  represent  his 
own  philosophy,  with  its  variety  of  material  and  elaborate  processes  of  manufacture,  and 
the  water  to  represent  the  popular  philosophy  of  his  time  which  was  content  with  what 
came  ;  and  the  present  passage  reads  the  clearer  and  better  for  the  omission.  After 
“hejudgeth  well,”  yet  let  him  remember  (he  says)  that  the  object  I  am  in  pursuit  of 
is  not  beauty  and  fair  appearance,  but  utility  and  truth  ;  and  let  him  a  little  call  to 
mind  the  meaning  of  that  ancient  parable,  Sunt  gemince  somni  portae ,  See.  Great  no 
doubt  is  the  magnificence  of  the  ivory  gate,  but  the  true  dreams  pass  by  the  gate  of 
horn. 

2  i.  e.  considered  with  reference  to  reason  and  morals  —  (si  juxta  morahs  doctrince 
scita  iltud  contemplemur). 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


445 


confined  rather  in  the  subject  of  it,  than  in  the  strength  and 
■vigour  of  it.1 

IT 2  Civil  Knowledge  is  conversant  about  a  subject  which  of 
all  others  is  most  immersed  in  matter,  and  hardliest  reduced  to 
axiom.  Nevertheless,  as  Cato  the  censor  said,  That  the  Romans 
were  like  sheep,  for  that  a  man  might  better  drive  a  flock  of  them, 
than  one  of  them  ;  for  in  a  flock,  if  you  could  get  but  some  few 
go  right,  the  rest  would  follow :  so  in  that  respect  moral  phi¬ 
losophy  is  more  difficile  than  policy.  Again,  moral  philosophy 
propoundeth  to  itself  the  framing  of  internal  goodness;  but 
civil  knowledge  requireth  only  an  external  goodness;  for  that 
as  to  society  sufficeth ;  and  therefore  it  cometh  oft  to  pass  that 
there  be  evil  times  in  good  governments :  for  so  we  find  in  the 
holy  story,  when  the  kings  were  good,  yet  it  is  added,  Sed  ad- 
huc  populus  non  direxerat 3  cor  suum  ad  Dominum  Deum  patrum 
suorum ;  [but  as  yet  the  people  had  not  turned  their  hearts 
towards  the  Lord  God  of  their  fathers].  Again,  States,  as  great 
engines,  move  slowly,  and  are  not  so  soon  put  out  of  frame : 
for  as  in  Egypt  the  seven  good  years  sustained  the  seven  bad, 
so  governments  for  a  time  well  grounded  do  bear  out  errors 
following :  but  the  resolution  of  particular  persons  is  more  sud¬ 
denly  subverted.  These  respects  do  somewhat  qualify  the  ex¬ 
treme  difficulty  of  civil  knowledge. 

This  knowledge  hath  three  parts,  according  to  the  three 
summary  actions  of  society;  which  are  Conversation,  Negotia¬ 
tion,  and  Government.  For  man  seeketh  in  society  comfort, 
use,  and  protection:  and  they  be  three  wisdoms  of  divers  na¬ 
tures,  which  do  often  sever ;  wisdom  of  the  behaviour,  wisdom 
of  business,  and  wisdom  of  state. 

The  wisdom  of  Conversation  ought  not  to  be  over  much 
affected,  but  much  less  despised ;  for  it  hath  not  only  an  honour 
in  itself,  but  an  influence  also  into  business  and  government.4 
The  poet  saith, 

1  For  in  a  mind  properly  disposed,  the  act  and  exercise  of  virtue  ought  to  be  ac¬ 
companied  with  a  sense  of  pleasure ;  as  is  more  clearly  expressed  in  the  translation. 
There  are  some,  he  says,  who  have  both  health,  beauty,  and  strength  of  mind  ;  and  so 
perform  their  duties  well ;  but,  from  a  kind  of  Stoical  severity  and  insensibility,  take 
no  pleasure  in  them  ( sed  tamen  Stoica  quadam  tristitia  et  stupiditate  praditi,  virtutis 
quidem  actiones  exercent ,  gaudiis  non  pcrfruu/itur). 

2  De  Aug.  viii.  1. 

8  dixerat  in  the  original  and  also  in  edd.  1629  and  1633.  direxerat. — De  Aug. 

4  In  the  translation  he  compares  the  value  of  Conversation  in  business  to  that  of 
action  in  oratory. 


446 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


Nec  vultu  destrue  verba  tuo  : 

a  man  may  destroy  the  force  of  his  words  with  his  countenance: 
so  may  he  of  his  deeds,  saith  Cicero;  recommending  to  his  brother 
affability  and  easy  access ;  Nil  interest  habere  ostium  apertum, 
vultum  clausum ;  it  is  nothing  won  to  admit  men  with  an  open 
door,  and  to  receive  them  with  a  shut  and  reserved  countenance. 
So  we  see  Atticus,  before  the  first  interview  between  Caesar 
and  Cicero,  the  war  depending,  did  seriously  advise  Cicero 
touching  the  composing  and  ordering  of  his  countenance  and 
gesture.  And  if  the  government  of  the  countenance  be  of  such 
effect,  much  more  is  that  of  the  speech,  and  other  carriage  ap¬ 
pertaining  to  conversation ;  the  true  model  whereof  seemeth  to 
me  well  expressed  by  Livy,  though  not  meant  for  this  pur¬ 
pose;  Ne  aut  arrogans  videar,  aut,  obnoxius ;  quorum  alterum 
est  alienee  libertatis  obliti,  alterum  suce :  the  sum  of  behaviour  is 
to  retain  a  man’s  own  dignity,  without  intruding  upon  the 
liberty  of  others.  On  the  other  side,  if  behaviour  and  outward 
carriage  be  intended  too  much,  first  it  may  pass  into  affection  *, 
and  then  quid  deformius  quam  scenam  in  vitam  transferre,  [what 
more  unseemly  than  to  be  always  playing  a  part;]  to  act  a 
man’s  life  ?  But  although  it  proceed  not  to  that  extreme,  yet 
it  consumeth  time,  and  employeth  the  mind  too  much.  And 
therefore  as  we  use  to  advise  young  students  from  company 
keeping,  by  saying,  Amici  fures  temporis,  [friends  are  thieves 
of  time;]  so  certainly  the  intending  of  the  discretion  of  behaviour 
is  a  great  thief  of  meditation.  Again,  such  as  are  accomplished 
in  that  honor1  2  of  urbanity  please  themselves  in  name 3,  and 
seldom  aspire  to  higher  virtue ;  whereas  those  that  have  defect 
in  it  do  seek  comeliness  by  reputation :  for  where  reputation 
is,  almost  every  thing  becometh ;  but  w’here  that  is  not,  it  must 
be  supplied  by  puntos  and  compliments.  Again,  there  is  no 


1  So  the  original.  Edd.  1629  and  1633  have  affectation ;  which  is  the  more  modern 
form  of  the  word.  But  the  other  was  I  think  the  more  common  when  the  Advance¬ 
ment  was  written. 

2  howr  in  original :  hour  in  ed.  1633.  Ed.  1629  has  forme ;  which  is  the  reading 
of  all  the  modern  editions.  But  fourme  could  not  easily  he  mistaken  for  honor,  whereas 
honor  carelessly  written  would  be  hardly  distinguishable  from  it.  The  translation 
also,  though  the  expression  is  altered,  preserves  the  idea  of  honour.  Qui  primas  adeo 
in  urbanitate  obtinent  et  ad  hanc  rem  uruim  quasi  nati  videntur. 

8  So  both  the  original  and  ed.  1633.  Ed.  1629  has  “in  it  "  which  has  been  followed 
by  modem  editors.  The  translation  has  ut  sibi  ipsis  in  ilia  sola  complaceant.  If 
name  be  the  right  word  (which  I  doubt)  the  meaning  must  be  that  they  are  satisfied 
with  the  good  report  which  it  procures  them.  Perhaps  it  should  be  “  please  them¬ 
selves  in  the  same.” 


THE  SECOND  BOOK.  447 

greater  impediment  of  action  than  an  over-curious  observance 
of  decency,  and  the  guide  of  decency,  which  is  time  and  season. 
For  as  Salomon  sayeth,  Qui  respicit  ad  vcntos,  non  seminat ;  et 
qui  respicit  ad  nubes,  non  metet ;  [he  that  looketh  to  the  winds 
doth  not  sow,  and  he  that  regardeth  the  clouds  shall  not  reap:] 
a  man  must  make  his  opportunity,  as  oft  as  find  it.  To  con¬ 
clude  ;  Behaviour  seemeth  to  me  as  a  garment  of  the  mind, 
and  to  have  the  conditions  of  a  garment.  For  it  ought  to  be 
made  in  fashion ;  it  ought  not  to  be  too  curious ;  it  ought  to 
be  shaped  so  as  to  set  forth  any  good  making  of  the  mind,  and 
hide  any  deformity  ;*  and  above  all,  it  ought  not  to  be  too  strait 
or  restrained  for  exercise  or  motion.  But  this  part  of  civil 
knowledge  hath  been  elegantly  handled,  and  therefore  I  cannot 
report  it  for  deficient. 

IT 1  The  wisdom  touching  Negotiation  or  Business  hath  not 
been  hitherto  collected  into  writing,  to  the  great  derogation  of 
learning  and  the  professors  of  learning.  For  from  this  root 
springeth  chiefly  that  note  or  opinion,  which  by  us  is  expressed 
in  adage  to  this  effect,  that  there  is  no  great  concurrence  be¬ 
tween  learning  and  wisdom.  For  of  the  three  wisdoms  which 
we  have  set  down  to  pertain  to  civil  life,  for  wisdom  of  Be¬ 
haviour,  it  is  by  learned  men  for  the  most  part  despised,  as  an 
inferior  to  virtue  and  an  enemy  to  meditation ;  for  wisdom  of 
Government,  they  acquit  themselves  well  when  they  are  called 
to  it,  but  that  happeneth  to  few  ;  but  for  the  wisdom  of  Busi¬ 
ness,  wherein  man’s  life  is  most  conversant,  there  be  no  books 
of  it,  except  some  few  scattered  advertisements,  that  have  no 
proportion  to  the  magnitude  of  this  subject.  For  if  books  were 
written  of  this  as  the  other,  I  doubt  not  but  learned  men  with 
mean  experience  would  far  excel  men  of  long  experience  with¬ 
out  learning,  'and  outshoot  them  in  their  own  bow. 

Neither  needeth  it  at  all  to  be  doubted  that  this  knowledge 
should  be  so  variable  as  it  falleth  not  under  precept ;  for  it  is 
much  less  infinite  than  science  of  Government,  which  we  see 
is  laboured  and  in  some  part  reduced.  Of  this  wisdom  it 
seemeth  some  of  the  ancient  Romans  in  the  saddest  and  wisest 
times  were  professors ;  for  Cicero  reporteth  that  it  was  then 2 
in  use  for  senators  that  had  name  and  opinion  for  general  wise 

1  De  Aug.  viii.  2. 

2  i.  e.  in  the  times  of  which  he  writes, —  a  little  before  his  own.  ( paulo  ante  sua 
secula.') 


448 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


men,  as  Coruncanius,  Curius,  Laslius,  and  many  others,  to  walk 
at  certain  hours  in  the  Place,  and  to  give  audience  to  those 
that  would  use  their  advice ;  and  that  the  particular  citizens 
would  resort  unt<5  them,  and  consult  with  them  of  the  marriage 
of  a  daughter,  or  of  the  employing  of  a  son,  or  of  a  purchase  or 
bargain,  or  of  an  accusation,  and  every  other  occasion  incident 
to  man’s  life ;  so  as  there  is  a  wisdom  of  counsel  and  advice 
even  in  private  causes,  arising  out  of  an  universal  insight  into 
the  affairs  of  the  world ;  which  is  used  indeed  upon  particular 
cases  1  propounded,  hut  is  gathered  by  general  observation  of 
causes  of  like  nature.  For  so  we  see  in  the  book  which  Q. 
Cicero 2  writeth  to  his  brother  De  petitione  consulatus  (being  the 
only  book  of  business  that  I  know  written  by  the  ancients), 
although  it  concerned  a  particular  action  then  on  foot,  yet  the 
substance  thereof  consisteth  of  many  wise  and  politic  axioms, 
which  contain  not  a  temporary  but  a  perpetual  direction  in  the 
case  of  popular  elections.  But  chiefly  we  may  see  in  those 
aphorisms  which  have  place  amongst  divine  writings,  composed 
by  Salomon  the  king,  of  whom  the  Scriptures  testify  that  his 
heart  was  as  the  sands  of  the  sea,  encompassing  the  world  and 
all  worldly  matters ;  we  see,  I  say,  not  a  few  profound  and  ex¬ 
cellent  cautions,  precepts,  positions,  extending  to  much  variety 
of  occasions ;  whereupon  we  will  stay  awhile,  offering  to  con¬ 
sideration  some  number  of  examples.3 

Sed  et  cunctis  scrmonibus  qui  dicuntur  ne  accommndes  aurem 
tuam,  ne  forte  audios  servum  tuum  maledicentem  tibi.  [Hearken 
not  unto  all  words  that  are  spoken,  lest  thou  hear  thy  servant 
curse  thee.]  Here  is  concluded  the  provident  stay  of  inquiry 
of  that  which  we  would  be  loth  to  find  :4  as  it  was  judged  great 
wisdom  in  Pompeius  Magnus  that  he  burned  Sertorius’  papers 
unperused. 

Vir  sapiens  si  cum  stulto  contenderit,  sive  irascatur  sive  ri- 
deat,  non  inveniet  requiem.  [A  wise  man  if  he  contend  with 
a  fool,  whether  he  be  angry  or  whether  he  laugh,  shall  find 
no  rest.]  Here  is  described  the  great  disadvantage  which  a 
wise  man  hath  in  undertaking  a  lighter  person  than  himself ; 
which  is  such  an  engagement  as  whether  a  man  turn  the 

1  So  the  original.  Edd.  1629  and  1633  have  causes. 

2  So  edd.  1629  and  1633  and  De  Aug.  The  original  omits  Q. 

8  This  is  what  he  calls  in  the  translation  Doctrina  de  Negotiis  Sparsis.  The  example 
which  follows  is  greatly  enlarged  :  the  number  of  proverbs  commented  upon  being 
increased  by  a  third,  and  the  comments  being  much  fuller. 

1  Compare  L’Estrange’s  Fables  and  storyes  moralized,  \ ol.  ii.  p.  6.  ed.  1708. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


449 


matter  to  jest,  or  turn  it  to  heat,  or  howsoever  he  change  copy, 
he  can  no  ways  quit  himself  well  of  it 

Qui  delicate,  a  pueritia  nutrit  servum  suum,  postea  sentiet 
eum  contumacem.  [He  that  delicately  bringeth  up  his  servant 
from  a  child  shall  have  him  become  fro  ward  at  the  length.] 
Here  is  signified,  that  if  a  man  begin  too  high  a  pitch  in  his 
favours,  it  doth  commonly  end  in  unkindness  and  unthankful¬ 
ness. 

Vidisti  virum  velocem  in  opere  suo  ?  Coram  regibus  stabit,  nec 
erit  inter  ignobiles.  [Seest  thou  a  man  that  is  quick  in  his 
business  ?  He  shall  stand  before  kings  ;  his  place  shall  not  be 
among  mean  men.]  Here  is  observed  that,  of  all  virtues  for 
rising  to  honour,  quickness  of  dispatch  is  the  best ;  for  su¬ 
periors  many  times  love  not  to  have  those  they  employ  too 
deep  or  too  sufficient,  but  ready  and  diligent. 

Vidi  cunctos  viventes  qui  ambulant  sub  sole,  cum  adolescente 
secundo  qui  consurgit  pro  eo.  [I  beheld  all  the  living  which 
walk  under  the  sun,  with  the  second  youth  that  shall  stand  in 
his  place.]  Here  is  expressed  that  which  was  noted  by  Sylla 
first,  and  after  him  by  Tiberius  :  Plures  adorant  solem  orientem 
quam  occidentem  vel  meridianum  ',  [there  be  more  that  worship 
the  rising  sun  than  the  sun  setting  or  at  mid-day]: 

Si  spiritus  potestatem  habentis  ascenderit  super  te,  locum  tuum 
ne  dimiseris ;  quia  curatio  faciet  cessare  peccata  maxima.  [If  the 
spirit  of  the  ruler  rise  up  against  thee,  leave  not  thy  place ;  for 
observance  will  remove  great  offences.]  Here  caution  is  given 
that  upon  displeasure,  retiring  is  of  all  courses  the  unfittest ;  for 
a  man  leaveth  things  at  worst,  and  depriveth  himself  of  means 
to  make  them  better. 

Era!  civitas  parva,  et  pauci  in  ea  viri:  venit  contra  earn  rex 
magnus,  et  vadavit  earn,  intruxitque  munitiones  per  gyrum,  et 
perfecta  est  obsidio :  inventusque  est  in  ea  vir  pauper  et  sapiens, 
et  liberavit  earn  per  sapientiam  suam  ;  et  nulhus  deinceps  recorda- 
tus  est  hominis  illius  pauperis.  [There  was  a  little  city  and  few 
men  within  it ;  and  there  came  a  great  king  against  it  and 
besieged  it  and  raised  great  bulwarks  round  about  it:  and 
there  was  found  in  it  a  poor  wise  man,  and  he  by  his  wisdom 
delivered  the  city ;  yet  no  man  remembered  that  same  poor 

1  The  words  vel  meridianum  are  omitted  in  the  translation  ;  and  it  is  difficult  to 
understand  how  they  got  in  ;  for  they  are  not  to  be  found  in  either  of  the  passages 
alluded  to,  and  they  seem  to  carry  the  observation  beyond  the  truth. 


450 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


man.]  Here  the  corruption 1  of  states  is  set  forth,  that  esteem 
not  virtue  or  merit  longer  than  they  have  use  of  it. 

Mollis  responsio  frangit  iram.  [A  soft  answer  defeateth 
wrath.]  Here  is  noted  that  silence  or  rough  answer  exas- 
perateth ;  but  an  answer  present  and  temperate  pacifieth. 

Iter  pigrorum  quasi  sepes  spinarum.  [The  way  of  the  slothful 
is  as  an  hedge  of  thorns.]  Here  is  lively  represented  how 
laborious  sloth  proveth  in  the  end ;  for  when  things  are  de¬ 
ferred  till  the  last  instant  and  nothing  prepared  beforehand, 
every  step  findeth  a  brier  or  an  impediment,  which  catcheth  or 
stoppeth. 

Melior  est  finis  orationis  quarn  principium.  [Better  is  the  end 
of  a  speech  than  the  beginning  thereof.]  Here  is  taxed  the 
vanity  of  formal  speakers,  that  study  more  about  prefaces  and 
inducements  than  upon  the  conclusions  and  issues  of  speech. 

Qui  cognoscit  in  judicio  faciem,  non  bene  facit ;  iste  et  pro 
buccella  panis  deseret  veritatem.  [He  that  respecteth  persons 
in  judgment  doth  not  well ;  even  for  a  piece  of  bread  will  that 
man  depart  from  the  truth.]  Here  is  noted,  that  a  judge  were 
better  be  a  briber  than  a  respecter  of  persons;  for  a  corrupt 
judge  offendeth  not  so  lightly2  as  a  facile. 

Vir  pauper  calumnians  pauperes  similis  est  imbri  vehementi, 
in  quo  paratur  fames.  [A  poor  man  that  beareth  witness 
against  the  poor  is  like  a  sweeping  rain  which  leaveth  no  food.] 
Here  is  expressed  the  extremity  of  necessitous  extortions, 
figured  in  the  ancient  fable  of  the  full  and  hungry  horse-leech. 

Foils  turbatus  pede,  et  vena  corrupta,  est  justus  cadens  coram 
impio.  [A  righteous  man  falling  down  before  the  wicked  is  as 
a  troubled  fountain  and  a  corrupt  spring.]  Here  is  noted,  that 
one  judicial  and  exemplar  iniquity  in  the  face  of  the  world, 
doth  trouble  the  fountains  of  justice  more  than  many  particular 
injuries  passed  over  by  connivance. 

3  Qui  subtrahit  aliquid  a  patre  et  a  matre,  et  dicit  hoc 
non  esse  peccatum,  particeps  est  homicidii.  [Whoso  robbeth  his 
father  and  his  mother,  and  saith  it  is  no  transgression,  is  the 
companion  of  a  destroyer.]  Here  is  noted,  that  whereas  men  in 

1  So  odd.  1629  and  1633.  The  original  has  corruptions. 

2  So  the  original.  Edd.  1629  and  1633  have  highly:  a  conjectural  emendation 
probably,  by  some  critic  who  did  not  know  that  lightly  meant  easily,  readily,  upon 
slight  occasion ;  or  did  not  observe  that  the  point  of  the  observation  rests  entirely  upon 
this  word.  The  corrupt  judge  does  not  offend  less  highly  than  the  facile  ;  but  less 
frequently. 

This  proverb  is  omitted  in  the  translation. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


451 


wronging  their  best  friends  use  to  extenuate  their  fault,  as  if 
they  might  presume  or  be  bold  upon  them,  it  doth  contrariwise 
indeed  aggravate  their  fault,  and  turneth  it  from  injury  to  im¬ 
piety. 

Noli  esse  amicus  homini  iracundo,  nec  ambulato  cum  homine 
furioso.  [Make  no  friendship  with  an  angry  man,  neither  go 
with  a  furious  man.]  Here  caution  is  given,  that  in  the  elec¬ 
tion  of  our  friends  we  do  principally  avoid  those  which  are 
impatient,  as  those  that  will  espouse  us  to  many  factions  and 
quarrels. 

Qui  conturbat  domum  suam,  possidebit  ventum.  [He  that 
troubleth  his  own  house  shall  inherit  the  wind.]  Here  is  noted, 
that  in  domestical  separations  and  breaches  men  do  promise  to 
themselves  quieting  of  their  mind  and  contentment ;  but  still 
they  are  deceived  of  their  expectation,  and  it  turneth  to  wind. 

Filius  sapiens  IcEtificat  patrem :  filius  vero  stultus  moestitia  est 
matri  suae.  [A  wise  son  maketh  a  glad  father,  but  a  foolish 
son  is  the  heaviness  of  his  mother.]  Here  is  distinguished, 
that  fathers  have  most  comfort  of  the  good  proof  of  their  sons  ; 
but  mothers  have  most  discomfort  of  their  ill  proof,  because 
women  have  little  discerning  of  virtue,  but  of  fortune.1 

Qui  celat  delictum,  qucerit  amicitiam  ;  sed  qui  altero  sermone 
repetit,  separat  feeder atos.  [He  that  covereth  a  transgression 
seeketh  love,  but  he  that  repeateth  a  matter  separateth  very 
friends.]  Here  caution  is  given,  that  reconcilement  is  better 
managed  by  an  amnesty,  and  passing  over  that  which  is  past, 
than  by  apologies  and  excusations. 

In  omni  opere  bono  erit  abundantia ;  ubi  autem  verba  sunt 
plurima,  ibi  frequenter  egestas.  [In  every  good  work  there  shall 
be  abundance,  but  where  there  are  many  words  there  is  penury.] 
Here  is  noted  that  words  and  discourse  abound  most  where 
there  is  idleness  and  want. 

Primus  in  sua  causa  Justus  ;  sed  venit  altera  pars,  et  inquirit 
in  eum.  [He  that  is  first  in  his  own  cause  seemeth  just;  but 
the  other  party  cometh  and  searcheth  him.]  Here  is  observed, 

1  In  the  translation  he  adds  two  other  causes  —  the  greater  tenderness  of  the 
mother’s  affection,  and  (perhaps)  a  consciousness  that  her  own  indulgence  has  spoiled 
her  son  ;  and  instead  of  saying  that  the  mother  has  “  little  discerning  of  virtue,”  he 
only  says  that  the  father  understands  its  value  better.  The  allusion  to  fortune  is 
omitted  altogether ;  and  indeed  it  is  not  easy  to  see  how  it  bears  upon  the  case  in 
point ;  the  son  in  question  being  by  the  supposition  not  unfortunate  but  foolish.  I 
thought  it  right  to  mention  this  alteration,  because  it  is  more  than  a  development  of 
the  remark  in  the  text ;  it  is  a  correction  of  the  opinion  implied  in  it. 


30  Bacon  III 


452 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


that  in  all  causes  the  first  tale  possesseth  much;  in  sort1 2  that 
the  prejudice  thereby  wrought  will  be  hardly  removed,  except 
some  abuse  or  falsity  in  the  information  be  detected. 

2  Verba  bilinguis  quasi  simplicia,  et  ipsa  perveniunt  ad  in- 
teriora  ventris.  [The  words  of  the  double-tongued  man  which 
seem  artless  are  they  that  go  down  to  the  innermost  parts  of 
the  belly.]  Here  is  distinguished,  that  flattery  and  insinuation 
which  seemeth  set  and  artificial  sinlieth  not  far;  but  that  en- 
tereth  deep  which  hath  shew  of  nature,  liberty,  and  simplicity. 

Qui  erudit  derisorem,  ipse  sibi  injuriam  facit ;  et  qui  arguit 
impium,  sibi  maculam  generat.  [He  that  reproveth  a  scorner 
doth  himself  wrong,  and  he  that  rebuketh  a  wicked  man  getteth 
himself  a  blot.]  Here  caution  is  given  how  we  tender  re¬ 
prehension  to  arrogant  and  scornful  natures,  whose  manner  is 
to  esteem  it  for  contumely,  and  accordingly  to  return  it. 

Da  sapienti  occasionem,  et  addetur  ei  sapientia.  [Give  oppor¬ 
tunity  to  a  wise  man,  and  he  will  be  yet  wiser.]  Here  is  dis¬ 
tinguished  the  wisdom  brought  into  habit,  and  that  which  is 
but  verbal  and  swimming  only  in  conceit ;  for  the  one  upon  the 
occasion  presented  is  quickened  and  redoubled,  the  other  is 
amazed  and  confused. 

Quomodo  in  aquis  resplendent  vultus  prospicientium,  sic  corda 
hominum  manifesta  sunt  prudentibus.  [As  the  face  of  one  that 
looketh  upon  the  water  is  reflected  therein,  so  the  hearts  of 
men  are  manifest  unto  the  wise.]  Here  the  mind  of  a  wise 
man  is  compared  to  a  glass,  wherein  the  images  of  all  diversity 
of  natures  and  customs  are  represented ;  from  which  represen¬ 
tation  proceedeth  that  application, 

Qui  sapit,  innumeris  moribus  aptus  erit : 

[a  wise  man  will  know  how  to  apply  himself  to  all  sorts  of 
characters]. 

Thus  have  I  staid  somewhat  longer  upon  these  sentences 
politic  of  Salomon  than  is  agreeable  to  the  proportion  of  an  ex¬ 
ample  ;  led  with  a  desire  to-give  authority  to  this  part  of  know¬ 
ledge,  which  I  noted  as  deficient,  by  so  excellent  a  precedent ; 
and  have  also  attended  them  with  brief  observations,  such  as 
to  my  understanding  offer  no  violence  to  the  sense,  though  I 

1  So  the  original.  Edd.  1629  and  1633  have  in  such  sort :  an  attempt  at  correction 
where  none  was  wanted. 

2  This  proverb  is  omitted  in  the  translation. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


453 


know  they  may  be  applied  to  a  more  divine  use :  but  it  is 
allowed  even  in  divinity,  that  some  interpretations,  yea  and 
some  writings,  have  more  of  the  Eagle  than  others.  But  taking 
them  as  instructions  for  life,  they  might  have  received  large 
discourse,  if  I  would  have  broken  them  and  illustrated  them  by 
deducements  and  examples. 

Neither  was  this  in  use  only  with  the  Hebrews;  but  it  is 
generally  to  be  found  in  the  wisdom  of  the  more  ancient  times, 
that  as  men  found  out  any  observation  that  they  thought  was 
good  for  life,  they  would  gather  it  and  express  it  in  parable  or 
aphorism  or  fable.  But  for  fables,  they  were  vicegerents  and 
supplies  where  examples  failed :  now  that  the  times  abound 
with  history,  the  aim  is  better  when  the  mark  is  alive.  And 
therefore  the  form  of  writing  which  of  all  others  is  fittest  for 
this  variable  argument  of  negotiation  and  occasions  is  that 
which  Machiavel  chose  wisely  and  aptly  for  government ; 
namely,  discourse  upon  histories  or  examples.  For  knowledge 
drawn  freshly  and  in  our  view  out  of  particulars,  knoweth  the 
way  best  to  particulars  again.  And  it  hath  much  greater  life 
for  practice  when  the  discourse  attendeth  upon  the  example, 
than  when  the  example  attendeth  upon  the  discourse.  For  this 
is  no  point  of  order,  as  it  seemeth  at  first,  but  of  substance.  For 
when  the  example  is  the  ground,  being  set  down  in  an  history 
at  large,  it  is  set  down  with  all  circumstances,  which  may 
sometimes  control  the  discourse  thereupon  made  and  some¬ 
times  supply  it,  as  a  very  pattern  for  action 1 ;  whereas  the 
examples  alleged  for  the  discourse’s  sake  are  cited  succinctly 
and  without  particularity,  and  carry  a  servile  aspect  toward  the 
discourse  which  they  are  brought  in  to  make  good. 

But  this  difference  is  not  amiss  to  be  remembered,  that  as 
history  of  Times  is  the  best  ground  for  discourse  of  govern¬ 
ment,  such  as  Machiavel  handleth,  so  histories  of  Lives  is  the 
most  proper  for  discourse  of  business,  as2  more  conversant  in 
private  actions.  Nay  there  is  a  ground  of  discourse  for  this 

1  So  edd.  1629  and  1633.  The  original  has  gaine.  I  doubt  whether  action  be  the 
right  word,  and  should  rather  suspect  aime,  which  might  look  very  like  gaine  if  the 
tail  of  a  letter  from  the  line  above  happened  to  strike  through  the  a.  The  translation 
has  unde  jit  loco  exemplaris  ad  imitationem  et  practicam. 

2  is  both  in  orig.  and  in  edd.  1629  and  1633.  Blackbourne  substituted  because  it  is. 
Instead  of  “private  actions,”  the  translation  substitutes  “actions  of  all  kinds  great 
and  small” — (quoniam  omnem  occasionum  et  negotiorum,  tarn  grandium  quam  leviorum, 
varietatem  complectuntur). 


454 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


purpose  fitter  than  them  both,  which  is  discourse  upon  letters , 
such  as  are  wise  and  weighty,  as  many  are  of  Cicero  ad  Atticum 
and  others.  For  letters  have  a  great 1  and  more  particular  re¬ 
presentation  of  business  than  either  Chronicles  or  Lives.  Thus 
have  we  spoken  both  of  the  matter  and  form  of  this  part  of 
civil  knowledge  touching  Negotiation2 *,  which  we  note  to  be 
deficient. 

But  yet  there  is  another  part  of  this  part,  which  differeth  as 
much  from  that  whereof  we  have  spoken  as  sapere  and  sibi 
sapere,  \to  be  wise  and  to  be  wise  for  oneself ,]  the  one  moving  as 
it  were  to  the  circumference,  the  other  to  the  centre.  For 
there  is  a  wisdom  of  counsel,  and  again  there  is  a  wisdom  of 
pressing  a  man’s  own  fortune ;  and  they  do  sometimes  meet, 
and  often  sever.  For  many  are  wise  in  their  own  ways  that 
are  weak  for  government  or  counsel ;  like  ants,  which  is  a  wise 
creature  for  itself,  but  very  hurtful  for  the  garden.  This 
wisdom  the  Romans  did  take  much  knowledge  of 3 :  Nam  pol 
sapiens  (saith  the  comical  poet)  fingit  fortunam  sibi,  [the  wise 
man  fashions  his  fortune  for  himself ;]  and  it  grew  to  an  adage, 
Faber  quisque  fortunes  proprics,  [every  man  has  tools  to  make 
his  own  fortune  with,]  and  Livy  attributeth  it  to  Cato  the 
first,  In  hoc  viro  tanta  vis  animi  et  ingenii  inerat,  ut  quocunque 
loco  natus  esset,  sibi  ipse  fortunam  facturus  videretur,  [such  was 
his  force  of  mind  and  genius  that  in  whatever  state  he  had  been 
born  he  would  have  made  himself  a  fortune]. 

This  conceit  or  position 4  if  it  be  too  much  declared  and  pro¬ 
fessed,  hath  been  thought  a  thing  impolitic  and  unlucky;  as 
was  observed  in  Timotheus  the  Athenian ;  who  having  done 
many  great  services  to  the  estate  in  his  government,  and  giving 
an  account  thereof  to  the  people  as  the  manner  was,  did  con¬ 
clude  every  particular  with  this  clause,  and  in  this  fortune  had 
no  part.  And  it  came  so  to  pass  that  he  never  prospered  in 
any  thing  he  took  in  hand  afterward  :  for  this  is  too  high  and 
too  arrogant,  savouring  of  that  which  Ezekiel  saith  of  Pharaoh, 
Dicis,  Fluvius  est  meus,  et  ego  feci  memet  ipsum ,  [thou  sayest 


1  So  all  three  editions,  though  great  can  hardly  be  the  right  word.  I  should  sus¬ 
pect  nearer.  The  translation  has  mayis  in  proximo  et  ad  vivum  negotia  solent  repree- 
sentare. 

2  i.  e  de  negotiis  spar  sis. 

8  And  yet  (he  adds  in  the  translation)  there  were  no  better  patriots,  — licet  patrix 
optimis  curatoribus. 

4  The  translation  ha3  hoc  genus  prudential. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


455 


the  river  is  mine,  and  I  made  myself ;]  or  of  that  which  another 
prophet  speaketh,  that  men  offer  sacrifices  to  their  nets  and 
snares ;  and  that  which  the  poet  expresseth, 

Dextra  mihi  Deus,  et  tel  urn  quod  missile 1  libro, 

N  unc  adsint ! 

[my  right  hand  and  my  spear  are  the  God  I  trust  in].  For 
these  confidences  were  ever  unhallowed,  and  unblessed.  And 
therefore  those  that  were  great  politiques  indeed  ever  ascribed 
their  successes  to  their  felicity,  and  not  to  their  skill  or  virtue. 
For  so  Sylla  surnamed  himself  Felix,  not  Magnus,  [the  For¬ 
tunate,  not  the  Great].  So  Casar  said  2  to  the  master  of  the 
ship,  Ccesarem  portas  et  fortunam  ejus,  [you  carry  Caesar  and 
his  fortune]. 

But  yet  nevertheless  these  positions,  Faber  quisque  fortunes 
slice ;  Sapiens  dominabitur  astris ;  Invia  virtuti  nulla  est  via ; 
[every  man  should  be  the  maker  of  his  own  fortune ;  the  wise 
man  will  command  his  stars;  nothing  impossible  to  virtue:] 
and  the  like,  being  taken  and  used  as  spurs  to  industry,  and 
not  as  stirrups  to  insolency,  rather  for  resolution  than  for 
presumption  or  outward  declaration,  have  been  ever  thought 
sound  and  good,  and  are  no  question  imprinted  in  the  greatest 
minds ;  who  are  so  sensible  of  this  opinion  as  they  can  scarce  con¬ 
tain  it  within.  As  we  see  in  Augustus  Caesar,  (who  was  rather 
diverse  from  his  uncle  than  inferior  in  virtue 3,)  how  when  he 
died,  he  desired  his  friends  about  him  to  give  him  a  Plaudite ; 
as  if  he  were  conscient  to  himself  that  he  had  played  his  part 
well  upon  the  stage.  This  part  of  knowledge  we  do 

1  "p  .  1  .  .  .  ...  Faber  For- 

report  also  as  deficient :  not  but  that  it  is  practised  swede 

*  .  .  Ambitu  vite. 

too  much,  but  it  hath  not  been  reduced  to  writing. 

And  therefore  lest  it  should  seem  to  any  that  it  is  not  com- 

1  inutile  In  the  original,  and  also  in  ed.  1633  :  obviously  a  misprint.  Ed.  1629  and 
the  De  Augmentis  have  it  right. 

In  addition  to  these  instances  he  cites  in  the  translation  another  from  Julius  Caesar 
himself.  When  the  soothsayer  reported  the  auspices  unfavourable,  he  was  heard  to 
mutter  “they  will  be  more  favourable  when  I  will.”  The  anecdote  comes  from  Sue¬ 
tonius.  It  was  the  only  occasion  (Bacon  adds)  on  which  Caesar  so  far  forgot  himself 
as  to  betray  his  secret  thoughts  —  ( nunquam ,  quod  memini,  impotentiam  cogitationum 
suarum  arcanarum  prodidit  nisi  siniili  dicto )  ;  and  his  death  followed  soon  after. 

3  better  (adds  the  translation)  than  in  the  instance  above  mentioned. 

3  ted  vir  certe  paulo  moderation.  In  Bacon’s  character  of  Augustus  —  the  fragment 
entitled  Imago  Civilis  August i  Ctesaris  —  he  acknowledges  that  he  was  inferior  to 
Julius  in  strength  of  mind,  but  asserts  that  he  was  superior  in  beauty  and  health  of 
mind  ;  Julius’s  aspirations  being  restless,  boundless,  and  inordinate  ;  those  of  Augustus 
sober,  well  ordered,  aud  within  compass. 


456 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING 


prehensible  by  axiom,  it  is  requisite,  as  we  did  in  tbe  former, 
that  we  set  down  some  heads  or  passages  of  it. 

Wherein  it  may  appear  at  the  first  a  new  and  unwonted 
argument  to  teach  men  how  to  raise  and  make  their  fortune  ; 
a  doctrine  wherein  every  man  perchance  will  he  ready  to  yield 
himself  a  disciple,  till  he  see  the  difficulty  :  for  Fortune  layeth 
as  heavy  impositions  as  Virtue ;  and  it  is  as  hard  and  severe 
a  thing  to  be  a  true  politique,  as  to  be  truly  moral.  But 
the  handling  hereof  concerneth  learning  greatly,  both  in 
honour  and  in  substance :  in  honour,  because  pragmatical 
men  may  not  go  away  with  an  opinion  that  learning  is  like  a 
lark,  that  can  mount  and  sing  and  please  herself,  and  nothing 
else  ;  but  may  know  that  she  holdeth  as  well  of  the  hawk,  that 
can  soar  aloft,  and  can  also  descend  and  strike  upon  the  prey  : 
in  substance,  because  it  is  the  perfect  law  of  inquiry  of  truth, 
that  nothing  be  in  the  globe  of  matter ,  which  should  not  be  like¬ 
wise  in  the  globe  of  crystal,  or  form  ;  that  is  that  there  be  not 
any  thing  in  being  and  action,  which  should  not  be  drawn  and 
collected  into  contemplation  and  doctrine.  Neither  doth  learn¬ 
ing  admire  or  esteem  of  this  architecture  of  fortune  otherwise 
than  as  of  an  inferior  work :  for  no  man’s  fortune  can  be  an 
end  worthy  of  his  being,  and  many  times  the  worthiest  men 
do  abandon  their  fortune  willingly  for  better  respects :  but 
nevertheless  fortune  as  an  organ  of  virtue  and  merit  deserveth 
the  consideration. 

First  therefore,  the  precept  which  I  conceive  to  be  most 
summary  towards  the  prevailing  in  fortune,  is  to  obtain  that 
window  which  Momus  did  require,  who  seeing  in  the  frame 
of  man’s  heart  such  angles  and  recesses,  found  fault  there 
was  not  a  window  to  look  into  them  ;  that  is,  to  procure  good 
informations  of  particulars  touching  persons,  their  natures, 
their  desires  and  ends,  their  customs  and  fashions,  their  helps 
and  advantages,  and  whereby  they  chiefly  stand;  so  again 
their  weaknesses  and  disadvantages,  and  where  they  lie  most 
open  and  obnoxious  ;  their  friends,  factions,  dependances ;  and 
again  their  opposites,  enviers,  competitors,  their  moods  and 
times.  Sola  viri  molles  aditus  et  tempora  nor  as  ;  their  principles, 
rules,  and  observations,  and  the  like :  and  this  not  only  of  per¬ 
sons,  but  of  actions ;  what  are  on  foot  from  time  to  time,  and 
how  they  are  conducted,  favoured,  opposed ;  and  how  they 
import,  and  the  like.  For  the  knowledge  of  present  actions  is 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


457 


not  only  material  in  itself,  but  without  it  also  the  knowledge  of 
persons  is  very  erroneous:  for  men  change  with  the  actions  ; 
and  whiles  they  are  in  pursuit  they  are  one,  and  when  they 
return  to  their  nature  they  are  another.  These  informations 
of  particulars  touching  persons  and  actions  are  as  the  minor 
propositions  in  every  active  syllogism;  for  no  excellency  of 
observations  (which  are  as  the  major  propositions)  can  suffice 
to  ground  a  conclusion,  if  there  be  error  and  mistaking  in  the 
minors. 

That  this  knowledge  is  possible,  Salomon  is  our  surety;  who 
saith.  Consilium  in  corde  viri  tanquam  aqua  profunda  ;  sed  vir 
prudens  exhauriet  illud,  [counsel  in  the  heart  of  man  is  like 
deep  water ;  but  a  man  of  understanding  will  draw  it  out]. 
And  although  the  knowledge  itself  falleth  not  under  precept, 
because  it  is  of  individuals,  yet  the  instructions  for  the  obtain¬ 
ing  of  it  may. 

We  will  begin  therefore  with  this  precept,  according  to  the 
ancient  opinion,  that  the  sinews  of  wisdom  are  slowness  of 
belief  and  distrust ;  that  more  trust  be  given  to  countenances 
and  deeds  than  to  words ;  and  in  words,  rather  to  sudden  pas¬ 
sages  and  surprised  words,  than  to  set  and  purposed  words. 
Neither  let  that  be  feared  which  is  said,  fronti  nulla  Jides, 
[no  trusting  to  the  face :]  which  is  meant  of  a  general  outward 
behaviour,  and  not  of  the  private  and  subtile  motions  and  labours 
of  the  countenance  and  gesture  ;  which  as  Q.  Cicero  elegantly 
saith,  is  animijanua,  the  gate  of  the  mind.  None  more  close 
than  Tiberius,  and  yet  Tacitus  saith  of  Gallus,  Etenim  vultu 
offensionem  conjectaverat,  [he  had  seen  displeasure  in  his  coun¬ 
tenance].  So  again,  noting  the  differing  character  and  manner 
of  his  commending  Germanicus  and  Drusus  in  the  senate,  he 
saith  touching  his  fashion  wherein  he  carried  his  speech  of 
Germanicus,  thus ;  Magis  in  speciem  adornatis  verbis,  quam  ut 
penitus  sentire  videretur,  [it  was  in  words  too  laboured  and 
specious  to  be  taken  for  what  he  really  felt;]  but  of  Drusus 
thus;  Paucioribus,  sed  intentior,  et  jida  oratione,  [he  said  less, 
but  more  earnestly,  and  in  a  style  of  sincerity ;]  and  in  another 
place,  speaking  of  his  character  of  speech  when  he  did  any  thing 
that  was  gracious  and  popular,  he  saith  that  in  other  things 
he  was  velut  eluctantium  verborurn,  [of  a  kind  of  struggling 
speech  ;]  but  then  again,  solutius  loquebatur  quando  subveni  ■ 
ret,  [he  spoke  with  more  freedom  when  he  was  speaking  in  a 


458 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


man’s  favour].  So  that  there  is  no  such  artificer  of  dissimula¬ 
tion,  nor  no  such  commanded  countenance  ( vultus  jussus )  that 
can  sever  from  a  feigned  tale  some  of  these  fashions,  either 
a  more  slight  and  careless  fashion,  or  more  set  and  formal, 
or  more  tedious  and  wandering,  or  coming  from  a  man  more 
drily  and  hardly. 

Neither  are  deeds  such  assured  pledges,  as  that  they  may  be 
trusted  without  a  judicious  consideration  of  their  magnitude 
and  nature  :  Fraus  sibi  in  parvis  f  idem  prcestrvit,  ut  majore 
emolumento  fallat,  [it  is  a  trick  of  treachery  to  win  itself 
credit  at  the  first  by  fidelity  in  small  things,  that  being  there¬ 
upon  trusted  in  greater  it  may  deceive  with  more  advantage  ;] 
and  the  Italian  thinketh  himself  upon  the  point  to  be  bought 
and  sold,  when  he  is  better  used  than  he  was  wont  to  be  with¬ 
out  manifest  cause.  For  small  favours,  they  do  but  lull  men 
asleep,  both  as  to  caution  and  as  to  industry,  and  are  as  De¬ 
mosthenes  calleth  them,  Alimenta  socordice,  [sops  to  feed  sloth]. 
So  again  we  see  how  false  the  nature  of  some  deeds  are,  in  that 
particular  which  Mutianus  practised  upon  Antonius  Primus, 
upon  that  hollow  and  unfaithful  reconcilement  which  was  made 
between  them ;  whereupon  Mutianus  advanced  many  of  the 
friends  of  Antonius  :  simul  amicis  ejus  prcefecturas  et  tribuna- 
tus  largitur,  [making  them  prefects  and  tribunes:]  wherein 
under  pretence  to  strengthen  him,  he  did  desolate  him,  and 
won  from  him  his  dependances. 

As  for  ivords,  (though  they  be  like  waters  to  physicians,  full 
of  flattery  and  uncertainty,)  yet  they  are  not  to  be  despised, 
specially  with  the  advantage  of  passion  and  affection.  For 
so  we  see  Tiberius  upon  a  stinging  and  incensing  speech  of 
Agrippina  came  a  step  forth  of  his  dissimulation,  when  he  said. 
You  are  hurt  because  you  do  not  reign ;  of  which  Tacitus  saith. 
Audita  hcec  raram  occulti  pectoris  vocem  elicuere  ;  correptam- 
que  Graeco  versu  admonuit,  idea  Iccdi  quia  non  regnaret,  [these 
words  drew  from  Tiberius  the  voice,  so  rarely  heard,  of  his 
secret  heart :  he  retorted  upon  her  with  a  Greek  verse,  that 
she  was  hurt,  &c.].  And  therefore  the  poet  doth  elegantly  call 
passions  tortures,  that  urge  men  to  confess  their  secrets : 

Vino  tortus  et  ira. 

And  experience  sheweth,  there  are  few  men  so  true  to  them¬ 
selves  and  so  settled,  but  that,  sometimes  upon  heat,  sometimes 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


459 


upon  bravery,  sometimes  upon  kindness,  sometimes  upon 
trouble  of  mind  and  weakness,  they  open  themselves;  specially 
if  they  be  put  to  it  with  a  counter-dissimulation,  according  to 
the  proverb  of  Spain,  Di  mentira,  y  sacaras  verdad,  Tell  a  lie 
and  find  a  truth. 

As  for  the  knowing  of  men  which  is  at  second  hand  from 
reports;  men’s  weaknesses1  and  faults  are  best  known  from 
their  enemies,  their  virtues  and  abilities  from  their  friends, 
their  customs  and  times  from  their  servants,  their  conceits  and 
opinions  from  their  familiar  friends  with  whom  they  discourse 
most.  General  fame  is  light,  and  the  opinions  conceived  by 
superiors  or  equals 2  are  deceitful ;  for  to  such  men  are  more 
masked :  Venor  fama  e  domesticis  emanat,  [the  truer  kind  of 
report  comes  from  those  who  see  them  at  home]. 

But  the  soundest  disclosing  and  expounding  of  men  is  by 
their  natures  and  ends ;  wherein  the  weakest  sort  of  men  are 
best  interpreted  by  their  natures,  and  the  wisest  by  their  ends.3 
For  it  was  both  pleasantly  and  wisely  said  (though  I  think  very 
untruly)  by  a  nuncio  of  the  pope,  returning  from  a  certain 
nation  where  he  served  as  lieger;  whose  opinion  being  asked 
touching  the  appointment  of  one  to  go  in  his  place,  he  wished 
that  in  any  case  they  did  not  send  one  that  was  too  wise ; 
because  no  very  wise  man  would  ever  imagine  what  they  in 
that  country  were  like  to  do.  And  certainly  it  is  an  error 
frequent  for  men  to  shoot  over,  and  to  suppose  deeper  ends 
and  more  compass  reaches  than  are :  the  Italian  proverb  being 
elegant,  and  for  the  most  part  true : 

Di  danari,  di  senno,  e  di  fede, 

Ce  ne  manco  che  non  credi : 

There  is  commonly  less  money,  less  wisdom,  and  less  good 
faith,  than  men  do  account  upon. 

But  Princes  upon  a  far  other  reason  are  best  interpreted  by 
their  natures,  and  private  persons  by  their  ends;  for  princes 
being  at  the  top  of  human  desires,  they  have  for  the  most  part 
no  particular  ends  whereto  they  aspire4,  by  distance  from  which 
a  man  might  take  measure  and  scale  of  the  rest  of  their  actions 

1  So  ed.  1633.  The  original  and  ed.  1629  have  weaknesse. 

2  The  translation  omits  equals  :  a  correction  no  doubt  of  Bacon’s  own. 

3  According  to  the  translation,  the  weaker  and  the  more  simple  by  their  natures ;  the 
wiser  and  the  more  close  by  their  ends. 

4  i.  e.  not  earnestly  and  constantly — ( ad  quosf  prcesertim  vehementer  et  constanter , 
aspirent ). 


4G0 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


and  desires ;  which  is  one  of  the  causes  that  maketh  their 
hearts  more  inscrutable.1 2  Neither  is  it  sufficient  to  inform 
ourselves  in  men’s  ends  and  natures  of  the  variety  of  them 
only,  hut  also  of  the  predominancy,  what  humour  reigneth 
most,  and  what  end  is  principally  sought.  For  so  we  see,  when 
Tigellinus  saw  himself  outstripped  by  Petronius  Turpilianus  in 
Nero’s  humours  of  pleasures,  metus  ejus  rimatur'1,  he  wrought 
upon  Nero’s  fears,  whereby  he  brake  the  other’s  neck. 

But  to  all  this  part  of  inquiry  the  most  compendious  way 
resteth  in  three  things.  The  first,  to  have  general  acquaintance 
and  inwardness  with  those  which  have  general  acquaintance 
and  look  most  into  the  world ;  and  specially  according  to  the 
diversity  of  business  and  the  diversity  of  persons,  to  have 
privacy  and  conversation  with  some  one  friend  at  least  which  is 
perfect  and  well  intelligenced  in  every  several  kind.  The 
second  is  to  keep  a  good  mediocrity  in  liberty  of  speech  and 
secrecy ;  in  most  things  liberty ;  secrecy  where  it  importeth ; 
for  liberty  of  speech  inviteth  and  provoketh  liberty  to  be  used 
again,  and  so  bringeth  much  to  a  man’s  knowledge  ;  and  se¬ 
crecy,  on  the  other  side,  induceth  trust  and  inwardness.  The 
last  is  the  reducing  of  a  man’s  self  to  this  watchful  and  serene 
habit,  as  to  make  account  and  purpose,  in  every  conference  and 
action,  as  well  to  observe  as  to  act.  For  as  Epictetus  would 
have  a  philosopher  in  every  particular  action  to  say  to  himself, 
Et  hoc  volo,  et  etiam  institution  servare,  [I  would  do  this  and 
keep  my  course  too ;]  so  a  politic  man  in  every  thing  should 
say  to  himself,  Et  hoc  volo,  ac  etiam  aliquid  addiscere,  [I  would 
do  it  and  also  learn  something  from  it].3  I  have  stayed  the 
longer  upon  this  precept  of  obtaining  good  information,  because 
it  is  a  main  part  by  itself,  which  answereth  to  all  the  rest. 
But,  above  all  things,  caution  must  be  taken  that  men  have  a 
good  stay  and  hold  of  themselves,  and  that  this  much  know¬ 
ledge  do  not  draw  on  much  meddling ;  for  nothing  is  more  un¬ 
fortunate  than  light  and  rash  intermeddling  in  many  matters ; 
so  that  this  variety  of  knowledge  tendeth  in  conclusion  but 

1  Whereas  private  persons  are  almost  all  like  travellers  making  for  their  journey’s 
end ;  and  if  you  know  what  they  are  aiming  at,  you  may  guess  by  that  what  they  are 
likely  to  do  and  what  not  to  do. 

2  So  edd.  1629  and  1633.  The  original  has  rinaeur. 

8  i.  e.  something  which  may  be  of  use  hereafter.  And  therefore  (adds  the  trans¬ 
lation)  those  who  are  so  intent  on  the  business  in  hand  that,  like  Montaigne,  they  pay 
no  attention  to  anything  that  turns  up  by  the  way,  make  excellent  ministers  for 
Kings  and  Commonwealths,  but  bad  managers  of  their  owu  fortune. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


461 


only  to  this,  to  make  a  better  and  freer  choice  of  those  actions 
which  may  concern  us,  and  to  conduct  them  with  the  less  error 
and  the  more  dexterity. 

The  second  precept  concerning  this  knowledge  is,  for  men  to 
take  good  information  touching  their  own  person,  and  well  to 
understand  themselves :  knowing  that,  as  St.  James  saith, 
though  men  look  oft  in  a  glass,  yet  they  do  suddenly  forget 
themselves  ;  wherein  as  the  divine  glass  is  the  word  of  God,  so 
the  politic  glass  is  the  state  of  the  world  or  times  wherein  we 
live ;  in  the  which  we  are  to  behold  ourselves. 

For  men  ought  to  take  an  unpartial  view  of  their  own  abili¬ 
ties  and  virtues ;  and  again  of  their  wants  and  impediments ; 
accounting  these  with  the  most,  and  those  other  with  the  least; 
and  from  this  view  and  examination  to  frame  the  considerations 
following. 

First,  to  consider  how  the  constitution  of  their  nature  sorteth 
with  the  general  state  of  the  times ;  which  if  they  find  agree¬ 
able  and  fit,  then  in  all  things  to  give  themselves  more  scope 
and  liberty ;  but  if  differing  and  dissonant,  then  in  the  whole 
course  of  their  life  to  be  more  close,  retired,  and  reserved :  as 
we  see  in  Tiberius,  who  was  never  seen  at  a  play  and  came  not 
into  the  senate  in  twelve  of  his  last  years  ;  whereas  Augustus 
Caesar  lived  ever  in  men’s  eyes,  which  Tacitus  observeth  : 
Alia  Tiberio  morum  via,  [  Tiberius’s  ways  were  different].1 

Secondly,  to  consider  how  their  nature  sorteth  with  profes¬ 
sions  and  courses  of  life,  and  accordingly  to  make  election,  if 
they  be  free ;  and,  if  engaged,  to  make  the  departure  at  the 
first  opportunity:  as  we  see  was  done  by  duke  Valentine,  that 
was  designed  by  his  father  to  a  sacerdotal  profession,  but 
quitted  it  soon  after  in  regard  of  his  parts  and  inclination ; 
being  such  nevertheless,  as  a  man  cannot  tell  well  whether 
they  were  worse  for  a  prince  or  for  a  priest. 

Thirdly,  to  consider  how  they  sort  with  those  whom  they 
are  like  to  have  competitors  and  concurrents,  and  to  take  that 
course  wherein  there  is  most  solitude,  and  themselves  like  to  be 
most  eminent :  as  Csesar  Julius  did,  who  at  first  was  an  orator 
or  pleader  ;  but  when  he  saw  the  excellency  of  Cicero,  Horten- 
sius,  Catulus,  and  others,  for  eloquence,  and  saw  there  was  no 
man  of  reputation  for  the  wars  but  Pompeius,  upon  whom  the 

1  In  the  translation  Pericles  is  mentioned  as  another  instance  —  ( eadem  et  Periclis 
ratio  fait). 


462 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


state  was  forced  to  rely,  he  forsook  his  course  begun  toward  a 
civil  and  popular  greatness,  and  transferred  his  designs  to  a 
martial  greatness. 

Fourthly,  in  the  choice  of  their  friends  and  dependances,  to 
proceed  according  to  the  composition  of  their  own  nature ;  as 
we  may  see  in  Cassar,  all  whose  friends  and  followers  were 
men  active  and  effectual,  but  not  solemn  or  of  reputation.1 

Fifthly,  to  take  special  heed  how  they  guide  themselves  by 
examples,  in  thinking  they  can  do  as  they  see  others  do; 
whereas  perhaps  their  natures  and  carriages  are  far  differing ; 
in  which  error  it  seemeth  Pompey  was,  of  whom  Cicero  saith, 
that  he  was  wont  often  to  say,  Sylla  potuit,  ego  non  potero  ? 
[Sylla  could  do  it,  why  not  I?]  wherein  he  was  much  abused, 
the  natures  and  proceedings  of  himself  and  his  example  being 
the  unlikest  in  the  world ;  the  one  being  fierce,  violent,  and 
pressing  the  fact ;  the  other  solemn,  and  full  of  majesty  and 
circumstance,  and  therefore  the  less  effectual. 

But  this  precept  touching  the  politic  knowledge  of  ourselves 
hath  many  other  branches  whereupon  we  cannot  insist. 

Next  to  the  well  understanding  and  discerning  of  a  man’s 
self,  there  followeth  the  well  opening  and  revealing  2  a  man’s 
self ;  wherein  we  see  nothing  more  usual  than  for  the  more  able 
man  to  make  the  less  shew.  For  there  is  a  great  advantage  in 
the  well  setting  forth  of  a  man’s  virtues,  fortunes,  merits ;  and 
again  in  the  artificial  covering  of  a  man’s  weaknesses,  defects, 
disgraces  ;  staying  upon  the  one,  sliding  from  the  other ;  che¬ 
rishing  the  one  by  circumstances,  gracing  the  other  by  expo¬ 
sition,  and  the  like :  wherein  we  see  what  Tacitus  saith  of 
Mutianus,  who  was  the  greatest  politique  of  his  time.  Omnium 
qua  dixerat  feceratque  arte  quadam  ostentator,  [having  a  certain 
art  of  displaying  to  advantage  all  he  said  and  did  ;]  which  re- 
quireth  indeed  some  art,  lest  it  turn  tedious  and  arrogant ;  but 
yet  so  as  ostentation  (though  it  be  to  the  first  degree  of  vanity) 
seemeth  to  me  rather  a  vice  in  manners  than  in  policy :  for 

1  And  men  (the  translation  adds)  who  were  infinitely  loyal  to  Cssar  himself,  but 
arrogant  and  contemptuous  towards  all  men  else  ;  such  as  Antonius,  Hirtius,  Pansa, 
Oppius,  Balbus,  Dolabella,  Pollio,  and  the  rest. 

2  In  the  translation  this  part  of  the  subject  is  distributed  into  three  separate  heads ; 
—  the  art  of  setting  a  man’s  self  forth  to  advantage  (se  ostentare) — of  making  himself 
understood  (se  declarare)  —  of  turning  and  shaping  himself  according  to  occasion 
( flectere  se  et  effing  ere) ;  and  the  order  of  the  precepts  which  follow  is  changed  to  suit 
this  arrangement.  The  three  next  paragraphs  belong  to  the  first  head, — the  art  of 
ostentation. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


463 


as  it  is  said,  Audacter  calumniare  semper  aliquid  hceret,  [slan 
der  boldly,  there  is  ever  some  that  sticks  ;]  so,  except  it  be  in 
a  ridiculous  degree  of  deformity,  Audacter  te  vendita,  semper 
aliquid  heeret,  [put  forward  your  own  pretensions  boldly — some¬ 
thing  always  sticks].  For  it  will  stick  with  the  more  ignorant 
and  inferior  sort  of  men,  though  men  of  wisdom  and  rank  do 
smile  at  it  and  despise  it;  and  yet  the  authority  won  with 
many  doth  countervail  the  disdain  of  a  few.  But  if  it  be 
carried  with  decency  and  government,  as  with  a  natural,  plea¬ 
sant,  and  ingenious1  2  fashion  ;  or  at  times  when  it  is  mixed  with 
some  peril  and  unsafety,  (as  in  military  persons  ;)  or  at  times 
when  others  are  most  envied;  or  with  easy  and  careless  passage 
to  it  and  from  it,  without  dwelling  too  long  or  being  too  se¬ 
rious  ;  or  with  an  equal  freedom  of  ta^yng  a  man’s  self  as  well 
as  gracing  himself;  or  by  occasion  of  repelling  or  putting  down 
others’  injury  or  insolency ;  it  doth  greatly  add  to  reputation : 
and  surely  not  a  few  solid  natures,  that  want  this  ventosity 
and  cannot  sail  in  the  height  of  the  winds,  are  not  without 
some  prejudice  and  disadvantage  by  their  moderation. 

But  for  these  flourishes  and  enhancements  of  virtue,  as  they 
are  not  perchance  unnecessary,  so  it  is  at  least  necessary  that 
virtue  be  not  disvalued  and  imbased  under  the  just  price ; 
which  is  done  in  three  manners :  by  offering  and  obtruding  a 
man’s  self ;  wherein  men  think  he  is  rewarded,  when  he  is  ac¬ 
cepted  :  by  doing  too  much 3 ;  which  will  not  give  that  which  is 
well  done  leave  to  settle,  and  in  the  end  induceth  satiety :  and 
by  finding  too  soon  the  fruit  of  a  man’s  virtue,  in  commenda¬ 
tion,  applause,  honour,  favour ;  wherein  if  a  man  be  pleased 
with  a  little,  let  him  hear  what  is  truly  said,  Cave  ne  insuetus 
rebus  majoribus  videaris,  si  luec  te  res  parva  sicuti  magna  de¬ 
lect  at,  [if  he  take  so  much  delight  in  a  little  thing,  he  will  be 
thought  unused  to  greater  things]. 

But  the  covering  of  defects  is  of  no  less  importance  than  the 
valuing  of  good  parts ;  which  may  be  done  likewise  in  three 
manners ;  by  Caution,  by  Colour,  and  by  Confidence.  Caution 
is  when  men  do  ingeniously  and  discreetly  avoid  to  be  put  into 
those  things  for  which  they  are  not  proper :  whereas  contrari- 


1  calumniari  in  the  original. 

2  t.  e.  ingenuous. 

8  Especially  in  the  beginning,  and  at  once  —  ( quando  quis  in  principio  ret  gerenda 
viribus  suis  nimium  abutiturt  el  quod  sensim  erat  prcestandum  uno  impetu  eff audit ). 


464 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


wise  bold  and  unquiet  spirits  will  thrust  themselves  into  matters 
without  difference,  and  so  publish  and  proclaim  all  their  wants. 
Colour  is  when  men  make  a  way  for  themselves  to  have  a 
construction  made  of  their  faults  or  wants  as  proceeding  from 
a  better  cause,  or  intended  for  some  other  purpose  :  for  of  the 
one  it  is  well  said,  Scepe  latet  vitium  proximitate  boni,  [a  vice 
will  often  hide  itself  under  the  shadow  of  a  neighbouring 
virtue ;]  and  therefore  whatsoever  want  a  man  hath,  he  must 
see  that  he  pretend  the  virtue  that  shadoweth  it ;  as  if  he  be 
dull,  he  must  affect  gravity ;  if  a  coward,  mildness  ;  and  so  the 
rest:  for  the  second,  a  man  must  frame  some  probable  cause 
why  he  should  not  do  his  best,  and  why  he  should  dissemble 
his  abilities ;  and  for  that  purpose  must  use  to  dissemble  those 
abilities  which  are  notorious  in  him  ',  to  give  colour  that  his 
true  wants  are  but  industries  and  dissimulations.  For  Confi¬ 
dence,  it  is  the  last1 2  but  the  surest  remedy;  namely,  to  depress 
and  seem  to  despise  whatsoever  a  man  cannot  attain ;  observing 
the  good 3  principle  of  the  merchants,  who  endeavour  to  raise 
the  price  of  their  own  commodities,  and  to  beat  down  the  price 
of  others.  But  there  is  a  confidence  that  passeth  4  this  other ; 
which  is,  to  face  out  a  man’s  own  defects,  in  seeming  to  con¬ 
ceive  that  he  is  best  in  those  things  wherein  he  is  failing ;  and, 
to  help  that  again,  to  seem  on  the  other  side  that  he  hath  least 
opinion  of  himself  in  those  things  wherein  he  is  best :  like  as 
we  shall  see  it  commonly  in  poets,  that  if  they  shew  their 
verses,  and  you  except  to  any,  they  will’  say  that  that  line  cost 
them  more  labour  than  any  of  the  rest ;  and  presently  will  seem 
to  disable  and  suspect  rather  some  other  line,  which  they  know 
well  enough  to  be  the  best  in  the  number.  But  above  all,  in 
this  righting  and  helping  of  a  man’s  self  in  his  own  carriage,  he 
must  take  heed  he  shew  not  himself  dismantled  and  expiosed  to 
scorn  and  injury,  by  too  much  dulceness,  goodness,  and  facility 
of  nature,  but  shew  some  sparkles  of  liberty,  spirit,  and  edge : 
which  kind  of  fortified  carriage,  with  a  ready  rescuing 5  of  a 
man’s  self  from  scorns,  is  sometimes  of  necessity  imposed  upon 

1  This  clause  is  omitted  in  the  translation ;  which  says  only  ut  quod  non  possim.ts 
nolle  videamur'). 

2  Meaning,  I  think,  the  least  worthy —  the  last  to  be  resorted  to.  The  translation 
has  impudens  certe  est  remedium ,  sed  tamen  &c. 

3  i.  e.  prudent —  mercatorum  prudentium  more,  quibus  soletine  est  et  proprium ,  ut  &c. 

*  i.  e.  in  impudence  —  ( hoc  ipso  impudcntius). 

5  So  ed.  1633.  The  original  and  ed.  1629  have  rcscussing. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


465 


men  by  somewhat  in  their  person  or  fortune 1 ;  but  it  ever 
succeedeth  with  good  felicity.2 

Another  precept  of  this  knowledge  is,  by  all  possible  en¬ 
deavour  to  frame  the  mind  to  be  pliant  and  obedient  to  oc¬ 
casion  ;  for  nothing  hindereth  men’s  fortunes  so  much  as  this 
Idem  manebat  neque  idem  decebat,  [continuing  the  same  when 
the  same  is  no  longer  fit :]  men  are  where  they  were,  when 
occasions  turn:  and  therefore  to  Cato,  whom  Livy  maketh 
such  an  architect  of  fortune,  he  addeth  that  he  had  versatile 
ingenium,  [a  wit  that  could  turn  well].  And  thereof  it  cometh 
that  these  grave  solemn  wits,  which  must  be  like  themselves 
and  cannot  make  departures,  have  more  dignity  than  felicity. 
But  in  some  it  is  nature  to  be  somewhat  viscous  and  in- 
wrapped,  and  not  easy  to  turn.  In  some  it  is  a  conceit  that  is 
almost  a  nature,  which  is,  that  men  can  hardly  make  themselves 
believe  that  they  ought  to  change  their  course,  when  they  have 
found  good  by  it  in  former  experience.  For  Machiavel  noteth 
wisely,  how  Fabius  Maximus  would  have  been  temporizing 
still,  according  to  his  old  bias,  when  the  nature  of  the  war  was 
altered  and  required  hot  pursuit.  In  some  other  it  is  want  of 
point  and  penetration  in  their  judgment,  that  they  do  not 
discern  when  things  have  a  period,  but  come  in  too  late  after 
the  occasion ;  as  Demosthenes  compareth  the  people  of  Athens 
to  country  fellows  when  they  play  in  a  fence  school,  that  if 
they  have  a  blow,  then  they  remove  their  weapon  to  that  ward, 
and  not  before.  In  some  other  it  is  a  lothness  to  leese  labours 
passed,  and  a  conceit  that  they  can  bring  about  occasions  to 
their  ply 3 ;  and  yet  in  the  end,  when  they  see  no  other  re¬ 
medy,  then  they  come  to  it  with  disadvantage ;  as  Tarquinius, 
that  gave  for  the  third  part  of  Sibylla’s  books  the  treble  price, 
when  he  might  at  first  have  had  all  three  for  the  simple.  But 
from  whatsoever  root  or  cause  this  restiveness  of  mind  pro- 


1  As  in  the  case  of  deformed  persons,  and  bastards,  and  persons  disgraced  —  (oeluti 
Jit  in  deformibus,  et  spuriis,  et  ignominia  aliqua  mulctatis). 

2  According  to  the  arrangement  adopted  in  the  translation,  the  observations  on 
the  first  head  —  the  art  of  ostentation  —  end  here  ;  and  the  art  of  declaration,  that  is 
of  making  oneself  understood,  is  next  handled.  The  substance  of  the  remarks  on  this 
head  will  he  found  in  the  next  page,  in  the  paragraph  beginning  “  Another  part  of  this 
knowledge  is  the  observing  a  good  mediocrity,”  &c.  Then  follows  the  paragraph, 
which  stands  next  in  the  text ;  which  refers  to  the  third  head,  —  quod  ad  animum 
flcctendum  et  effingendum  attinet.  And  with  this  he  concludes  what  he  has  to  say  of 
“  the  two  summary  precepts  concerning  the  architecture  of  Fortune.”  The  rest  be 
gives  as  a  sample  of  particular  precepts  ( pracepta  sparsa )  on  the  same  subject. 

*  The  rest  of  this  sentence  is  omitted  in  the  translation. 


466 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


ceedeth,  it  is  a  thing  most  prejudicial;  and  nothing  is  more 
politic  than  to  make  the  wheels  of  our  mind  concentric  and 
voluble  with  the  wheels  of  fortune. 

1  Another  precept  of  this  knowledge,  which  hath  some  affinity 
with  that  we  last  spake  of,  but  with  difference,  is  that  which  is 
well  expressed.  Fails  accede  Deisque,  [take  the  way  which  the 
Fates  and  the  Gods  offer ;]  that  men  do  not  only  turn  with  the 
occasions  but  also  run  with  the  occasions,  an'd  not  strain  their 
credit  or  strength  to  over  hard  or  extreme  points,  but  choose 
in  their  actions  that  which  is  most  passable :  for  this  will  pre¬ 
serve  men  from  foil,  not  occupy  them  too  much  about  one 
matter,  win  opinion  of  moderation,  please  the  most1  2,  and  make 
a  shew  of  a  perpetual  felicity  in  all  they  undertake ;  which 
cannot  but  mightily  increase  reputation. 

Another  part  of  this  knowledge  seemeth  to  have  some  re¬ 
pugnancy  with  the  former  two,  but  not  as  I  understand  it ;  and 
it  is  that  which  Demosthenes  uttereth  in  high  terms ;  Ft  quem- 
admodum  receptum  est,  ut  exercitum  ducat  imperator,  sic  et  a 
cordatis  viris  res  ipsce  ducendce ;  ut  quce  ipsis  videntur,  ea  ge- 
rantur,  et  non  ipsi  eventus  persequi  cogantur ;  [as  the  captain 
leads  the  army,  so  should  wise  men  lead  affairs ;  they  should 
get  that  done  which  they  think  good  to  be  done,  and  not  be 
forced  to  follow  at  the  heels  of  events].  For  if  we  observe,  we 
shall  find  two  differing  kinds  of  sufficiency  in  managing  of 
business :  some  can  make  use  of  occasions  aptly  and  dexte¬ 
rously,  but  plot  little ;  some  can  urge  and  pursue  their  own 
plots  well,  but  cannot  accommodate  nor  take  in3;  either  of 
which  is  very  unperfect  without  the  other. 

Another  part  of  this  knowledge  is  the  observing  a  good 
mediocrity  in  the  declaring  or  not  declaring  a  man’s  self :  for 
although  depth  of  secrecy,  and  making  way  qualis  est  via  navis 
in  mari,  [like  the  way  of  a  ship  through  the  water,]  (which  the 

1  This,  in  the  translation,  stands  as  the  second  of  the  prtecepta  sparsa ;  that  of  ac¬ 
customing  the  mind  to  value  things  according  as  they  conduce  to  our  particular  ends 
being  placed  first  Throughout  this  part  of  the  work  the  meaning  is  expressed  more 
fully  and  clearly  in  the  Latin,  but  where  no  material  alteration  or  addition  is  intro¬ 
duced,  and  where  the  meaning  of  the  English  is  plain  enough,  I  do  not  stay  to  point 
out  the  differences. 

2  That  is,  I  suppose,  by  bringing  us  less  into  collision  with  them  —  (pauciores 
offendemus'). 

3  So  in  all  three  editions,  though  the  sentence  seems  to  be  imperfect  The  mean¬ 
ing  must  be  that  they  cannot  seize  and  turn  to  advantage  accidents  which  fall  out 
unexpectedly  in  their  favour.  The  translation  has  alii  toti  sunt  in  mackinando,  qui 
occasiones  quce  opportune  incidunt  non  arripiunt. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


467 


French  calleth  sourdes  menees,  when  men  set  things  in  work 
without  opening  themselves  at  all,)  be  sometimes  both  pros¬ 
perous  and  admirable ;  yet  many  times  Dissimulatio  errores 
parit  qui  dis simulator em  ipsum  illaqueant,  [dissimulation  breeds 
mistakes  in  which  the  dissembler  himself  is  caught].  And 
therefore  we  see  the  greatest  politiques  have  in  a  natural 
and  free  manner  professed  their  desires,  rather  than  been 
reserved  and  disguised  in  them.  For  so  we  see  that  Lucius 
Sylla  made  a  kind  of  profession,  that  he  wished  all  men  happy 
or  unhappy  as  they  stood  his  friends  or  enemies.  bo  Cassar, 
when  he  went  first  into  Gaul,  made  no  scruple  to  profess  that 
he  had  rather  be  first  in  a  village  than  second  at  Rome.  So 
ao-ain  as  soon  as  he  had  begun  the  war,  we  see  what  Cicero 
saith  of  him ;  Alter  (meaning  of  Caisar)  non  recusat,  sed  quo- 
dammodo  postulat,  ut  ( ut  est )  sic  appelletur  tyrannus,  [he  does 
not  refuse,  but  in  a  manner  demands,  to  be  called  what  he  is 
tyrant].  So  we  may  see  in  a  letter  of  Cicero  to  Atticus,  that 
Augustus  Cassar  in  his  very  entrance  into  affairs,  when  he  was 
a  dearling  of  the  senate,  yet  in  his  harangues  to  the  people 
would  swear  Ita  parentis  honores  consequi  liceat,  [as  I  hope  to 
attain  my  father’s  honours;]  which  was  no  less  than  the 
tyranny,  save  that,  to  help  it  he  would  stretch  forth  his  hand 
towards  a  statua  of  Caesar’s  that  was  erected  in  the  place: 
and 1  men  laughed  and  wondered  and  said  Is  it  possible  ?  or 
Did  you  ever  hear  the  like2?  and  yet  thought3  he  meant  no 
hurt,  he  did  it 4  so  handsomely  and  ingenuously.  And  all  these 
were’  prosperous :  whereas  Pompey,  who  tended  to  the  same 
end  but  in  a  more  dark  and  dissembling  manner,  as  Tacitus 
saith  of  him,  Occultior  non  melior,  [having  his  intentions  better 
concealed  but  not  better,]  wherein  Sallust  concurred,  ore 
probo,  animo  inverecundo,  [an  honest  tongue  but  a  shameless 
mind,]  made  it  his  design  by  infinite  secret  engines  to  cast  the 
state  into  an  absolute  anarchy  and  confusion,  that  the  state 
might  cast  itself  into  his  arms  for  necessity  and  protection,  and 
so  the  sovereign  power  be  put  upon  him,  and  he  never  seen  in 
it :  and  when  he  had  brought  it  (as  he  thought)  to  that  point, 


'  So  the  original ;  edd.  1629  and  163.9  have  whereat  many  men. 

2  So  the  original ;  edd.  1629  and  1633  have  like  to  this. 

3  though  in  orig.  ......  ... 

4  i.  e.  he  seemed  to  say  what  he  felt  —  (mini  maltha  in  eo  susjncabantur  qm 

tam  candide  et  ingenue  quid  sentirct  loqueretur). 


31  Bacon  HI 


468 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


when  he  was  chosen  consul  alone,  as  never  any  was,  yet  he 
could  make  no  great  matter  of  it,  because  men  understood  him 
not;  but  was  fain  in  the  end  to  go  the  beaten  track  of  getting 
arms  into  his  hands,  by  colour  of  the  doubt  of  Caesar’s  designs  : 
so  tedious,  casual,  and  unfortunate  are  these  deep  dissimula¬ 
tions;  whereof  it  seemeth  Tacitus  made  this  judgment,  that 
they  were  a  cunning  of  an  inferior  form  in  regard  of  true 
policy  ;  attributing  the  one  to  Augustus,  the  other  to  Tiberius, 
where  speaking  of  Livia  he  saith,  Et  cum  artibus  mariti  simu- 
latione  filii  bene  composita,  [that  she  was  of  a  happy  composi¬ 
tion,  uniting  the  arts  of  her  husband  with  the  dissimulation  of 
her  son ;]  for  surely  the  continual  habit  of  dissimulation  is  but 
a  weak  and  sluggish  cunning,  and  not  greatly  politic. 

Another  precept  of  this  Architecture  of  Fortune  is  to  accus¬ 
tom  our  minds  to  judge  of  the  proportion  or  value  of  things  as 
they  conduce  and  are  material  to  our  particular  ends  ;  and  that 
to  do  substantially,  and  not  superficially.  For  we  shall  find  the 
logical  part  (as  I  may  term  it)  of  some  men’s  minds  good,  but 
the  mathematical  part  erroneous ;  that  is,  they  can  well  judge 
of  consequences,  but  not  of  proportions  and  comparison1 ;  pre¬ 
ferring  things  of  shew  and  sense  before  things  of  substance  and 
effect.  So  some  fall  in  love  with  access  to  princes,  others  with 
popular  fame  and  applause,  supposing  they  are  things  of  great 
purchase ;  when  in  many  cases  they  are  but  matters  of  envy, 
peril,  and  impediment.  So  some  measure  things  according  to 
the  labour  and  difficulty  or  assiduity  which  are  spent  about 
them ;  and  think  if  they  be  ever  moving,  that  they  must  needs 
advance  and  proceed ;  as  Caesar  saith  in  a  despising  manner  of 
Cato  the  second,  when  he  describeth  how  laborious  and  in¬ 
defatigable  he  was  to  no  great  purpose ;  Hcec  omnia  magno 
studio  agebat.  So  in  most  things  men  are  ready  to  abuse  them¬ 
selves  in  thinking  the  greatest  means2  to  be  best,  when  it 
should  be  the  fittest. 

As  for  the  true  marshalling  of  men’s  pursuits  towards  their 
fortune  as  they  are  more  or  less  material,  I  hold  them  to  stand 
thus.  First  the  amendment  of  their  own  minds ;  for  the  remove 
of  the  impediments  of  the  mind  will  sooner  clear  the  passages  of 
fortune,  than  the  obtaining  fortune  will  remove  the  impediments 

1  De  pretiis  vero  imperitissime.  —  De  Aug. 

3  i.  e.  the  greatest  persons  used  as  means  —  (si  magni  alicujus  aut  honorati  viri 
opera,  utant'ir'). 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


469 


of  the  mind.  In  the  second  place  I  set  down  wealth  and  means ; 
which  I  know  most  men  would  have  placed  first,  because  of 
the  general  use  which  it  beareth  towards  all  variety  of  occasions. 
But  that  opinion  I  may  condemn  with  like  reason  as  Machiavel 
doth  that  other,  that  moneys  were  the  sinews  of  the  wars; 
whereas  (saith  he)  the  true  sinews  of  the  wars  are  the  sinews 
of  men’s  arms,  that  is,  a  valiant,  populous,  and  military  na¬ 
tion  ;  and  he  voucheth  aptly  the  authority  of  Solon,  who  when 
Croesus  shewed  him  his  treasury  of  gold  said  to  him,  that  if 
another  came  that  had  better  iron  he  would  be  master  of  his 
gold.  In  like  manner  it  may  be  truly  affirmed  that  it  is  not 
moneys  that  are  the  sinews  of  fortune,  but  it  is  the  sinews  and 
steel  of  men’s  minds,  wit,  courage,  audacity,  resolution,  temper, 
industry,  and  the  like.  In  third1  place  I  set  down  reputation, 
because  of  the  peremptory  tides  and  currents  it  hath ;  which  if 
they  be  not  taken  in  their  due  time  are  seldom  recovered,  it 
being  extreme  hard  to  play  an  after-game  of  reputation.  And 
lastly  I  place  honour,  which  is  more  easily  won  by  any  of  the 
other  three,  much  more  by  all,  than  any  of  them  can  be  pur¬ 
chased  by  honour.  To  conclude  this  precept,  as  there  is  order 
and  priority  in  matter,  so  is  there  in  time,  the  preposterous 
placing  whereof  is  one  of  the  commonest  errors ;  while  men  fly 
to  their  ends  when  they  should  intend  their  beginnings,  and  do 
not  take  things  in  order  of  time  as  they  come  on,  but  marshal 
them  according  to  greatness  and  not  according  to  instance; 
not  observing  the  good  precept.  Quod  nunc  instat  agamus, 
[Despatch  we  now  what  stands  us  now  upon]. 

Another  precept  of  this  knowledge  is,  not  to  embrace  any 
matters  which  do  occupy  too  great  a  quantity  of  time,  but  to 
have  that  sounding  in  a  man’s  ears,  Sed  fugit  inter  ea,fugit 
irreparabile  tempus,  [while  he  is  making  ready  to  do  it  the 
time  for  doing  it  is  gone ;]  and  that  is  the  cause  why  those 
which  take  their  course  of  rising  by  professions  of  burden,  as 
lawyers,  orators,  painful  divines,  and  the  like,  are  not  com¬ 
monly  so  politic  for  their  own  fortune2,  otherwise  than  in  their 
ordinary  way,  because  they  want  time  to  learn  particulars,  to 
wait  occasions,  and  to  devise  plots.3 


>  So  the  original  and  ed.  1629.  Ed.  1633  has  the'third. 

*  So  the  original.  Edd.  1629  and  1633  have  fortunes. 

a  whereas  (he  adds  in  the  translation)  you  will  find  in  courts  and  commonwealths 
that  the  best  promoters  of  their  own  fortune  are  those  who  have  no  public  duty  to 
discharge,  and  make  their  own  rising  their  only  business. 


470 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


Another  precept  of  this  knowledge  is  to  imitate  nature  which 
doth  nothing  in  vain ;  which  surely  a  man  may  do,  if  he  do 
well  interlace  his  business,  and  bend  not  his  mind  too  much 
upon  that  which  he  principally  intendeth.1  For  a  man  ought 
in  every  particular  action  so  to  carry  the  motions  of  his  mind, 
and  so  to  have  one  thing  under  another,  as  if  he  cannot  have 
that  he  seeketh  in  the  best  degree,  yet  to  have  it  in  a  second,  or 
so  in  a  third ;  and  if  he  can  have  no  part  of  that  which  he  pur¬ 
posed,  yet  to  turn  the  use  of  it  to  somewhat  else  2 ;  and  if  he 
cannot  make  anything  of  it  for  the  present,  yet  to  make  it  as  a 
seed  of  somewhat  in  time  to  come ;  and  if  he  can  contrive  no 
effect  or  substance  from  it,  yet  to  win  some  good  opinion  by  it, 
or  the  like  ;  so  that  he  should  exact  an  account 3  of  himself,  of 
every  action  to  reap  somewhat,  and  not  to  stand  amazed  and 
confused  if  he  fail  of  that  he  chiefly  meant :  for  nothing  is  more 
impolitic  than  to  mind  actions  wholly  one  by  one  ;  for  he  that 
doth  so  leeseth  infinite  occasions  which  intervene,  and  are  many 
times  more  proper  and  propitious  for  somewhat  that  he  shall 
need  afterwards,  than  for  that  which  he  urgeth  for  the  present ; 
and  therefore  men  must  be  perfect  in  that  rule,  Hcec  oportet 
facere ,  et  ilia  non  omittere,  [these  things  ought  ye  to  do,  and 
not  to  leave  the  other  undone]. 

Another  precept  of  this  knowledge  is,  not  to  engage  a  man’s 
self  peremptorily  in  any  thing,  though  it  seem  not  liable  to 
accident ;  but  ever  to  have  a  window  to  fly  out  at,  or  a  way  to 
retire 4 ;  following  the  wisdom  in  the  ancient  fable  of  the  two 
frogs,  which  consulted  when  their  plash  was  dry  whither  they 
should  go ;  and  the  one  moved  to  go  down  into  a  pit,  because 
it  was  not  likely  the  water  would  dry  there ;  but  the  other 
answered.  True,  but  if  it  do,  how  shall  we  get  out  again  ? 

Another  precept  of  this  knowledge  is  that  ancient  precept  of 
Bias,  construed  not  to  any  point  of  perfidiousness  but  only  to 
caution  and  moderation,  Et  ama  tanquam  inimicus  futurus,  et 
odi  tanquam  amaturus,  [love  your  friend  as  you  would  love 
one  who  may  hereafter  be  your  enemy ;  hate  your  enemy  as 
one  who  may  hereafter  be  your  friend ;]  for  it  utterly  be- 

1  This  last  clause  is  omitted  in  the  translation. 

2  i.  e.  to  turn  his  labour  taken  therein  to  some  other  use  —  (ad  alium  quempiam 
prater  destinatum  finem  operam  impensam  Jlectamus ). 

s  So  the  original.  Edd.  1629  and  1633  omit  an. 

*  The  rest  of  this  paragraph  is  omitted  in  the  translation. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


471 


trayeth  all  utility  for  men  to  embark  themselves  too  far  in 
unfortunate  friendships,  troublesome  spleens,  and  childish  and 
humorous  envies  or  emulations. 

But  I  continue  this  beyond  the  measure  of  an  example ;  led, 
because  I  would  not  have  such  knowledges  which  I  note  as 
deficient  to  be  thought  things  imaginative  or  in  the  air,  or  an 
observation  or  two  much  made  of;  but  things  of  bulk  and  mass, 
whereof  an  end  is  hardlier  made  than  a  beginning.  It  must  be 
likewise  conceived,  that  in  these  points  which  I  mention  and 
set  down,  they  are  far  from  complete  tractates  of  them,  but 
only  as  small  pieces  for  patterns.  And  lastly,  no  man  I  sup¬ 
pose  will  think  that  I  mean  fortunes  are  not  obtained  without 
all  this  ado;  for  I  know  they  come  tumbling  into  some  men’s 
laps ;  and  a  number  obtain  good  fortunes  by  diligence  in  a 
plain  way,  little  intermeddling,  and  keeping  themselves  from 
gross  errors. 

But  as  Cicero,  when  he  setteth  down  an  Idea  of  a  perfect 
Orator,  doth  not  me^n  that  every  pleader  should  be  such ;  and 
so  likewise,  when  a  Prince  or  a  Courtier  hath  been  described 
by  such  as  have  handled  those  subjects,  the  mould  hath  used 
to  be  made  according  to  the  perfection  of  the  art,  and  not  ac¬ 
cording  to  common  practice  :  so  I  understand  it  that  it  ought 
to  be  done  in  the  description  of  a  Politic  man  ;  I  mean  politic 
for  his  own  fortune. 

But  it  must  be  remembered  all  this  while,  that  the  precepts 
which  we  have  set  down  are  of  that  kind  which  may  be  counted 
and  called  bonce  artcs,  [honest  arts].  As  for  evil  arts,  if  a  man 
would  set  down  for  himself  that  principle  of  Machiavel,  that  a 
man  seek  not  to  attain  virtue  itself,  but  the  appearance  only 
thereof ;  because  the  credit  of  virtue  is  a  help,  but  the  use  of  it  is 
cumber  ;  or  that  other  of  his  principles,  that  he  presuppose  that 
men  are  not  fitly  to  be  wrought  otherwise  but  by  fear,  and  there¬ 
fore  that  he  seek  to  have  every  man  obnoxious,  low,  and  in  strait, 
which  the  Italians  call  seminar  spine,  to  sow  thorns ;  or  that 
other  principle  contained  in  the  verse  which  Cicero  citeth, 
Cadant  amici,  dummodo  inimici  intercidant,  [down  with  friends 
so  enemies  go  down  with  them,]  as  the  Triumvirs,  which  sold 
every  one  to  other  the  lives  of  their  friends  for  the  deaths  or 
their  enemies ;  or  that  other  protestation  of  L.  Catilina,  to 
set  on  fire  and  trouble  states,  to  the  end  to  fish  in  droumy 
waters,  and  to  unwrap  their  fortunes ;  Ego  si  quid  in  fortunis 


472 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


meis  excitatum  sit  incendium,  id  non  aqua  sed  ruina  restinguam. 
[if  my  fortunes  be  set  on  fire  I  will  put  it  out  not  with  water 
but  with  demolition :]  or  that  other  principle  of  Lysander 
that  children  are  to  be  deceived  with  comfits ,  and  men  with  oaths  : 
and  the  like  evil  and  corrupt  positions,  whereof  (as  in  all 
things)  there  are  more  in  number  than  of  the  good  :  r'  certainly 
with  these  dispensations  from  the  laws  of  charity  and  integrity 
the  pressing  of  a  man’s  fortune  may  be  more  hasty  and  com¬ 
pendious.  But  it  is  in  life  as  it  is  in  ways ;  the  shortest  way 
is  commonly  the  foulest,  and  surely  the  fairer  way  is  not  much 
about. 

But  men  if  they  be  in  their  own  power  and  do  bear  and 
sustain  themselves,  and  be  not  carried  away  with  a  whirlwind 
or  tempest  of  ambition,  ought  in  the  pursuit  of  their  own  for¬ 
tune  to  set  before  their  eyes  not  only  that  general  map  of  the 
world,  that  all  things  are  vanity  and  vexation  of  spirit,  but 
many  other  more  particular  cards  and  directions :  chiefly  that, 
that  Being  without  well-being  is  a  curse  and  the  greater  being 
the  greater  curse,  and  that  all  virtue  is  most  rewarded  and  all 
wickedness  most  punished  in  itself :  according  as  the  poet  saith 
excellently : 

Qua  vobis,  quae  digna,  viri,  pro  laudibus  istis 
Prsemia  posse  rear  ^olvi  ?  pulcherrima  primum 
Dii  moresque  dabunt  vestri : 

[What  recompence,  O  friends,  can  I  hold  out 
Worthy  such  deeds  ?  The  best  is  that  ye  have, — 

God’s  blessing  and  your  proper  nobleness :) 

and  so  of  the  contrary.  And  secondly  they  ought  to  look 
up  to  the  eternal  providence  and  divine  judgment,  which  often 
subverteth  the  wisdom  of  evil  plots  and  imaginations,  accord¬ 
ing  to  that  Scripture,  He  hath  conceived  mischief,  and  shall 
bring  forth  a  vain  thing.  And  although  men  should  refrain 
themselves  from  injury  and  evil  arts,  yet  this  incessant  and 
Sabbathless  pursuit  of  a  man’s  fortune  leaveth  not  tribute  which 
we  owe  to  God  of  our  time ;  who  (we  see)  demandeth  a  tenth  of 
our  substance,  and  a  seventh,  which  is  more  strict,  of  our  time : 
and  it  is  to  small  purpose  to  have  an  erected  face  towards 
heaven,  and  a  perpetual  grovelling  spirit  upon  earth,  eating 
dust  as  doth  the  serpent ;  Atque  affigit  humo  divines  particulam 
aurrn,  [fixing  to  earth  the  etherial  spark  divine].  And  if  any 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


473 


man  flatter  himself  that  he  will  employ  his  fortune  well  though 
he  should  obtain  it  ill,  as  was  said  concerning  Augustus  Caesar, 
and  after  of  Septimius  Severus,  that  either  they  should  never 
have  been  born  or  else  they  should  never  have  died,  they  did  so 
much  mischief  in  the  pursuit  and  ascent  of  their  greatness,  and 
so  much  good  when  they  were  established ;  yet  these  compen¬ 
sations  and  satisfactions  are  good  to  be  used,  but  never  good  to 
be  purposed.  And  lastly,  it  is  not  amiss  for  men  in  their  race 
toward  their  fortune  to  cool  themselves  a  little  with  that  con¬ 
ceit  which  is  elegantly  expressed  by  the  emperor  Charles  the 
fifth  in  his  instructions  to  the  king  his  son,  that  fortune  hath 
somewhat  of  the  nature  of  a  woman,  that  if  she  be  too  much 
wooed  she  is  the  farther  off.  But  this  last  is  but  a  remedy  for 
those  whose  tastes  are  corrupted :  let  men  rather  build  upon 
that  foundation  which  is  as  a  corner-stone  of  divinity  and  phi¬ 
losophy,  wherein  they  join  close,  namely  that  same  Primum 
quaerite.  For  divinity  saith,  Primum  queerite  reynum  Dei,  et 
ista  omnia  adjicientur  vobis,  [seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of 
God,  and  all  these  things  shall  be  added  unto  you:]  and  philo¬ 
sophy  saith,  Primum.  queerite  bona  animi,  cwtera  aut  aderunt 
aut  non  oberunt,  [seek  ye  first  the  good  things  of  the  mind, 
all  other  good  things  will  either  come  or  not  he  wanted].  And 
although  the  human  foundation  hath  somewhat  of  the  sand ',  as 
we  see  in  M.  Brutus  when  he  brake  forth  into  that  speech, 

Te  colui,  Virtus,  ut  rem  ;  at  tu  nomen  inane  es  ; 

[I  took  thee,  Virtue,  for  a  reality,  but  I  find  thee  an  empty 
name ;]  yet  the  divine  foundation  is  upon  the  rock.  But  this 
may  serve  for  a  taste  of  that  knowledge  which  I  noted  as  de¬ 
ficient. 

11 2  Concerning  Government,  it  is  a  part  of  knowledge  secret 

1  same  in  the  original:  sands  in  edd.  1629  and  1633. 

*  De  Aug.  viii.  3.  The  first  part  of  this  chapter  is  entirely  altered  in  the  trans¬ 
lation  ;  the  remarks  on  the  secret  nature  of  Government,  as  a  subject  not  proper  for 
scrutiny,  being  omitted  altogether ;  and  the  complimentary  excuse  for  not  entering 
upon  it  himself  being  transferred  to  the  opening  of  the  book.  In  this  place  indeed  he 
speaky'of  it  as  a  subject  which  his  own  long  experience  as  an  officer  of  state  qualified 
him  to  handle,  and  on  which  he  had  some  work  in  contemplation,  though  he  thought 
it-w.ould.be  either  abortive  or  posthumous;  alluding  probably  to  the  New  Atlantis , 
in  which  we  know  from  Dr.  Hawley  that  he  did  intend  to  exhibit  a  model  of  a  perfect 
government.  For  the  present  however  he  confines  himself  to  two  treatises,  given  by 
way  of  example  ;  one  on  the  art  of  extending  the  bounds  of  Empire  (which  is  a  trans¬ 
lation  of  the  twenty-ninth  Essay);  the  ether  on  Universal  Justice. 


474 


OK  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


and  retired,  in  both,  these  respects  in  which  things  are  deemed 
secret;  for  some  things  are  secret  because  they  are_ hard  to 
know,  and  some  because  they  are  not  fit  to  utter.  e  see  all 
governments  are  obscure  and  invisible. 

Totamque  infusa  per  artus 
Mens  agitat  molem,  et  magno  se  corpore  miscet. 

[In  every  pore  diffused  the  great  mind  works, 

Stirs  all  the  mass,  and  thro’  the  huge  frame  lives.] 


Such  is  the  description  of  governments.  We  see  the  govern¬ 
ment  of  God  over  the  world  is  hidden,  insomuch  as  it  seemeth 
to  participate  of  much  irregularity  and  confusion.  The  govern¬ 
ment  of  the  Soul  in  moving  the  Body  is  inward  and  profound, 
and  the  passages  thereof  hardly  to  be  reduced  to  demonstration. 
Again,  the  wisdom  of  antiquity  (the  shadows  whereof  are  in 
the  poets)  in  the  description  of  torments  and  pains,  next  unto 
the  crime  of  rebellion  which  was  the  Giants’  offence,  doth  de¬ 
test  the  offence  of  futility  ',  as  in  Sisyphus  and  Tantalus.  But 
this  was  meant  of  particulars :  nevertheless  even  unto  the  ge¬ 
neral  rules  and  discourses  of  policy  and  government  there  is 
due  a  reverent  and  reserved  handling. 

But  contrariwise  in  the  governors  toward  the  governed  all 
things  ought,  as  far  as  the  frailty  of  man  permitteth,  to  be 
manifest  and  revealed.  For  so  it  is  expressed  in  the  Scriptures 
touching  the  government  of  God,  that  this  globe,  which  seemeth 
"‘to  us  a  dark  and  shady  body,  is  in  the  view  of  God  as  crystals 
Et  in  conspectu  sedis  tanquam  mare  vitreum  simile  crystallo, 
[and  before  the  Throne  there  was  a  sea  of  glass,  like  unto 
crystal].  So  unto  princes  and  states,  and  specially  towards 
wise  senates  and  councils,  the  natures  and  dispositions  of  the 
people,  their  conditions  and  necessities,  their  factions  and  com¬ 


binations,  their  animosities  and  discontents,  ought  to  be,  in  re¬ 
gard  of  the  variety  of  their  intelligences,  the  wisdom  of  their 
observations,  and  the  height  of  their  station  where  they  keep 
sentinel,  in  great  part  clear  and  transparent.  Wherefore,  con¬ 
sidering  that  I  write  to  a  king  that  is  a  master  of  this  science, 
and  is  so  well  assisted,  I  think  it  decent  to  pass  over  this  part 
in  silence,  as  willing  to  obtain  the  certificate  which  one  of  the 


So  edd.  1629  and  1633.  The  original  has  facilitie,  By  futility  1  understand  idle 
curiosity. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


475 


ancient  philosophers  aspired  unto ;  who  being  silent,  when 
others  contended  to  make  demonstration  of  their  abilities  by 
speech,  desired  it  might  be  certified  for  his  part,  that  there  teas 
one  that  knew  how  to  hold  his  -peace. 

Notwithstanding,  for  the  more  public  part  of  government, 
which  is  Laws,  I  think  good  to  note  only  one  deficience ; 
which  is,  that  all  those  which  have  written  of  laws,  have  writ¬ 
ten  either  as  philosophers  or  as  lawyers,  and  none  as  states¬ 
men.  As  for  the  philosophers,  they  make  imaginary  laws  for 
imaginary  commonwealths ;  and  their  discourses  are  as  the 
stars,  which  give  little  light  because  they  are  so  high.  For 
the  lawyers,  they  write  according  to  the  states  where  they  live, 
what  is  received  law,  and  not  what  ought  to  be  law :  for  the 
wisdom  of  a  lawmaker  is  one,  and  of  a  lawyer  is  another. 
For  there  are  in  nature  certain  fountains  of  justice,  whence  all 
civil  laws  are  derived  but  as  streams ;  and  like  as  waters  do 
take  tinctures  and  tastes  from  the  soils  through  which  they 
run,  so  do  civil  laws  vary  according  to  the  regions  and  govern¬ 
ments  where  they  are  planted,  though  they  proceed  from  the 
same  fountains.  Again,  the  wisdom  of  a  lawmaker  consisteth 
not  only  in  a  platform  of  justice,  but  in  the  application  thereof ; 
taking  into  consideration  by  what  means  laws  may  be  made 
certain,  and  what  are  the  causes  and  remedies  of  the  doubtful¬ 
ness  and  incei'tainty  of  law ;  by  what  means  laws  may  be  made 
apt  and  easy  to  be  executed,  and  what  are  the  impediments  and 
remedies  in  the  execution  of  laws;  what  influence  laws  touch¬ 
ing  private  right  of  meum  and  tuurn  have  into  the  public  state, 
and  how  they  may  be  made  apt  and  agreeable ;  how  laws  are 
to  be  penned  and  delivered,  whether  in  Texts  or  in  Acts;  brief 
or  large ;  with  preambles  or  without ;  how  they  are  to  be 
pruned  and  reformed  from  time  to  time ;  and  what  is  the  best 
means  to  keep  them  from  being  too  vast  in  volumes  or  too  full 
of  multiplicity  and  crossness;  how  they  are  to  be  expounded, 
when  upon  causes  emergent  and  judicially  discussed,  and  when 
upon  responses  and  conferences  touching  general  points  or 
questions;  how  they  are  to  be  pressed,  rigorously  or  tenderly; 
how  they  are  to  be  mitigated  by  equity  and  good  conscience ; 
and  whether  discretion  and  strict  law  are  to  be  mingled  in  the 
same  courts  or  kept  apart  in  several  courts;  again,  how  the 
practice,  profession,  and  erudition  of  law  is  to  be  censured  and 
o-overned ;  and  many  other  points  touching  the  administration. 


476 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


De pmdentia  and  (as  I  may  term  it)  animation  of  laws.  Upon 
Iwll/f/'mu-  which  I  insist  the  less,  because  I  purpose  (if  God 
btm  jui  is.  gjve  Ijie  leave),  having  begun  a  work  of  this  nature 
in  aphorisms  ',  to  propound  it  hereafter  noting  it  in  the  mean 
time  for  deficient. 

And  for  your  Majesty’s  laws  of  England,  I  could  say  much 
of  their  dignity,  and  somewhat  of  their  defect ;  but  they  can¬ 
not  but  excel  the  civil  laws  in  fitness  for  the  government :  for 
the  civil  law  was  non  hos  qucesitum  munus  in  usus ;  it  was  not 
made  for  the  countries  which  it  governeth.  Hereof  I  cease  to 
speak,  because  I  will  not  intermingle  matter  of  action  with 
matter  of  general  learning.2 

Thus  have  I  concluded  this  portion  of  learning  touching 
Civil  Knowledge;  and  with  civil  knowledge  have  concluded 
Human  Philosophy ;  and  with  human  philosophy,  Philosophy 
in  General.  And  being  now  at  some  pause,  looking  back  into 
that  I  have  passed  through,  this  writing  seemeth  to  me,  ( si 
nunquam  fallit  imago )  as  far  as  a  man  can  judge  of  his  own 
work,  not  much  better  than  that  noise  or  sound  which  musi¬ 
cians  make  while  they  are  tuning  their  instruments ;  which  is 
nothing  pleasant  to  hear,  but  yet  is  a  cause  why  the  music  is 
sweeter  afterwards.  So  have  I  been  content  to  tune  the  instru¬ 
ments  of  the  muses,  that  they  may  play  that  have  better  hands. 
And  surely,  when  I  set  before  me  the  condition  of  these  times, 
in  which  learning  hath  made  her  third  visitation  or  circuit,  in 
all  the  qualities  thereof ;  as  the  excellency  and  vivacity  of  the 
wits  of  this  age;  tha.m.ohleJielp&-  ami  lights,  which- .we  jiave  by 
the  travails  of  ancient  writers ;  the  art  of  printing,  which  com- 
municateth  books”  to”  men  of  all  fortunes ;  the  openness  of  the 
world  by  navigation,  which  hath  disclosed  multitudes  of  ex¬ 
periments,  and  a  mass  of  natural  history;  the  leisure  wherewith 
these  times  abound,  not  employing  men  so  generally  in  civil 
business,  as  the  states  of  Grsecia  did  in  respect  of  their  popu¬ 
larity,  and  the  state  of  Rome  in  respect  of  the  greatness  of 

1  This  was  no  doubt  the  treatise  which  is  given  by  way  of  specimen  in  the  De  Aug - 
mentis.  The  perfection  of  a  law  is  there  described  as  consisting  in  five  things  :  it  must 
be  certain  in  its  meaning ;  just  in  its  rules  ;  convenient  in  execution  ;  agreeable  to  the 
form  of  government;  and  productive  of  virtue  in  the  governed.  Of  these  heads  the 
first  only  is  discussed ;  but  under  it  almost  all  the  points  enumerated  in  the  text  come 
under  consideration,  more  or  less  completely. 

*  This  paragraph  is  omitted  in  the  translation. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


477 


their  monarchy ;  the  present  disposition  of  these  times  at  this 
instant  to  peace  1 ;  the  consumption  of  all  that  ever  can  be  said 
in  controversies  of  religion,  which  have  so  much  diverted  men 
from  other  sciences;  the  perfection  of  your  Majesty’s  learning, 
which  as  a  phoenix  may  call  whole  vollies  of  wits  to  follow  you ; 
and  the  inseparable  propriety  of  time,  which  is  ever  more  and 
more  to  disclose  truth ;  I  cannot  but  be  raised  to  this  persuasion, 
that  this  third  period  of  time  will  far  surpass  that  of  the  Grsecian 
and  Roman  learning :  only  if  men  will  know  their  own  strength 
and  their  own  weakness  both ;  and  take  one  from  the  other 
light  of  invention,  and  not  fire  of  contradiction ;  and  esteem  of 
the  inquisition  of  truth  as  of  an  enterprise,  and  not  as  of  a 
quality  or  ornament;  and  employ  wit  and  magnificence  to  things 
of  worth  and  excellency,  and  not  to  things  vulgar  and  of  popu¬ 
lar  estimation.  As  for  my  labours,  if  any  man  shall  please  him¬ 
self  or  others  in  the  reprehension  of  them,  they  shall  make  that 
ancient  and  patient  request,  Verbera  sed  audi,  [strike  me  if 
you  will,  only  hear  me ;]  let  men  reprehend  them,  so  they  ob¬ 
serve  and  weigh  them.  For  the  appeal  is  (lawful  though  it  may 
be  it  shall  not  be  needful)  from  the  first  cogitations  of  men  to 
their  second,  and  from  the  nearer  times  to  the  times  further  off. 
Now  let  us  come  to  that  learning,  which  both  the  former  times 
were  not  so  blessed  as  to  know,  sacred  and  inspired  Divinity, 
the  Sabaoth  and  port  of  all  men’s  labours  and  peregrinations. 


If 2  The  prerogative  of  God  extendeth  as  well  to  the  reason  as 
to  the  will  of  man ;  so  that  as  we  are  to  obey  his  law  though 
we  find  a  reluctation  in  our  will,  so  we  are  to  believe  his  word 

1  This  was  written  just  after  the  conclusion  of  peace  between  England  and  Spain  ; 
when  the  translation  was  published  the  disposition  of  the  times  was  less  peaceable,  but 
a  greater  part  of^Europe  was  actually  at  peace ;  and  accordingly  instead  of  the  expres¬ 
sion  in  the  text  he  substitutes,  “  the  peace  which  is  at  this  time  enjoyed  by  Britain, 
Spain,  Italy,  France  too  at  last,  and  other  regions  not  a  few.” 

2  De  Aug.  ix.  1.  This  chapter  is  greatly  altered  in  the  translation  ;  much  of  it 
being  entirely  omitted,  much  condensed,  and  a  little  added.  In  the  exordium  he 
announces  the  subject  of  the  book  as  one  which  does  not  belong  to  human  reason  and 
natural  philosophy.  He  will  not  therefore  attempt  to  lay  out  the  “  partitions  of  it, 
but  merely  offer  a  few  suggestions,  concerning  not  the  matter  revealed  by  Theology, 
but  the  manner  of  the  revelation.  These  suggestions,  which  are  but  three  in  number, 
together  with  the  remarks  by  which  they  are  introduced,  agree  substantially  with  those 
in  the  text :  all  that  does  not  bear  immediately  upon  them  being  omitted.  And  I 
think  all  the  differences  may  be  sufficiently  accounted  for  by  the  change  of  design; 
while  the  change  of  design  itself  may  probably  have  been  suggested  by  the  difficulty  of 
expounding  the  subject  of  theology  on  a  scale  similar  to  that  adopted  with  regard  to 
other  subjects,  without  introducing  matter  which  might  have  caused  the  work  to  be 
proscribed  in  Italy.  See  note,  p.  277. 


478 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


though  we  find  a  reluctation  in  our  reason.  For  if  we  believe 
only  that  which  is  agreeable  to  our  sense,  we  give  consent  to 
the  matter  and  not  to  the  author ;  which  is  no  more  than  we 
would  do  towards  a  suspected  and  discredited  witness ;  but 
that  faith  which  was  accounted  to  Abraham  for  righteousness 
was  of  such  a  point  as  whereat  Sarah  laughed,  who  therein  was 
an  image  of  natural  reason. 

Howbeit  (if  we  will  truly  consider  it)  more  worthy  it  is  to 
believe  than  to  know  as  we  now  know.  For  in  knowledge 
man’s  mind  suffereth  from  sense,  but  in  belief  it  suflfereth  from 
spirit,  such  one  as  it  holdeth  for  more  authorised  than  itself1, 
and  so  suffereth  from  the  worthier  agent.  Otherwise  it  is  of 
the  state  of  man  glorified ;  for  then  faith  shall  cease,  and  we 
shall  know  as  we  are  known. 

Wherefore  we  conclude  that  sacred  Theology  (which  in  our 
idiom  we  call  Divinity)  is  grounded  only  upon  the  word  and 
oracle  of  God,  and  not  upon  the  light  of  nature :  for  it  is 
written,  Coeli  enarrant  gloriam  Dei,  [the  Heavens  declare  the 
glory  of  God,]  but  it  is  not  written,  Coeli  enarrant  voluntatem 
Dei,  [the  Heavens  declare  the  will  of  God,]  but  of  that  it  is 
said,  Ad  legem  et  testimonium :  si  non  fecerint  secundum  verbum 
istud,  &c.,  [to  the  law  and  to  the  testimony :  if  they  do  not 
according  to  this  word,  &c.].  This  holdeth  not  only  in  those 
points  of  faith  which  concern  the  great  mysteries  of  the 
Deity,  of  the  Creation,  of  the  Redemption,  but  likewise  those 
which  concern  the  law  moral  truly  interpreted  :  Love  your 
enemies :  do  good  to  them  that  hate  you  :  be  like  to  your  heavenly 
Father,  that  suffereth  his  rain  to  fall  upon  the  just  and  unjust. 
To  this  it  ought  to  be  applauded,  Nec  vox  hominem  sonat :  it  is 
a  voice  beyond  the  light  of  nature.  So  we  see  the  heathen 
poets,  when  they  fall  upon  a  libertine  passion,  do  still  expos¬ 
tulate  with  laws  and  moralities,  as  if  they  were  opposite  and 
malignant  to  nature :  Et  quod  natura  remittit,  invida  jura 
negant,  [what  Nature  suffers  envious  laws  forbid].  So  said  Den- 
damis  the  Indian  unto  Alexander’s  messengers.  That  he  had 
heard  somewhat  of  Pythagoras  and  some  other  of  the  wise 
men  of  Grsecia,  and  that  he  held  them  for  excellent  men :  but 

1  In  the  translation  this  is  expressed  rather  differently.  In  scientia  enim  mens  humaua 
patitur  a  sensu,  qui  a  rebus  materiatis  resilit ;  in  fide  autern  anima  patitur  ab  anima , 
qzue  est  agens  dignius :  Knowledge  being  (if  I  understand  the  meaning  rightly)  a 
function  of  the  anima  sensibilis ,  faith  of  the  anima  rationalis ;  the  one  receiving  its 
impressions  from  things  material,  the  other  from  things  spiritual. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


479 


that  they  had  a  fault,  which  was  that  they  had  in  too  great 
reverence  and  veneration  a  thing  they  called  law  and  manners. 
So  it  must  be  confessed  that  a  great  part  of  the  law  moral  is 
of  that  perfection,  whereunto  the  light  of  nature  cannot  aspire. 
How  then  is  it  that  man  is  said  to  have  by  the  light  and  law 
of  nature  some  notions  and  conceits  of  virtue  and  vice,  justice 
and  wrong,  good  and  evil  ?  Thus  ;  because  the  light  of  nature 
is  used  in  two  several  senses ;  the  one,  that  which  springeth 
from  reason,  sense,  induction,  argument,  according  to  the  laws 
of  heaven  and  earth ;  the  other,  that  which  is  imprinted  upon 
the  spirit  of  man  by  an  inward  instinct,  according  to  the  law  of 
conscience,  which  is  a  sparkle  of  the  purity  of  his  first  estate  : 
in  which  later  sense  only  he  is  participant  of  some  light  and 
discerning  touching  the  perfection  of  the  moral  law :  but  how  ? 
sufficient  to  check  the  vice,  but  not  to  inform  the  duty.  So 
then  the  doctrine  of  religion,  as  well  moral  as  mystical,  is  not 
to  be  attained  but  by  inspiration  and  revelation  from  God. 

The  use  notwithstanding  of  reason  in  spiritual  things,  and 
the  latitude  thereof,  is  very  great  and  general :  for  it  is  not  for 
nothing  that  the  apostle  calleth  religion  our  reasonable  service 
of  God ;  insomuch  as  the  very  ceremonies  and  figures  of  the 
old  law  were  full  of  reason  and  signification,  much  more  than 
the  ceremonies  of  idolatry  and  magic,  that  are  full  of  non¬ 
significants  and  surd  characters.  But  most  specially  the  Chris¬ 
tian  Faith,  as  in  all  things  so  in  this,  deserveth  to  be  highly 
magnified ;  holding  and  preserving  the  golden  mediocrity  in 
this  point  between  the  law  of  the  Heathen  and  the  law  of 
Mahumet,  which  have  embraced  the  two  extremes.  For  the 
religion  of  the  Heathen  had  no  constant  belief  or  confession, 
but  left  all  to  the  liberty  of  argument ;  and  the  religion  of 
Mahumet  on  the  other  side  interdicteth  argument  altogether : 
the  one  having  the  very  face  of  error,  and  the  other  of  impos¬ 
ture  :  whereas  the  Faith  doth  both  admit  and  reject  disputation 
with  difference. 

The  use  of  human  reason  in  religion  is  of  two  sorts :  the 
former,  in  the  conception  and  apprehension  of  the  mysteries  of 
God  to  us  revealed  ;  the  other,  in  the  inferring  and  deriving  of 
doctrine  and  direction  thereupon.  The  former  extendeth  to 
the  mysteries  themselves ;  but  how  ?  by  way  of  illustration, 
and  not  by  way  of  argument.  The  later  consisteth  indeed  of 
probation  and  argument.  In  the  former  we  see  God  vouch- 


480 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


safeth  to  descend  to  our  capacity,  in  the  expressing  of  his  mys¬ 
teries  in  sort  as  may  be  sensible  unto  us ;  and  doth  grift 1  his 
revelations  and  holy  doctrine  upon  the  notions  of  our  reason, 
and  applieth  his  inspirations  to  open  our  understanding,  as  the 
form  of  the  key  to  the  ward  of  the  lock 2 :  for  the  later,  there  is 
allowed  us  an  use  of  reason  and  argument  secondary  and  re¬ 
spective,  although  not  original  and  absolute.  For  after  the 
articles  and  principles  of  religion  are  placed,  and  exempted 
from  examination  of  reason,  it  is  then  permitted  unto  us  to 
make  derivations  and  inferences  from  and  according  to  the 
analogy  of  them,  for  our  better  direction.  In  nature  this 
holdeth  not ;  for  both  the  principles  are  examinable  by  induc¬ 
tion,  though  not  by  a  medium  or  syllogism  ;  and  besides,  those 
principles  or  first  positions  have  no  discordance  with  that  reason 
which  draweth  down  and  deduceth  the  inferior  positions.  But 
yet  it  holdeth  not  in  religion  alone,  but  in  many  knowledges 
both  of  greater  and  smaller  nature,  namely  wherein  there  are 
not  only  posita  but  placita  ;  for  in  such  there  can  be  no  use  of 
absolute  reason.  We  see  it  familiarly  in  games  of  wit,  as  chess, 
or  the  like ;  the  draughts  and  first  laws  of  the  game  are 
positive,  but  how?  merely  ad  placitum,  and  not  examinable 
by  reason;  but  then  how  to  direct  our  play  thereupon  with 
best  advantage  to  win  the  game,  is  artificial  and  rational.  So 
in  human  laws  there  be  many  grounds  and  maxims  which 
are  placita  juris,  positive  upon  authority  and  not  upon  reason, 
and  therefore  not  to  be  disputed :  but  what  is  most  just,  not 
absolutely,  but  relatively  and  according  to  those  maxims,  that 
affordeth  a  long  field  of  disputation.  Such  therefore  is  that 
secondary  reason  which  hath  place  in  divinity,  which  is 
grounded  upon  the  placets  of  God. 

Here  therefore  I  note  this  deficience,  that  there  hath  not 
De  usu  tegi-  been  to  my  understanding  sufficiently  enquired  and 
humarue  in  handled  the  true  limits  and  use  of  reason  in  spiritual 
things ,  as  a  kind  of  divine  dialectic :  which  for  that 
it  is  not  done,  it  seemeth  to  me  a  thing  usual,  by  pretext  of 


1  So  the  original  and  ed.  1629.  Ed.  1633  has  graft. 

2  It  being  our  own  duty  at  the  same  time  to  open  and  enlarge  our  understanding 
that  it  may  be  capable  of  receiving  them.  Qua  tamen  in  parte  nobis  ipsis  deesse 
minime  debemus  ;  cum  enim  Dens  ipse  opera  rationis  nostras  in  illuminationibus  suis 
utatur ,  etiam  7ios  eandem  in  omnes  partes  versare  debemus  quo  magis  capaces  simus 
ad  mysteria  recipienda  et  imbibenda  :  modo  animus  ad  amplitudinem  mysteriorum  pro 
modulo  suo  dilatetur ,  non  mysteria  ad  angustias  animi  constring antur. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


481 


true  conceiving  that  which  is  revealed,  to  search  and  mine  into 
that  which  is  not  revealed ;  and  by  pretext  of  enucleating 
inferences  and  contradictories,  to  examine  that  which  is  posi¬ 
tive  ;  the  one  sort  falling  into  the  error  of  Nicodemus,  demand¬ 
ing  to  have  things  made  more  sensible  than  it  pleaseth  God  to 
reveal  them  ;  Quomodo  possit  homo  nasci  cum  sit  senex  ?  [how 
can  a  man  be  born  when  he  is  old  ?]  the  other  sort  into  the 
error  of  the  disciples,  which  were  scandalized  at  a  show  of  con¬ 
tradiction  ;  Quid  est  hoc  quod  dicit  nobis  ?  Modicum,  et  non  vide- 
bitis  me  j  et  iterum,  modicum,  et  videbitis  me,  &c.  [what  is  this 
that  he  saith  unto  us  ?  a  little  while  and  ye  shall  not  see  me, 
and  again  a  little  while  and  ye  shall  see  me,  &c.] 

Upon  this  I  have  insisted  the  more  in  regard  of  the  great  and 
blessed  use  thereof ;  for  this  point  well  laboured  and  defined  of 
would  in  my  judgment  be  an  opiate  to  stay  and  bridle  not  only 
the  vanity  of  curious  speculations,  wherewith  the  schools  labour, 
but  the  fury  of  controversies,  wherewith  the  church  laboureth. 
For  it  cannot  but  open  men’s  eyes,  to  see  that  many  contro¬ 
versies  do  merely  pertain  to  that  which  is  either  not  revealed 
or  positive ;  and  that  many  others  do  grow  upon  weak  and 
obscure  inferences  or  derivations :  which  latter  sort,  if 1 2  men 
would  revive  the  blessed  style  of  that  great  doctor  of  the  Gen¬ 
tiles,  would  be  carried  thus,  Ego,  non  Dominus,  [I,  not  the 
Lord,]  and  again.  Secundum  consilium  meum,  [according  to  my 
counsel;]  in  opinions  and  counsels,  and  not  in  positions  and 
oppositions.  But  men  are  now  over-ready  to  usurp  the  style 
Non  ego,  sed  Dominus,  [not  I,  but  the  Lord ;]  and  not  so  only, 
but  to  bind  it  with  the  thunder  and  denunciation  of  curses  and 
anathemas,  to  the  terror  of  those  which  have  not  sufficiently 
learned  out  of  Salomon  that  the  causeless  curse  shall  not  come? 

Divinity  hath  two  principal  parts ;  the  matter  informed  or 
revealed,  and  the  nature  of  the  information  or  revelation :  and 
with  the  later  we  will  begin  3,  because  it  hath  most  coherence 
with  that  which  we  have  now  last  handled.  The  nature  of  the 
information  consisteth  of  three  branches ;  the  limits  of  the  in¬ 
formation,  the  sufficiency  of  the  information,  and  the  acquiring 

1  The  original  and  also  edd.  1629  and  1633  have  of 

2  In  the  translation  this  last  sentence  is  omitted,  and  the  substance  both  of  this  and 
of  the  preceding  paragraph  is  set  forth  in  a  better  order  and  more  concisely,  though 
to  the  same  general  effect. 

3  In  the  translation  he  expressly  confines  himself  to  the  latter  only,  and  the  rest  of 
the  paragraph  is  omitted. 


482 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


or  obtaining  the  information.  Unto  the  limits  of  the  information 
belong  these  considerations ;  how  far  forth  particular  persons 
continue  to  be  inspired;  how  far  forth  the  church  is  inspired; 
and  how  far  forth  reason  may  be  used :  the  last  point  whereof 
I  have  noted  as  deficient.  Unto  the  sufficiency  of  the  informa¬ 
tion  belong  two  considerations;  what  points  of  religion  are 
fundamental,  and  what  perfective,  being  matter  of  further 
building  and  perfection  upon  one  and  the  same  foundation ;  and 
again,  how  the  gradations  of  light  according  to  the  dispensa¬ 
tion  of  times  are  material  to  the  sufficiency  of  belief. 

Here  again  I  may  rather  give  it  in  advice  than  note  it  as 
De  gradtbus  deficient,  that  the  points  fundamental,  and  the  points 
civiiate  Dei.  of  further  perfection  only,  ought  to  be  with  piety  and 
wisdom  distinguished:  a  subject  tending  to  much  like  end  as 
that  I  noted  before  ;  for  as  that  other  were  likely  to  abate  the 
number  of  controversies,  so  this  is  like  to  abate  the  heat  of 
many  of  them.  We  see  Moses  when  he  saw  the  Israelite  and 
the  HCgyptian  fight,  he  did  not  say.  Why  strive  you  ?  but  drew 
his  sword  and  slew  the  Egyptian :  but  when  he  saw  the  two 
Israelites  fight,  he  said,  You  are  brethren ,  why  strive  you  ?  If 
the  point  of  doctrine  be  an  ^Egyptian,  it  must  be  slain  by  the 
sword  of  the  Spirit,  and  not  reconciled ;  but  if  it  be  an  Israel¬ 
ite,  though  in  the  wrong,  then.  Why  strive  you  ?  We  see  of 
the  fundamental  points,  our  Saviour  penneth  the  league  thus. 
He  that  is  not  with  us,  is  against  us  ;  but  of  points  not  funda¬ 
mental,  thus.  He  that  is  not  against  us,  is  with  us.  So  we  see 
the  coat  of  our  Saviour  was  entire  without  seam,  and  so  is  the 
doctrine  of  the  Scriptures  in  itself;  but  the  garment  of  the 
Church  was  of  divers  colours,  and  yet  not  divided.  We  see  the 
chaff  may  and  ought  to  be  severed  from  the  corn  in  the  ear, 
but  the  tares  may  not  be  pulled  up  from  the  corn  in  the  field : 
so  as  it  is  a  thing  of  great  use  well  to  define  what  and  of  what 
latitude  those  points  are,  which  do  make  men  merely  aliens 
and  disincorporate  from  the  Church  of  God.1 


1  Of  this  paragraph  again  the  substance  is  given  in  the  translation,  though  in  a 
somewhat  different  order  ;  and  a  sentence  is  added  to  the  following  effect :  If  any  one 
thinks  (he  says)  that  this  has  been  done  already,  let  him  consider  again  and  again 
how  far  it  has  been  done  with  sincerity  and  moderation.  In  the  mean  time  he  who 
9peaks  of  peace  is  like  enough  to  receive  the  answer  which  Jehu  gave  to  the  mes¬ 
senger  —  h  it  peace ,  Jehu  ?  What  hast  thou  to  do  with  peace  ?  Get  thee  behind  me. 
For  it  is  not  peace  between  the  contending  opinions  that  most  men  have  at  heart,  but 
the  establishment  of  their  own  opinions  ( cum  non  pax ,  sed  partes,  plerisque  cordi 
sint). 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


483 


For  the  obtaining  of  the  information,  it  resteth  upon  the  true 
and  sound  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures,  which  are  the  foun¬ 
tains  of  the  water  of  life.  The  interpretations  of  the  Scriptures 1 
are  of  two  sorts;  methodical,  and  solute  or  at  large.  For  this 
divine  water,  which  excelleth  so  much  that  of  Jacob’s  well,  is 
drawn  forth  much  in  the  same  kind  as  natural  water  useth  to 
be  out  of  wells  and  fountains ;  either  it  is  first  forced  up  into  a 
cistern,  and  from  thence  fetched  and  derived  for  use ;  or  else 
it  is  drawn  and  received  in  buckets  and  vessels  immediately 
where  it  springeth.  The  former  sort  whereof,  though  it  seem 
to  be  the  more  ready,  yet  in  my  judgment  is  more  subject  to 
corrupt.2  This  is  that  method  which  hath  exhibited  unto  us 
the  scholastical  divinity ;  whereby  divinity  hath  been  reduced 
into  an  art,  as  into  a  cistern,  and  the  streams  of  doctrine  or  po¬ 
sitions  fetched  and  derived  from  thence. 

In  this  men  have  sought  three  things,  a  summary  brevity,  a 
compacted  strength,  and  a  complete  perfection;  whereof  the 
two  first  they  fail  to  find,  and  the  last  they  ought  not  to  seek. 
For  as  to  brevity,  we  see  in  all  summary  methods,  while  men 
purpose  to  abridge  they  give  cause  to  dilate.  For  the  sum 
or  abridgment  by  contraction  becometh  obscure,  the  obscurity 
requireth  exposition,  and  the  exposition  is  deduced  into  large 
commentaries,  or  into  common  places  and  titles,  which  grow  to 
be  more  vast  than  the  original  writings  whence  the  sum  was  at 
first  extracted.  So  we  see  the  volumes  of  the  schoolmen  are 
greater  much  than  the  first  writings  of  the  fathers,  whence  the 
Master  of  the  Sentences3  made  his  sum  or  collection.  So  in 
like  manner  the  volumes  of  the  modern  doctors  of  the  civil  law 
exceed  those  of  the  ancient  jurisconsults,  of  which  Tribonian 
compiled  the  digest.4  So  as  this  course  of  sums  and  commen- 

1  A  sentence  is  introduced  here  in  the  translation,  to  say  that  he  speaks  only  of  the 
method  of  interpretation,  not  of  the  authority  :  the  ground  of  the  authority  being  the 
consent  of  the  Church. 

-  This  censure,  as  well  as  the  remarks  upon  the  methodical  system  which  are  con¬ 
tained  in  the  three  following  paragraphs,  are  omitted  in  the  translation  ;  probably  as 
involving  matter  which  would  not  have  been  allowed  at  Rome. 

*  Peter  the  Lombard,  Bishop  of  Paris,  wrote  a  Sum  of  Theology  in  four  books, 
entitled  «  The  Sentences ;  ”  and  according  to  the  taste  of  the  middle  ages  acquired  the 
title  of  “Master  of  the  Sentences."  Many  of  these  scholastic  titles  are  curious. 
Thus  Thomas  Aquinas  is  Doctor  Angelicus ;  Buonaventura,  Doctor  Seraphicus  ;  Alex- 
ander  Hales,  Doctor  Irrefragabilis ;  Duns  Scotus,  Doctor  Subtilis  ;  Raymund  Lully, 
Doctor  Illuminatus ;  Roger  Bacon,  Doctor  Mirabilis  ;  Occam,  Doctor  Singulars.  — 
RLE 

4  Compare  with  this  remark  that  of  Maphseus  Vegius  —  “  Existimabas,  ut  opinor, 
—he  is  apostrophising  Tribonian  —  «  plurimum  conducere  utilitati  studentium,  si  quod 
untea  in  multitudine  tractatuum  tardius  eflecerunt  coangustatis  postea  libris  citius 
adsequi  possunt.  .  .  .  Sed  longe  secus  ac  persuadebas  tibi  cessit.  Quis  namque 


32  Bacon  III 


484 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


taries  is  that  which  doth  infallibly  make  the  body  of  sciences 
more  immense  in  quantity,  and  more  base  in  substance. 

And  for  strength,  it  is  true  that  knowledges  reduced  into 
exact  methods  have  a  shew  of  strength,  in  that  each  part 
seemeth  to  support  and  sustain  the  other;  but  this  is  more 
satisfactory  than  substantial ;  like  unto  buildings  which  stand 
by  architecture  and  compaction,  which  are  more  subject  to  ruin 
than  those  which  are  built  more  strong  in  their  several  parts, 
though  less  compacted.  But  it  is  plain  that  the  more  you 
recede  from  your  grounds  the  weaker  do  you  conclude ;  and 
as  in  nature  the  more  you  remove  yourself  from  particulars  the 
greater  peril  of  error  you  do  incur,  so  much  more  in  divinity 
the  more  you  recede  from  the  Scriptures  by  inferences  and 
consequences,  the  more  weak  and  dilute  are  your  positions. 

And  as  for  perfection  or  completeness  in  divinity,  it  is  not 
to  be  sought ;  which  makes  this  course  of  artificial  divinity  the 
more  suspect.  For  he  that  will  reduce  a  knowledge  into  an 
art,  will  make  it  round  and  uniform :  but  in  divinity  many 
things  must  be  left  abrupt  and  concluded  with  this :  0  altitiido 
sapientice  et  sciential  Dei  1  quam  incomprehensibilia  sunt  judicia 
ejus,  et  non  investitjabiles  vice  ejus  !  [O  the  depth  of  the  wisdom 
and  knowledge  of  God  !  How  incomprehensible  are  his  judg¬ 
ments,  and  his  ways  past  finding  out !]  So  again  the  apostle 
saith,  Ex  parte  scimus,  [we  know  in  part,]  and  to  have  the 
form  of  a  total  where  there  is  but  matter  for  a  part,  cannot  be 
without  supplies  by  supposition  and  presumption.  And  there¬ 
fore  I  conclude,  that  the  true  use  of  these  Sums  and  Methods 
hath  place  in  institutions  or  introductions  preparatory  unto 
knowledge ;  but  in  them,  or  by  deducement  from  them,  to 
handle  the  main  body  and  substance  of  a  knowledge,  is  in  all 
sciences  prejudicial,  and  in  divinity  dangerous. 

As  to  the  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures  solute  and  at 
large,  there  have  been  divers  kinds  introduced  and  devised ; 
some  of  them  rather  curious  and  unsafe,  than  sober  and 
warranted.  Notwithstanding  thus  much  must  be  confessed, 
that  the  Scriptures,  being  given  by  inspiration  and  not  by 
human  reason,  do  differ  from  all  other  books  in  the  author; 
which  by  consequence  doth  draw  on  some  difference  to  be 

nesciat  infinitas  et  nonnunquam  ineptas  vanasque  interpretationes  quibus  nulla  Ore 
lex  exempta  est  ?  ”  See  Maphaeus  Vegius  de  Verborum  significatione,  xiv.  77.,  apud 
Savigny ;  History  of  Roman  Law  in  the  Middle  Ages,  ch.  59.  —  R.  L.  E. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


485 


used  by  the  expositor.  For  the  inditer  of  them  did  know  four 
things  which  no  man  attains  to  know;  which  are,  the  mysteries 
of  the  kingdom  of  glory  ;  the  perfection  of  the  laws  of  nature  ; 
the  secrets  of  the  heart  of  man ;  and  the  future  succession  of 
all  ages.1  For  as  to  the  first,  it  is  said.  He  that  presseth  into 
the  light,  shall  be  oppressed  of  the  glory  :  and  again,  No  man 
shall  see  my  face  and  live.  To  the  second.  When  he  prepared 
the  heavens  I  was  present,  when  by  law  and  compass  he  inclosed 
the  deep.  To  the  third.  Neither  was  it  needful  that  any  should 
bear  witness  to  him  of  Man,  for  he  knew  well  what  was  in  Man. 
And  to  the  last.  From  the  beginning  are  known  to  the  Lord  all 
his  works. 

From  the  former  two  2  of  these  have  been  drawn  certain 
senses  and  expositions  of  Scriptures,  which  had  need  be  con¬ 
tained  within  the  bounds  of  sobriety ;  the  one  anagogical,  and 
the  other  philosophical.  But  as  to  the  former,  man  is  not  to 
prevent  his  time  :  Videmus  nunc  per  speculum  in  cenigmate,  tunc 
autem  facie  ad  faciem :  [now  we  see  through  a  glass  darkly, 
but  then  face  to  face :]  wherein  nevertheless  there  seemeth 
to  be  a  liberty  granted,  as  far  forth  as  the  polishing  of  this 
glass,  or  some  moderate  explication  of  this  asnigma.  But  to 
press  too  far  into  it,  cannot  but  cause  a  dissolution  and  over¬ 
throw  of  the  spirit  of  man.  For  in  the  body  there  are  three 
degrees  of  that  we  receive  into  it;  Aliment,  Medicine,  and 
Poison ;  whereof  aliment  is  that  which  the  nature  of  man  can 
perfectly  alter  and  overcome  :  medicine  is  that  which  is  partly 
converted  by  nature,  and  partly  converteth  nature  ;  and  poison 
is  that  which  worketh  wholly  upon  nature,  without  that  that 
nature  can  in  any  part  work  upon  it.  So  in  the  mind  whatso¬ 
ever  knowledge  reason  cannot  at  all  work  upon  and  convert,  is 
a  mere  intoxication,  and  endangereth  a  dissolution  of  the  mind 
and  understanding. 

But  for  the  latter3,  it  hath  been  extremely  set  on  foot  of 

'  Of  these  four  things  he  mentions  in  the  translation  only  the  two  last ;  introducing 
the  mention  of  them  in  the  next  paragraph  but  three,  and  in  the  mean  time  omitting 
altogether  both  this  and  the  following  paragraph. 

2  i.  e.  from  the  intimations  in  the  Scriptures  concerning  the  Kingdom  of  Glory 
and  tile  Laws  of  Nature.  Edd.  1 629  and  1 633  have  “  from  the  former  of  these  two ;  ” 
obviously  a  misprint,  though  adopted  in  all  modern  editions. 

3  i.  e.  the  philosophical  exposition.  The  “former,"  i.  e.  the  anagogical  exposition, 
is  not  mentioned  in  the  translation  ;  which  only  says  that  the  method  of  interpretation 
solute  and  at  large  has  been  carried  to  excess  in  two  ways  ;  first  in  supposing  such 
perfection  in  the  Scriptures  that  all  philosophy  is  to  he  sought  there,  secondly  in  in¬ 
terpreting  them  in  the  same  manner  as  one  would  interpret  an  uninspired  book.  The 


486 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


late  time  by  the  school  of  Paracelsus,  and  some  others,  that 
have  pretended  to  find  the  truth  of  all  natural  philosophy  in 
the  Scriptures  ;  scandalizing  and  traducing  all  other  philosophy 
as  heathenish  and  profane.  But  there  is  no  such  enmity 
between  God’s  word  and  his  works.  Neither  do  they  give 
honour  to  the  Scriptures,  as  they  suppose,  but  much  imbase  them. 
For  to  seek  heaven  and  earth  in  the  word  of  God,  whereof  it  is 
said,  Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass,  but  my  word  shall  not  pass,  is 
to  seek  temporary  things  amongst  eternal :  and  as  to  seek 
divinity  in  philosophy  is  to  seek  the  living  amongst  the  dead, 
so  to  seek  philosophy  in  divinity  is  to  seek  the  dead  amongst 
the  living  1 :  neither  are  the  pots  or  lavers  whose  place  was  in 
the  outward  part  of  the  temple  to  be  sought  in  the  holiest 
place  of  all,  where  the  ark  of  the  testimony  was  seated.  And 
again,  the  scope  or  purpose  of  the  Spirit  of  God  is  not  to 
express  matters  of  nature  in  the  Scriptures,  otherwise  than  in 
passage,  and  for  application  to  man’s  capacity  and  to  matters 
moral  or  divine.  And  it  is  a  true  rule,  Authoris  aliud  agentis 
parva  authoritas  ;  [what  a  man  says  incidentally  about  matters 
which  are  not  in  question  has  little  authority ;]  for  it  were 
a  strange  conclusion,  if  a  man  should  use  a  similitude  for  orna¬ 
ment  or  illustration  sake,  borrowed  from  nature  or  history 
according  to  vulgar  conceit,  as  of  a  Basilisk,  an  Unicorn,  a 
Centaur,  a  Briareus,  an  Hydra,  or  the  like,  that  therefore  he 
must  needs  be  thought  to  affirm  the  matter  thereof  positively 
to  be  true.  To  conclude  therefore,  these  two  interpretations, 
the  one  by  reduction  or  aenigmatical,  the  other  philosophical  or 
physical,  which  have  been  received  and  pursued  in  imitation  of 
the  rabbins  and  cabalists,  are  to  be  confined  with  a  Noli  altum 
sapere,  sed  time,  [be  not  overwise,  but  fear.] 

But  the  two  later  points,  known  to  God  and  unknown  to 
man,  touching  the  secrets  of  the  heart,  and  the  successions  of  time, 
doth  make  a  just  and  sound  difference  between  the  manner 
of  the  exposition  of  the  Scriptures,  and  all  other  books.  For 
it  is  an  excellent  observation  which  hath  been  made  upon  the 
answers  of  our  Saviour  Christ  to  many  of  the  questions  which 
were  propounded  to  him,  how  that  they  are  impertinent  to  the 


remarks  on  the  first  of  these  excesses  coincide  with  the  first  half  of  this  paragraph  (the 
rest  being  omitted),  those  on  the  second  with  the  next  paragraph. 

1  The  rest  of  this  paragraph  is  omitted  in  the  translation. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


487 


state  of  the  question  demanded ;  the  reason  whereof  is,  be¬ 
cause  not  being  like  man,  which  knows  man’s  thoughts  by  his 
words,  but  knowing  man’s  thoughts  immediately,  he  never 
answered  their  words,  but  their  thoughts  1 :  much  in  the  like 
manner  it  is  with  the  Scriptures,  which  being  written  to  the 
thoughts  of  men,  and  to  the  succession  of  all  ages,  with  a  fore¬ 
sight  of  all  heresies,  contradictions,  differing  estates  of  the 
church,  yea  and  particularly  of  the  elect,  are  not  to  be  inter¬ 
preted  only  according  to  the  latitude  of  the  proper  sense  of  the 
place,  and  respectively  towards  that  present  occasion  where¬ 
upon  the  words  were  uttered  ;  or  in  precise  congruity  or  con¬ 
texture  with  the  words  before  or  after ;  or  in  contemplation  of 
the  principal  scope  of  the  place ;  but  have  in  themselves,  not 
only  totally  or  collectively,  but  distributively  in  clauses  and 
words,  infinite  springs  and  streams  of  doctrine  to  water  the 
church  in  every  part 2 ;  and  therefore  as  the  literal  sense  is  as 
it  were  the  main  stream  or  river ;  so  the  moral  sense  chiefly, 
and  sometimes  the  allegorical  or  typical,  are  they  whereof  the 
church  hath  most  use :  not  that  I  wish  men  to  be  bold  in  alle¬ 
gories,  or  indulgent  or  light  in  allusions ;  but  that  I  do  much 
condemn  that  interpretation  of  the  Scripture  which  is  only 
after  the  manner  as  men  use  to  interpret  a  profane  book. 

In  this  part  touching  the  exposition  of  the  Scriptures,  I 
can  report  no  deficience ;  but  by  way  of  remembrance  this 
I  will  add  :  In  perusing  books  of  divinity,  I  find  many3  books 
of  controversies ;  and  many  of  common  places  and  treatises  4 ; 
a  mass  of  positive  divinity,  as  it  is  made  an  art ;  a  number  of 
sermons  and  lectures,  and  many  prolix  commentaries  upon  the 
Scriptures,  with  harmonies  and  concordances  :  but  that  form 
of  writing  in  divinity,  which  in  my  judgment  is  of  all  others 
most  rich  and  precious,  is  positive  divinity  collected  upon 
particular  texts  of  Scriptures  in  brief  observations ;  not  dilated 
into  common  places,  not  chasing  after  controversies,  not  re¬ 
duced  into  method  of  art ;  a  thing  abounding  in  sermons,  which 
will  vanish,  but  defective  in  books,  which  will  remain ;  and  a 
thing  wherein  this  age  excelleth.  For  I  am  persuaded,  and 

1  And  also  (the  translation  adds)  because  he  addressed  himself  not  solely  to  those 
present,  but  to  men  of  all  times  and  places  to  whom  the  gospel  was  to  be  preached. 

1  The  rest  of  the  paragraph  Is  omitted  in  the  translation. 

•  In  the  translation  he  says  too  many. 

*  also  “  cases  of  conscience  ”  —  which  he  especially  commends  further  on,  in  a  pas¬ 
sage  not  translated. 


1  i  4 


488 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


I  may  speak  it  with  an  Absit  invidia  verbo,  [meaning  no 
offence,]  and  no  ways  in  derogation  of  antiquity,  but  as  in  a 
good  emulation  between  the  vine  and  the  olive,  that  if  the 
choice  and  best  of  those  observations  upon  texts  of  Scriptures 
which  have  been  made  dispersedly  in  sermons  within  this  your 
Majesty’s  island1  of  Britain  by  the  space  of  these  forty  years 
and  more  (leaving  out  the  largeness  of  exhortations 

Emanationes  x  0  0 

an(l  applications  thereupon)  had  been  set  down  in  a 
potitimu.  continuance,  it  had  been  the  best  work  in  divinity 
which  had  been  written  since  the  apostles’  times.2 

The  matter  informed  by  divinity  is  of  two  kinds ;  matter  of 
belief  and  truth  of  opinion,  and  matter  of  service  and  adoration; 
which  is  also  judged  and  directed  by  the  former;  the  one  being 
as  the  internal  soul  of  religion,  and  the  other  as  the  external 
body  thereof.  And  therefore  the  heathen  religion  was  not  only 
a  worship  of  idols,  but  the  whole  religion  was  an  idol  in  itself; 
for  it  had  no  soul,  that  is,  no  certainty  of  belief  or  confession ; 
as  a  man  may  well  think,  considering  the  chief  doctors  of  their 
church  were  the  poets ;  and  the  reason  was,  because  the  heathen 
gods  were  no  jealous  gods,  but  were  glad  to  be  admitted  into 
part,  as  they  had  reason.  Neither  did  they  respect  the  pure¬ 
ness  of  heart,  so  they  might  have  external  honour  and  rites. 

But  out  of  these  two  do  result  and  issue  four  main  branches 
of  divinity ;  Faith,  Manners,  Liturgy,  and  Government.  Faith 
containeth  the  doctrine  of  the  nature  of  God,  of  the  attributes 
of  God,  and  of  the  works  of  God.  The  nature  of  God  consisteth 
of  three  persons  in  unity  of  Godhead.  The  attributes  of  God 
are  either  common  to  the  Deity,  or  respective  to  the  persons. 
The  works  of  God  summary  are  two,  that  of  the  Creation,  and 
that  of  the  Redemption ;  and  both  these  works,  as  in  total  they 
appertain  to  the  unity  of  the  Godhead,  so  in  their  parts  they 
refer  to  the  three  persons:  that  of  the  Creation,  in  the  mass  of 
the  matter  to  the  Father;  in  the  disposition  of  the  form  to  the 

>  So  edd.  1629  and  1633.  The  original  has  Hands. 

1  This  last  sentence  is  omitted  in  the  translation,  —  no  doubt  as  being  inadmissible 
at  Rome.  But  in  its  place  is  introduced  one  of  Bacon’s  happiest  illustrations,  and  one 
which  is  not,  I  think,  to  be  found  anywhere  in  his  own  English.  “  Certainly  (he 
says)  as  we  find  It  in  wines,  that  those  which  flow  freely  from  the  first  treading  of  the 
grape  are  sweeter  than  those  which  are  squeezed  out  by  the  wine-press,  because  the 
latter  taste  somewhat  of  the  stone  and  the  rind ;  so  are  those  doctrines  most  whole¬ 
some  and  sweet  which  ooze  out  of  the  Scriptures  when  gently  crushed,  and  are  not 
forced  into  controversies  and  common  places.” 

1  he  next  six  paragraphs  are  entirely  omitted,  —  as  belonging  to  that  part  of  the 
subject  with  which  he  has  professed  in  the  beginning  that  he  will  not  meddle. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


489 


Son ;  and  in  the  continuance  and  conservation  of  the  being  to 
the  Holy  Spirit :  so  that  of  the  Redemption,  in  the  election  and 
counsel  to  the  Father;  in  the  whole  act  and  consummation  to 
the  Son ;  and  in  the  application  to  the  Holy  Spirit ;  for  by  the 
Holy  Ghost  was  Christ  conceived  in  flesh,  and  by  the  Holy 
Ghost  are  the  elect  regenerate  in  spirit.  This  work  likewise 
we  consider  either  effectually  in  the  elect;  or  privatively  1  in 
the  reprobate ;  or  according  to  appearance  in  the  visible  church. 

For  Manners,  the  doctrine  thereof  is  contained  in  the  law, 
which  discloseth  sin.  The  law  itself  is  divided,  according  to 
the  edition  thereof,  into  the  law  of  Nature,  the  law  Moral,  and 
the  law  Positive ;  and  according  to  the  style,  into  Negative  and 
Affirmative,  Prohibitions  and  Commandments.  Sin,  in  the 
matter  and  subject  thereof,  is  divided  according  to  the  com¬ 
mandments  ;  in  the  form  thereof,  it  referreth  to  the  three  per¬ 
sons  in  Deity :  sins  of  Infirmity  against  the  Father,  whose  more 
special  attribute  is  Power;  sins  of  Ignorance  against  the  Son, 
whose  attribute  is  Wisdom ;  and  sins  of  Malice  against  the 
Holy  Ghost,  whose  attribute  is  Grace  or  Love.  In  the  motions 
of  it,  it  either  moveth  to  the  right  hand  or  to  the  left;  either 
to  blind  devotion,  or  to  profane  and  libertine  transgression ; 
either  in  imposing  restraint  where  God  granteth  liberty,  or  in 
taking  liberty  where  God  imposeth  restraint.  In  the  degrees 
and  progress  of  it,  it  divideth  itself  into  thought,  word,  or  act. 
And  in  this  part  I  commend  much  the  deducing  of  the  law  of 
God  to  cases  of  conscience;  for  that  I  take  indeed  to  be  a 
breaking,  and  not  exhibiting  whole,  of  the  bread  of  life.  But 
that  which  quickeneth  both  these  doctrines  of  faith  and  man¬ 
ners,  is  the  elevation  and  consent  of  the  heart;  whereunto 
appertain  books  of  exhortation,  holy  meditation,  Christian  re¬ 
solution,  and  the  like. 

For  the  Liturgy  or  service,  it  consisteth  of  the  reciprocal 
acts  between  God  and  man ;  which,  on  the  part  of  God,  are  the 
preaching  of  the  word  and  the  sacraments,  which  are  seals  to 
the  covenant,  or  as  the  visible  word ;  and  on  the  part  of  man 2, 
invocation  of  the  name  of  God,  and  under  the  law,  sacrifices, 
which  were  as  visible  prayers  or  confessions :  but  now  the 
adoration  being  in  spiritu  et  veritate,  [in  spirit  and  in  truth,] 
there  remaineth  only  vitnli  labiorum,  [offerings  of  the  lips ;] 

1  The  original,  and  also  edd.  1629  and  1633,  have  privately. 

2  So  edd.  1629  and  1633.  The  original  has  mans. 


490 


OF  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING. 


although  the  use  of  holy  vows  of  thankfulness  and  retribution 
may  be  accounted  also  as  sealed  petitions. 

And  for  the  Government  of  the  church,  it  consisteth  of  the 
patrimony  of  the  church,  the  franchises  of  the  church,  and  the 
offices  and  jurisdictions  of  the  church,  and  the  laws  of  the 
church  directing  the  whole ;  all  which  have  two  considerations, 
the  one  in  themselves,  the  other  how  they  stand  compatible  and 
agreeable  to  the  civil  estate. 

This  matter  of  divinity  is  handled  either  in  form  of  instruc¬ 
tion  of  truth,  or  in  form  of  confutation  of  falsehood.  The  de¬ 
clinations  from  religion,  besides  the  privative ',  which  is  atheism 
and  the  branches  thereof,  are  three;  Heresies,  Idolatry,  and 
Witchcraft ;  Heresies,  when  we  serve  the  true  God  with  a  false 
worship ;  Idolatry,  when  we  worship  false  gods,  supposing  them 
to  be  true ;  and  Witchcraft,  when  we  adore  false  gods,  know¬ 
ing  them  to  be  wicked  and  false.  For  so  your  Majesty  doth 
excellently  well  observe,  that  Witchcraft  is  the  height  of  Ido¬ 
latry.  And  yet  we  see  though  these  be  true  degrees,  Samuel 
teacheth  us  that  they  are  all  of  a  nature,  when  there  is  once 
a  receding  from  the  word  of  God ;  for  so  he  saith.  Quasi  pec- 
catum  ariolandi  est  repugnare ,  et  quasi  scelus  idololatriw  nolle 
acquiescere ;  [rebellion  is  as  the  sin  of  Witchcraft,  and  Stub¬ 
bornness  as  the  crime  of  Idolatry]. 

These  things  I  have  passed  over  so  briefly  because  I  can  re¬ 
port.  no  deficience  concerning  them :  for  I  can  find  no  space  or 
ground  that  lieth  vacant  and  unsown  in  the  matter  of  divinity ; 
so  diligent  have  men  been,  either  in  sowing  of  good  seed  or  in 
sowing  of  tares. 

Thus  have  I  made  as  it  were  a  small  Globe  of  the  Intel¬ 
lectual  World,  as  truly  and  faithfully  as  I  could  discover;  with 
a  note  and  description  of  those  parts  which  seem  to  me  not  con¬ 
stantly  occupate,  or  not  well  converted  by  the  labour  of  man. 
In  which,  if  I  have  in  any  point  receded  from  that  which  is 
commonly  received,  it  hath  been  with  a  purpose  of  proceeding 
in  melius,  and  not  in  aliud;  a  mind  of  amendment  and  pro- 
ficience,  and  not  of  change  and  difference.  For  I  could  not  be 
true  and  constant  to  the  argument  I  handle,  if  I  were  not 
willing  to  go  beyond  others ;  but  yet  not  more  willing  than  to 
have  others  go  beyond  me  again :  which  may  the  better  appear 

1  So  cdd.  1629  anti  1633.  The  original  has  primitive. 


THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


491 


by  this,  that  I  have  propounded  my  opinions  naked  and  un¬ 
armed,  not  seeking  to  preoccupate  the  liberty  of  men’s  judg¬ 
ments  by  confutations.  For  in  any  thing  which  is  well  set 
down,  I  am  in  good  hope  that  if  the  first  reading  move  an  ob¬ 
jection,  the  second  reading  will  make  an  answer.  And  in  those 
things  wherein  I  have  erred,  I  am  sure  I  have  not  prejudiced 
the  right  by  litigious  arguments;  which  certainly  have  this 
contrary  effect  and  operation,  that  they  add  authority  to  error, 
and  destroy  the  authority  of  that  which  is  well  invented :  for 
question  is  an  honour  and  preferment  to  falsehood,  as  on  the 
other  side  it  is  a  repulse  to  truth.  But  the  errors  I  claim  and 
challenge  to  myself  a3  mine  own.  The  good,  if  any  be,  is  due 
tanquam  adeps  sacrificii,  [as  the  fat  of  the  sacrifice,]  to  be  in¬ 
censed  to  the  honour,  first  of  the  Divine  Majesty,  and  next  of 
your  Majesty,  to  whom  on  earth  I  am  most  bounden. 


. 


FILUM  LABYRINTHI 


8IYE 


FORMULA  INQUISITIONIS. 


495 


PREFACE. 


The  following  fragment  was  first  printed  in  Stephens’s  second 
collection  (1734),  from  a  manuscript  belonging  to  Lord  Oxford, 
which  is  now  in  the  British  Museum  (Harl.  MSS.  6797.  fo.  139.) 
As  far  as  it  goes,  it  agrees  so  nearly  with  the  Cogitata  et  Visa 
that  either  might  be  taken  for  a  free  translation  of  the  other, 
with  a  few  additions  and  omissions.  But  I  think  the  English 
was  written  first ;  probably  at  the  time  when  the  idea  first 
occurred  to  Bacon  of  drawing  attention  to  his  doctrine  by 
exhibiting  a  specimen  of  the  process  and  the  result  in  one  or 
two  particular  cases.  The  Cogitata  et  Visa  professes  to  be 
merely  a  preface  framed  to  prepare  the  way  for  an  example  of 
a  legitimate  philosophical  investigation  proceeding  regularly  by 
Tables.  Such  an  example,  or  at  least  the  plan  and  skeleton 
of  it,  will  be  found  further  on,  with  the  title  Filum  Labyrinthi, 
sive  Inquisitio  legitima  de  Motu ;  and  the  title  prefixed  to  this 
fragment  is  most  easily  explained  by  supposing  that  a  specimen 
of  an  Inquisitio  legitima  was  meant  to  be  included  in  it. 

It  is  here  printed  from  the  original  MS.  which  is  a  fair  copy 
in  the  hand  of  one  of  Bacon’s  servants,  carefully  corrected  in 
his  own. 


J.  S. 


496 


FILUM  LABYRINTH  I, 

SIVE  FORMULA  IN  Q  U  I S  IT  I  0  N I S. 


AD  FILIOS.1 

PARS  PRIMA. 

1.  Francis  Bacon  thought  in  this  manner.  The  knowledge 
whereof  the  world  is  now  possessed,  especially  that  of  nature, 
extendeth  not  to  magnitude  and  certainty  of  works.  The 
Physician  pronounceth  many  diseases  incurable,  and  faileth  oft 
in  the  rest.  The  Alchemists  wax  old  and  die  in  hopes.  The 
Magicians  perform  nothing  that  is  permanent  and  profitable. 
The  Mechanics  take  small  light  from  natural  philosophy,  aud 
do  but  spin  on  their  own  little  threads.  Chance  sometimes 
discovereth  inventions ;  but  that  worketh  not  in  years,  but  ages. 
So  he  saw  well,  that  the  inventions  known  are  very  unperfect; 
and  that  new  are  not  like  to  be  brought  to  light  but  in  great 
length  of  time ;  and  that  those  which  are,  came  not  to  light  by 
philosophy. 

2.  He  thought  also  this  state  of  knowledge  was  the  worse, 
because  men  strive  (against  themselves)  to  save  the  credit  of 
ignorance,  and  to  satisfy  themselves  in  this  poverty.  For  the 
Physician,  besides  his  cauteles  of  practice,  hath  this  general 
cautele  of  art,  that  he  dischargeth  the  weakness  of  his  art  upon 
supposed  impossibilities  :  neither  can  his  art  be  condemned, 
when  itself  judgeth.  That  philosophy  also,  out  of  which  the 
knowledge  of  physic,  which  now  is  in  use,  is  hewed,  receiveth 
certain  positions  and  opinions,  which  (if  they  be  well  weighed) 
induce  this  persuasion,  that  no  great  works  are  to  be  expected 
from  art,  and  the  hand  of  man ;  as  in  particular  that  opinion, 
that  the  heat  of  the  sun  and  fire  differ  in  kind ;  and  that  other, 
that  Composition  is  the  work  of  man ,  and  Mixture  is  the  work  of 


1  This  is  written  at  the  top  of  the  page,  in  the  left-hand  corner,  in  Bacon’s  hand. 


F1LUM  LABYRINTHI. 


497 


nature ,  and  the  like ;  all  tending  to  the  circumscription  of 
man’s  power,  and  to  artificial  despair ;  killing  in  men,  not  only 
the  comfort  of1  imagination,  but  the  industry  of  trial;  only 
upon  vain  glory  to  have  their  art  thought  perfect,  and  that 
all  is  impossible  that  is  not  already  found.  The  Alchemist  dis- 
chargeth  his  art  upon  his  own  errors,  either  supposing  a  mis¬ 
understanding  of  the  words  of  his  authors,  which  maketh  him 
listen  after  auricular  traditions ;  or  else  a  failing  in  the  true 
proportions  and  scruples  of  practice,  which  maketh  him  renew 
infinitely  his  trials ;  and  finding  also  that  he  lighteth  upon 
some  mean  experiments  and  conclusions  by  the  way,  feedeth 
upon  them,  and  magnifieth  them  to  the  most,  and  supplieth 
the  rest  in  hopes.  The  Magician,  when  he  findeth  something 
(as  he  conceiveth)  above  nature  effected,  thinketh,  when  a 
breach  is  once  made  in  nature,  that  it  is  all  one  to  perform 
great  things  and  small ;  not  seeing  that  they  are  but  subjects 
of  a  certain  kind,  wherein  magic  and  superstition  hath  played 
in  all  times.  The  Mechanical  person,  if  he  can  refine  an  in¬ 
vention,  or  put  two  or  three  observations  or  practices  together 
in  one,  or  couple  things  better  with  their  use,  or  make  the 
work  in  less  or  greater  volume,  taketh  himself  for  an  inventor. 
So  he  saw  well,  that  men  either  persuade  themselves  of  new 
inventions  as  of  impossibilities ;  or  else  think  they  are  already 
extant,  but  in  secret  and  in  few  hands ;  or  that  they  account 
of  those  little  industries  and  additions,  as  of  inventions :  all 
which  turneth  to  the  averting  of  their  minds  from  any  just  and 
constant  labour  to  invent  further  in  any  quantity. 

3.  He  thought  also,  when  men  did  set  before  themselves  the 
variety  and  perfection  of  works  produced  by  mechanical  arts, 
they  are  apt  rather  to  admire  the  provisions  of  man,  than  to 
apprehend  his  wants  ;  not  considering,  that  the  original  inven¬ 
tions  and  conclusions  of  nature  which  are  the  life  of  all  that 
variety,  are  not  many  nor  deeply  fetched ;  and  that  the  rest  is 
but  the  subtile  and  ruled  motion  of  the  instrument  and  hand ; 
and  that  the  shop  therein  is  not  unlike  the  library,  which  in 
such  number  of  books  containeth  (for  the  far  greater  part) 
nothing  but  iterations,  varied  sometimes  in  form,  but  not  new 
in  substance.  So  he  saw  plainly,  that  opinion  of  store  was  a 
cause  of  want ;  and  that  both  works  and  doctrines  appear  many 
and  are  few. 


of  is  omitted  in  the  MS. 


498 


FILUM  LABYRINTHI. 


4.  He  thought  also,  that  knowledge  is  uttered  to  men,  in  a 
form  as  if  every  thing  were  finished ;  for  it  is  reduced  into 
arts  and  methods,  which  in  their  divisions  do  seem  to  include 
all  that  may  be.  And  how  weakly  soever  the  parts  are  filled, 
yet  they  carry  the  shew  and  reason  of  a  total ;  and  thereby  the 
writings  of  some  received  authors  go  for  the  very  art :  whereas 
antiquity  used  to  deliver  the  knowledge  which  the  mind  of  man 
had  gathered,  in  observations,  aphorisms,  or  short  and  dis¬ 
persed  sentences,  or  small  tractates  of  some  parts  that  they  had 
diligently  meditated  and  laboured ;  which  did  invite  men,  both 
to  ponder  that  which  was  invented,  and  to  add  and  supply 
further.  But  now  sciences  are  delivered  to  be  believed  and 
accepted,  and  not  to  be  examined  and  further  discovered  ;  and 
the  succession  is  between  master  and  disciple,  and  not  between 
inventor  and  continuer  or  advancer:  and  therefore  sciences 
stand  at  a  stay,  and  have  done  for  many  ages,  and  that  which 
is  positive  is  fixed,  and  that  which  is  question  is  kept  question, 
so  as  the  columns  of  no  further  proceeding  are  pitched.  And 
therefore  he  saw  plainly,  men  had  cut  themselves  off  from  fur¬ 
ther  invention ;  and  that  it  is  no  marvel  that  that  is  not  ob¬ 
tained,  which  hath  not  been  attempted,  but  rather  shut  out  and 
debarred. 

5.  He  thought  also,  that  knowledge  is  almost  generally 
sought  either  for  delight  and  satisfaction,  or  for  gain  and  pro¬ 
fession,  or  for  credit  and  ornament,  and  that  every  of  these  are 
as  Atalanta’s  balls,  which  hinder  the  race  of  invention.  For 
men  are  so  far  in  these  courses  from  seeking  to  increase  the 
mass  of  knowledge,  as  of  that  mass  which  is  they  will  take  no 
more  than  will  serve  their  turn :  and  if  any  one  amongst  so 
many  seeketh  knowledge  for  itself,  yet  he  rather  seeketh  to 
know  the  variety  of  things,  than  to  discern  of  the  truth  and 
causes  of  them  ;  and  if  his  inquisition  be  yet  more  severe,  yet 
it  tendeth  rather  to  judgment  than  to  invention ;  and  rather 
to  discover  truth  in  controversy,  than  new  matter  ;  and  if  his 
heart  be  so  large  as  he  propoundeth  to  himself  further  discovery 
or  invention,  yet  it  is  rather  of  new  discourse  and  speculation 
of  causes,  than  of  effects  and  operations :  and  as  for  those 
that  have  so  much  in  their  mouths,  action  and  use  and  prac¬ 
tice  and  the  referring  of  sciences  thereunto,  they  mean  it  of 
application  of  that  which  is  known,  and  not  of  a  discovery  of 
that  which  is  unknown.  So  he  saw  plainly,  that  this  mark, 


FILUM  LABYRINTH!. 


499 


namely  invention  of  further  means  to  endow  the  condition  and 
life  of  man  with  new  powers  or  works,  was  almost  never  yet 
set  up  and  resolved  in  man’s  intention  and  inquiry. 

6.  He  thought  also,  that,  amongst  other  knowledges,  natural 
philosophy  hath  been  the  least  followed  and  laboured.  For 
since  the  Christian  faith,  the  greatest  number  of  wits  have  been 
employed,  and  the  greatest  helps  and  rewards  have  been  con¬ 
verted  upon  divinity.  And  before  time  likewise,  the  greatest 
part  of  the  studies  of  philosophers  was  consumed  in  moral 
philosophy,  which  was  as  the  heathen  divinity.  And  in  both 
times  a  great  part  of  the  best  wits  betook  themselves  to  law, 
pleadings,  and  causes  of  estate ;  specially  in  the  time  of  the 
greatness  of  the  Romans,  who  by  reason  of  their  large  empire 
needed  the  service  of  all  their  able  men  for  civil  business. 
And  the  time  amongst  the  Grecians  in  which  natural  philo¬ 
sophy  seemed  most  to  flourish,  was  but  a  short  space  ;  and  that 
also  rather  abused  in  differing  sects  and  conflicts  of  opinions, 
than  profitably  spent:  since  which  time,  natural  philosophy 
was  never  any  profession,  nor  never  possessed  any  whole  man, 
except  perchance  some  monk  in  a  cloister,  or  some  gentleman 
in  the  country,  and  that  very  rarely ;  but  became  a  science  of 
passage,  to  season  a  little  young  and  unripe  wits,  and  to  serve 
for  an  introduction  to  other  arts,  specially  physic  and  the 
practical  mathematics.  So  as  he  saw  plainly,  that  natural 
philosophy  hath  been  intended  by  few  persons,  and  in  them 
hath  occupied  the  least  part  of  their  time,  and  that  in  the 
weakest  of  their  age  and  judgment. 

7.  He  thought  also,  how  great  opposition  and  prejudice 
natural  philosophy  had  received  by  superstition,  and  the  im¬ 
moderate  and. blind  zeal  of  religion;  for  he  found  that  some  of 
the  Grecians  which  first  gave  the  reason  of  thunder,  had  been 
condemned  of  impiety  ;  and  that  the  cosmographers  which  first 
discovered  and  described  the  roundness  of  the  earth,  and  the 
consequence  thereof  touching  the  Antipodes,  were  not  much 
otherwise  censured  by  the  ancient  fathers  of  the  Christian 
Church ;  and  that  the  case  is  now  much  worse,  in  regard  of  the 
boldness  of  the  schoolmen  and  their  dependances  in  the  monas¬ 
teries,  who  having  made  divinity  into  an  art,  have  almost 
incorporated  the  contentious  philosophy  of  Aristotle  mto  the 
body  of  Christian  religion.  And  generally  he  perceived  in  men 
of  devout  simplicity,  this  opinion,  that  the  secrets  of  nature 


33  Bacon  III 


500 


FILUM  LABYRINTH!. 


were  the  secrets  of  God  and  part  of  that  glory  whereinto  the 
mind  of  man  if  it  seek  to  press  shall  be  oppressed ;  and  that 
the  desire  in  men  to  attain  to  so  great  and  hidden  know¬ 
ledge,  hath  a  resemblance  with  that  temptation  which  caused 
the  original  fall :  and  on  the  other  side  in  men  of  a  devout 
policy,  he  noted  an  inclination  to  have  the  people  depend  upon 
God  the  more,  when  they  are  less  acquainted  with  second 
causes  ;  and  to  have  no  stirring  in  philosophy,  lest  it  may  lead 
to  an  innovation  in  divinity,  or  else  should  discover  matter  of 
further  contradiction  to  divinity.  But  in  this  part  resorting 
to  the  authority  of  the  Scriptures,  and  holy  examples,  and  to 
reason,  he  rested  not  satisfied  alone,  but  much  confirmed.  F or 
first  he  considered  that  the  knowledge  of  nature,  by  the  light 
whereof  man  discerned  of  every  living  creature,  and  imposed 
names  according  to  their  propriety,  was  not  the  occasion  of  the 
fall ;  but  the  moral  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  affected  to  the 
end  to  depend  no  more  upon  God’s  commandments,  but  for 
man  to  direct  himself;  neither  could  he  find  in  any  Scripture, 
that  the  inquiry  and  science  of  man  in  any  thing,  under  the 
mysteries  of  the  Deity,  is  determined  and  restrained,  but  con¬ 
trariwise  allowed  and  provoked ;  for  concerning  all  other 
knowledge  the  Scripture  pronounceth,  That  it  is  the  glory  of 
God  to  conceal,  but  it  is  the  glory  of  man  (or  of  the  king,  for  the 
king  is  but  the  excellency  of  man)  to  invent ;  and  again,  The 
spirit  of  man  is  as  the  lamp  of  God,  wherewith  he  searcheth  every 
secret;  and  again  most  effectually,  That  God  hath  made  all 
things  beautiful  and  decent,  according  to  the  return  of  their 
seasons  ;  also  that  he  hath  set  the  world  in  man's  heart,  and  yet 
man  cannot  find  out  the  work  which  God  worketh from  the  begin¬ 
ning  to  the  end ;  shewing  that  the  heart  of  man  is  a  continent  of 
that  concave  or  capacity,  wherein  the  content  of  the  world 
(that  is,  all  forms  of  the  creatures  and  whatsoever  is  not  God) 
may  be  placed  or  received  ;  and  complaining  that  through  the 
variety  of  things  and  vicissitudes  of  times  (which  are  but 
impediments  and  not  impuissances)  man  cannot  accomplish  his 
invention.  In  precedent  also  he  set  before  his  eyes,  that  in 
those  few  memorials  before  the  flood,  the  Scripture  honoureth 
the  name  of  the  inventors  of  music  and  works  in  metal ;  that 
Moses  had  this  addition  of  praise,  that  he  was  seen  in  all  the 
learning  of  the  Egyptians;  that  Solomon  ’,  in  his  grant  of  wisdom 


So  spelt  in  MS. 


FILUM  LABYRINTHI. 


501 


from  God,  had  contained  as  a  branch  thereof,  that  knowledge 
whereby  he  wrote  a  natural  history  of  all  verdor,  from  the 
cedar  to  the  moss,  and  of  all  that  breatheth ;  that  the  book  of 
Job,  and  many  places  of  the  prophets,  have  great  aspersion  of 
natural  philosophy  ;  that  the  Church  in  the  bosom  and  lap 
thereof,  in  the  greatest  injuries  of  times,  ever  preserved  (as 
holy  relics)  the  books  of  philosophy  and  all  heathen  learning  ; 
and  that  when  Gregory  the  bishop  of  Rome  became  adverse 
and  unjust  to  the  memory  of  heathen  antiquity,  it  was  censured 
for  pusillanimity  in  him,  and  the  honour  thereof  soon  after 
restored,  and  his  own  memory  almost  persecuted  by  his  succes¬ 
sor  Sabinian  ;  and  lastly  in  our  times  and  the  ages  of  our 
fathers,  when  Luther  and  the  divines  of  the  Protestant  Church 
on  the  one  side,  and  the  Jesuits  on  the  other,  have  enterprised 
to  reform,  the  one  the  doctrine,  the  other  the  discipline  and 
manners  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  he  saw  well  how  both  of  them 
have  awaked  to  their  great  honour  and  succour  all  human 
learning.  And  for  reason,  there  cannot  be  a  greater  and  more 
evident  than  this ;  that  all  knowledge  and  specially  that  of 
natural  philosophy  tendeth  highly  to  the  magnifying  of  the 
glory  of  God  in  his  power,  providence,  and  benefits ;  appearing 
and  engraven  in  his  works,  which  without  this  knowledge  are 
beheld  but  as  through  a  veil ;  for  if  the  heavens  in  the  body  of 
them  do  declare  the  glory  of  God  to  the  eye,  much  more  do 
they  in  the  rule  and  decrees  of  them  declare  it  to  the  under¬ 
standing.  And  another  reason  not  inferior  to  this  is,  that  the 
same  natural  philosophy  principally  amongst  all  other  human 
knowledge  doth  give  an  excellent  defence  against  both  ex¬ 
tremes  of  religion,  superstition  and  infidelity  ;  for  both  it 
freeth  the  mind  from  a  number  of  weak  fancies  and  imagina¬ 
tions,  and  it  raiseth  the  mind  to  acknowledge  that  to  God  all 
things  are  possible :  for  to  that  purpose  speaketh  our  Saviour 
in  that  first  canon  against  heresies  delivered  upon  the  case  of 
the  resurrection,  You  err,  not  knowing  the  Scriptures,  nor  the 
power  of  God ;  teaching  that  there  are  but  two  fountains  of 
heresy,  not  knowing  the  will  of  Sod  revealed  in  the  Scriptures, 
and  not  knowing  the  power  of  God  revealed  or  at  least  made 
most  sensible  in  his  creatures.  So  as  he  saw  well,  that  natural 
philosophy  was  of  excellent  use  to  the  exaltation  of  the  Divine 
Majesty  ;  and  that  which  is  admirable,  that  being  a  remedy  of 
superstition,  it  is  nevertheless  an  help  to  faith.  He  saw  like- 


502 


FILUM  LABYRINTH!. 


wise,  that  the  former  opinions  to  the  prejudice  thereof  had  no 
true  ground  ;  but  must  spring  either  out  of  mere  ignorance,  or 
out  of  an  excess  of  devotion,  to  have  divinity  all  in  all,  whereas 
it  should  be  only  above  all  (both  which  states  of  mind  may  be 
best  pardoned);  or  else  out  of  worse  causes,  namely  out  of 
envy,  which  is  proud  weakness  and  deserveth  to  be  despised ; 
or  out  of  some  mixture  of  imposture,  to  tell  a  lie  for  God’s 
cause ;  or  out  of  an  impious  diffidence,  as  if  men  should  fear  to 
discover  some  things  in  nature  which  might  subvert  faith.  But 
still  he  saw  well,  howsoever  these  opinions  are  in  right  reason 
reproved,  yet  they  leave  not  to  be  most  effectual  hindrances  to 
natural  philosophy  and  invention. 

8.  He  thought  also,  that  there  wanted  not  great  contrariety 
to  the  further  discovery  of  sciences,  in  regard  of  the  orders  and 
customs  of  universities,  and  also  in  regard  of  common  opinion. 
For  in  universities  and  colleges  men’s  studies  are  almost  con¬ 
fined  to  certain  authors,  from  which  if  any  dissenteth  or  pro¬ 
pounded  matter  of  redargution,  it  is  enough  to  make  him 
thought  a  person  turbulent;  whereas  if  it  be  well  advised,  there 
is  a  great  difference  to  be  made  between  matters  contemplative 
and  active.  For  in  government  change  is  suspected,  though  to 
the  better ;  but  it  is  natural  to  arts  to  be  in  perpetual  agitation 
and  growth ;  neither  is  the  danger  alike  of  new  light,  and  of 
new  motion  or  remove.  And  for  vulgar  and  received  opinions, 
nothing  is  more  usual  nor  more  usually  complained  of,  than 
that  it  ife  imposed  1  for  arrogancy  and  presumption  for  men  to 
authorise  themselves  against  antiquity  and  authors,  towards 
whom  envy  is  ceased,  and  reverence  by  time  amortised ;  it  not 
being  considered  what  Aristotle  himself  did  (upon  whom  the 
philosophy  that  now  is  chiefly  dependeth) ;  who  came  with  a 
professed  contradiction  to  all  the  world,  and  did  put  all  his 
opinions  upon  his  own  authority  and  argument,  and  never  so 
much  as  nameth  an  author  but  to  confute  and  reprove  him  ; 
and  yet  his  success  well  fulfilled  the  observation  of  Him  that 
said,  If  a  man  come  in  his  own  name,  him  will  you  receive. 
Men  think  likewise,  that  if  they  should  give  themselves  to  the 
liberty  of  invention  and  travail  of  inquiry,  that  they  shall  light 
again  upon  some  conceits  and  contemplations  which  have  been 
formerly  offered  to  the  world,  and  have  been  put  down  by 
better,  which  have  prevailed  and  brought  them  to  oblivion ;  not 


1  So  MS. ;  a  miscopy,  I  bUspcct,  for  impuUd. 


FILUM  LABYRINTHI. 


503 


seeing  that  howsoever  the  property  and  breeding  of  know¬ 
ledges  is  in  great  and  excellent  wits,  yet  the  estimation  and 
price  of  them  is  in  the  multitude,  or  in  the  inclinations  of 
princes  and  great  persons  meanly  learned.  So  as  those  know¬ 
ledges  are  like  to  be  received  and  honoured,  which  have  their 
foundation  in  the  subtility  or  finest  trial  of  common  sense,  or 
such  as  fill  the  imagination ;  and  not  such  knowledge  as  is 
digged  out  of  the  hard  mine  of  history  and  experience,  and 
falleth  out  to  be  in  some  points  as  adverse  to  common  sense  or 
popular  reason,  as  religion,  or  more.  Which  kind  of  know¬ 
ledge,  except  it  be  delivered  with  strange  advantages  of  elo¬ 
quence  and  power,  may  be  likely  to  appear  and  disclose  a  little 
to  the  world  and  straight  to  vanish  and  shut  again.  So  that 
time  seemeth  to  be  of  the  nature  of  a  river  or  flood,  that 
bringeth  down  to  us  that  which  is  light  and  blown  up,  and 
sinketh  and  drowneth  that  which  is  solid  and  grave.  So  he 
saw  well,  that  both  in  the  state  of  religion,  and  in  the  adminis¬ 
tration  of  learning,  and  in  common  opinion,  there  were  many 
and  continual  stops  and  traverses  to  the  course  of  invention. 

9.  He  thought  also,  that  the  invention  of  works  and  further 
possibility  was  prejudiced  in  a  more  special  manner  than  that 
of  speculative  truth ;  for  besides  the  impediments  common  to 
both,  it  hath  by  itself  been  notably  hurt  and  discredited  by  the 
vain  promises  and  pretences  of  Alchemy,  Magic,  Astrology,  and 
such  other  arts,  which  (as  they  now  pass)  hold  much  more  of 
imagination  and  belief  than  of  sense  and  demonstration.  But 
to  use  the  poets’  language,  men  ought  to  have  remembered 
that  although  Ixion  of  a  cloud  in  the  likeness  of  Juno  begat 
Centaurs  and  Chimseras,  yet  J upiter  also  of  the  true  Juno  be¬ 
gat  Yulcan  and  Hebe.  Neither  is  it  just  to  deny  credit  to  the 
greatness  of  the  acts  of  Alexander,  because  the  like  or  more 
strange  have  been  feigned  of  an  Amadis  or  an  Arthur,  or  other 
fabulous  worthies.  But  though  this  in  true  reason  should  be, 
and  that  men  ought  not  to  make  a  confusion  of  unbelief;  yet 
he  saw  well  it  could  not  otherwise  be  in  event,  but  that  ex¬ 
perience  of  untruth  had  made  access  to  truth  more  difficult,  and 
that  the  ignominy  of  vanity  had  abated  all  greatness  of  mind. 

10.  He  thought  also,  there  was  found  in  the  mind  of  man 
an  affection  naturally  bred,  and  fortified  and  furthered  by  dis¬ 
course  and  doctrine,  which  did  pervert  the  true  proceeding 
towards  active  and  operative  knowledge.  This  was  a  false 


504 


FILUM  LABYR1NTHI. 


estimation,  that  it  should  be  as  a  diminution  to  the  mind  of 
man  to  be  much  conversant  in  experiences  and  particulars  sub¬ 
ject  to  sense  and  bound  in  matter,  and  which  are  laborious  to 
search,  ignoble  to  meditate,  harsh  to  deliver,  illiberal  to  prac¬ 
tise,  infinite  as  is  supposed  in  number,  and  no  ways  accom¬ 
modate  to  the  glory  of  arts.  This  opinion  or  state  of  mind 
received  much  credit  and  strength  by  the  school  of  Plato,  who 
thinking  that  particulars  rather  revived  the  notions  or  excited 
the  faculties  of  the  mind,  than  merely  informed ;  and  having 
mingled  his  philosophy  with  superstition,  which  never  favoureth 
the  sense ;  extolleth  too  much  the  understanding  of  man  in  the 
inward  light  thereof.  And  again  Aristotle’s  school,  which 
giveth  the  due  to  the  sense  in  assertion,  denieth  it  in  practice 
much  more  than  that  of  Plato.  For  we  see  the  schoolmen, 
Aristotle’s  succession,  which  were  utterly  ignorant  of  history, 
rested  only  upon  agitation  of  wit ;  whereas  Plato  giveth  good 
example  of  inquiry  by  induction  and  view  of  particulars ;  though 
in  such  a  wandering  manner  as  is  of  no  force  or  fruit.  So  that 
he  saw  well,  that  the  supposition  of  the  sufficiency  of  man’s 
mind  hath  lost  the  means  thereof.1 


1  Here  the  MS.  ends  abruptly  In  thev  middle  of  the  page.  At  the  top  Is  written  in 
Bacon’s  hand  “  The  English  as  much  as  was  parfited.”  The  blank  part  of  the  last 
page  seems  to  have  formed  the  outside  of  a  miscellaneous  bundle,  and  bears  the  fol¬ 
lowing  docket,  also  in  Bacon’s  hand,  “  Severall  fragments  of  discourses.” 


DE 

INTERPRETATIONS  NATDM 


PEOCEMIUM. 


507 


PREFACE 


TO  THE 

DE  INTERPRETATIONS  NATURE  PR0(EMIUM. 


The  paper  that  bears  this  title  was  first  published  by  Gruter. 
He  printed  it  among  the  Impetus  Philosophici  (concerning 
which  see  Preface  to  Part  II.  p.  3.)  where  it  stands  by  itself, 
unconnected  with  the  neighbouring  pieces.  Hence  I  conclude 
that  it  was  one  of  the  loose  papers. 

Its  date  may  be  partly  inferred  from  the  contents.  Bacon 
speaks  of  himself  in  it  as  a  man  no  longer  young ',  yet  not  old2 ; 
and  as  one  who  having  been  a  candidate  (apparently  without 
success)  for  office  in  the  state,  had  at  length  resolved  to  abandon 
that  pursuit  and  betake  himself  entirely  to  this  work.3  All 
this  suits  very  well  with  his  position  in  the  summer  of  1603, 
when  he  desired  “  to  meddle  as  little  as  he  could  in  the  King’s 
causes”  and  “  put  his  ambition  wholly  upon  his  pen at  which 
time  also  he  was  engaged  on  a  work  concerning  the  “  Invention 
of  Sciences,”  which  he  had  digested  into  two  parts,  whereof 
one  was  entitled  Interpretatio  Natures.  And  since  this  Pro- 
cemium  was  evidently  intended  to  stand  as  a  general  intro¬ 
duction  to  some  great  work  bearing  that  title,  we  cannot  be  far 
wrong,  I  think,  in  placing  it  next  to  the  Advancement  of  Learn 
ing  and  in  connexion  with  the  pieces  which  follow. 

All  that  is  of  general  application  in  it  was  afterwards  di¬ 
gested  into  the  first  book  of  the  Novum  Organum.  But  it  retains 
a  peculiar  interest  for  us  on  account  of  the  passage  in  which  he 
explains  the  plans  and  purposes  of  his  life,  and  the  estimate  he 
had  formed  of  his  own  character  and  abilities; — a  passage  which 
was  replaced  in  the  days  of  his  greatness  by  a  simple  Be  nobis 
ipsis  silemus.  It  is  the  only  piece  of  autobiography  in  which 

1  cum  dtas  jam  consisteret.  2  hominem  non  setiem. 

3  ab  istis  cogitationibus  me  prorsus  alienavi  et  in  hoc  opus  ex  priore  decreto  me 
tutum  recepi. 


508 


PREFACE  TO  THE 


he  ever  indulged,  and  deserves  on  several  accounts  to  be  care¬ 
fully  considered. 

When  a  man’s  life  and  character  have  any  interest  for  pos¬ 
terity,  it  is  always  good  to  have  his  own  account  of  them  ;  for 
no  one  can  tell  so  well  what  objects  he  proposed  to  himself,  and 
how  he  set  about  to  accomplish  them ;  without  a  knowledge  of 
which  it  must  always  be  impossible  to  form  a  true  judgment  of 
his  career.  We  have  here  Bacon’s  own  account,  written  when 
he  was  between  40  and  50,  of  the  plan  upon  which  his  life  had 
been  laid  out.  And  if  we  accept  it  as  sincere,  —  if  we  believe 
that  such  were  indeed  the  objects  which  he  mainly  aimed  at, 
and  such  the  motives  which  mainly  guided  him,  —  the  course 
which  he  actually  followed  in  the  various  conjunctures  of  his 
life  will  present  few  difficulties ;  but  will  be  found  (after  rea¬ 
sonable  allowance  made  for  human  accidents  without,  and  hu¬ 
man  infirmities  within)  very  natural  and  consistent  from  first 
to  last, — in  fact  a  very  remarkable  example  of  constancy  to  an 
original  design.  He  began  by  conceiving  that  a  wiser  method 
of  studying  nature  would  give  man  the  key  to  all  her  secrets, 
and  therewith  the  mastery  of  all  her  powers.  If  so,  what  boon 
so  great  could  a  man  bestow  upon  his  fellow-men  ?  But  the 
work  would  be  long  and  arduous,  and  the  event  remote ;  and 
in  the  mean  time  he  was  not  to  neglect  the  immediate  and  pe¬ 
culiar  services  which  as  an  Englishman  he  owed  to  his  country 
and  as  a  Protestant  to  his  religion.  He  'set  out  with  the  inten¬ 
tion  of  doing  what  he  could  towards  the  discharge  of  all  three 
obligations,  and  planned  his  course  accordingly.  With  regard 
to  the  two  last  however,  he  found  as  life  wore  away  that  the 
means  and  opportunities  which  he  had  hoped  for  did  not  present 
themselves ;  and  fearing  that  all  would  fail  together  if  he  lost 
more  time  in  waiting  for  them,  he  resolved  to  fall  back  upon 
the  first  as  an  enterprise  which  depended  for  success  upon 
himself  alone. 

So  his  case  stood  when  he  drew  up  this  paper.  Afterwards, 
though  new  exigencies  of  state*  gave  him  an  opening  for  service 
and  drew  him  again  into  business  and  politics,  he  did  not  cease 
to  devote  his  leisure  to  the  pi'osecution  of  his  main  object ;  and 
as  soon  as  his  fall  restored  to  him  the  entire  command  of  his 
time,  he  again  made  it  his  sole  occupation. 

So  far  therefore,  his  actual  course  was  quite  consistent  with 
his  first  design ;  and  it  is  even  probable  that  this  very  constancy 


DE  INTERPRET ATIONE  NATURAE  PROCEMIUM.  509 


was  in  some  degree  answerable  for  the  great  error  and  mis¬ 
fortune  of  his  life.  That  an  absorbing  interest  in  one  thing 
should  induce  negligence  of  others  not  less  important,  is  an 
accident  only  too  natural  and  familiar ;  and  if  he  did  not  allow 
the  Novum  Organum  to  interfere  with  his  attention  to  the 
causes  which  came  before  him  in  Chancery,  it  did  probably 
prevent  him  from  attending  as  carefully  as  he  should  and  other¬ 
wise  would  have  done  to  the  proceedings  of  his  servants  and 
the  state  of  his  accounts. 

Had  his  main  design  been  successful,  the  story  of  his  life 
would  have  stood  simply  thus,  and  called  for  no  further  specula¬ 
tion.  But  there  is  one  thing  (though  his  popular  reputation  as 
the  father  of  modern  science  has  prevented  it  from  being  re¬ 
marked)  which  still  remains  to  be  explained ;  and  which  is  in 
fact  very  difficult  to  reconcile  with  the  opinion  almost  univer¬ 
sally  entertained  with  regard  to  his  philosophical  genius.  How 
is  it  that  abilities  like  his,  applying  themselves  to  a  practical 
object  for  so  many  years  together  with  such  eager  interest  and 
laborious  industry,  met  with  so  little  success?  I  assume  of 
course  (what  indeed  cannot  be  reasonably  doubted)  that  he  was 
no  mere  talker  or  trifler,  but  a  time  workman,  with  genuine 
zeal  and  faith  in  his  work.  How  is  it  then  that  he  did  not 
succeed,  if  not  in  accomplishing,  yet  in  putting  in  a  way  to  be 
accomplished,  or  in  persuading  somebody  to  think  capable  of 
accomplishment,  some  part  at  least  of  the  work  which  he  had 
so  much  at  heart?  If  the  end  was  unattainable,  how  is  it  that 
he  did  not  find  that  out  ?  If  he  had  mistaken  the  way,  how  is 
it  that  he  did  not  himself  discover  the  error  as  he  proceeded  ? 
If  he  failed  from  not  well  understanding  the  use  of  some  of  the 
necessary  implements,  why  did  he  not  apply  himself  to  learn  the 
use  of  them,  or  seek  help  from  those  who  did  understand  it?  He 
may  have  neglected  mechanics  and  mathematics  in  his  youth  be¬ 
cause  he  did  not  then  know  their  importance;  but  he  could  hardly 
have  proceeded  far  in  the  attempt  to  weigh  and  measure  and 
analyse  the  secret  forces  of  nature,  without  finding  the  want, 
long  before  it  was  too  late  to  commence  the  study  of  them. 
For  although,  as  taught  at  Cambridge  in  those  days,  they  did 
not  perhaps  promise  much  help ;  yet  in  the  hands  of  the  leading 
scientific  men  of  Europe  they  had  become  an  instrument  of  too. 
much  value  to  have  long  escaped  the  notice  of  a  diligent  en¬ 
quirer  into  the  true  condition  of  knowledge. 


510 


PREFACE  TO  THE 


The  only  explanation  which  appears  to  me  sufficient  to  ac¬ 
count  for  the  fact  is  this :  Bacon’s  deficiency  lay  in  the  intellect 
itRp.lf.  It  seems  that  there  was  one  intellectual  faculty  in  which 
he  was  comparatively  weak,  and  that  not  being  himself  aware 
of  the  extent  and  importance  of  the  defect,  he  miscalculated 
the  amount  of  his  own  forces.  That  he  was  not  altogether 
aware  of  this  deficiency,  may  be  inferred  I  think  from  the  re¬ 
markable  passage  to  which  I  have  alluded  in  the  paper  before 
us,  and  which  it  is  worth  while  to  examine  in  detail. 

After  considering  what  was  the  best  thing  to  be  done,  he 
proceeds  to  consider  what  he  was  himself  best  fitted  to  do.  He 
finds  in  himself  a  mind  at  once  discursive  enough  to  seize  re¬ 
semblances,  and  steady  enough  to  distinguish  differences;  a 
mind  eager  in  search,  patient  of  doubt,  fond  of  meditation,  slow 
to  assert,  ready  to  reconsider,  careful  to  dispose  and  set  in 
order;  not  carried  away  either  by  love  of  novelty  or  by  ad¬ 
miration  of  antiquity,  and  hating  every  kind  of  imposture  re¬ 
mind  therefore  especially  framed  for  the  study  and  pursuit  of 
truth. 

Such  it  seems  was  Bacon’s  deliberate,  candid,  and  sober 
estimate  of  his  own  qualities ;  and  (high  as  it  sounds)  I  con¬ 
ceive  it  to  be,  in  all  respects  but  one,  a  just  estimate.  In  the 
large  discursive  faculty  which  detects  analogies  and  resem¬ 
blances  between  different  and  distant  things,  it  would  be  dif- 
'  ficult  probably  to  name  his  equal.  In  the  moral  qualities  for 
which  he  gives  himself  credit,  he  was  not  less  eminent.  His 
senses  and  powers  of  observation  were  lively  and  exquisite ; 
and  his  judgment  also,  where  it  had  to  deal  with  the  larger 
features  of  things,  or  with  those  which  being  too  subtle  and 
fleeting  to  admit  of  exact  demonstration  and  analysis,  must  be 
studied  by  the  broader  light  of  the  imagination  and  discursive 
reason,  was  clear  and  deep  and  sound.  But  it  is  impossible,  I 
think,  to  read  Mr.  Ellis’s  remarks  upon  those  parts  of  his  works 
in  which  he  comes  in  contact  with  what  we  call  the  exact  sciences, 
— mathematics,  for  instance,  and  mechanics,  —  and  not  to  feel 
that  in  the  faculty  of  distinguishing  differences, —  the  faculty 
whose  office  is  (as  he  describes  it  in  the  Novum  Organum, 
i.  55.)  figere  contemplations ,  et  morari  et  liar  ere  in  omni  sub- 
tilitate  differentiarum, — he  was  (comparatively  at  least)  deficient. 
This  appears  both  from  the  imperfect  account  of  the  existing 
condition  of  those  sciences  which  he  gives  in  the  De  Augmentis 


DE  INTERPRET ATIONE  NATURAE  PROCEM1UM.  511 


Scientiarum  ;  no  notice  being  there  taken  of  some  of  the  most 
important  advances  which  had  been  made  by  the  writers  im¬ 
mediately  preceding  him ;  and  from  his  own  experiments  and 
speculations  upon  subjects  which  required  their  help.  Though 
he  paid  great  attention  to  Astronomy,  discussed  carefully  the 
methods  in  which  it  ought  to  be  studied,  constructed  for  the 
satisfaction  of  his  own  mind  an  elaborate  theory  of  the  heavens, 
and  listened  eagerly  for  the  news  from  the  stars  brought  by 
Galileo’s  telescope,  he  appears  to  have  been  utterly  ignorant  of 
the  discoveries  which  had  just  been  made  by  Kepler’s  calcula¬ 
tions.1  Though  he  complained  in  1623  of  the  want  of  compen¬ 
dious  methods  for  facilitating  arithmetical  computations,  espe¬ 
cially  with  regard  to  the  doctrine  of  Series,  and  fully  recognised 
the  importance  of  them  as  an  aid  to  physical  enquiries ;  he  does 
not  say  a  word  about  Napier’s  Logarithms,  which  had  been 
published  only  nine  years  before  and  reprinted  more  than  once 
in  the  interval.2  He  complained  that  no  considerable  advance 
had  been  made  in  Geometry  beyond  Euclid,  without  taking  any 
notice  of  ivhat  had  been  done  by  Archimedes  and  Apollonius.3 
He  saw  the  importance  of  determining  accurately  the  specific 
gravities  of  different  substances,  and  himself  attempted  to  form 
a  table  of  them  by  a  rude  process  of  his  own,  without  knowing 
of  the  more  scientific  though  still  imperfect  methods  previously 
employed  by  Archimedes,  Ghetaldus,  and  Porta.4  He  speaks 
of  the  evprj/ca  of  Archimedes  in  a  manner  which  implies  that  he 
did  not  clearly  apprehend  either  the  nature  of  the  problem  to 
be  solved  or  the  principles  upon  which  the  solution  depended.5 
In  reviewing  the  progress  of  Mechanics,  he  makes  no  mention 
either  of  Archimedes  himself,  or  of  Stevinus,  Galileo,  Guldinus, 
or  Ghetaldus.6  He  makes  no  allusion  to  the  theory  of  Equi¬ 
librium.7  lie  observes  that  a  ball  of  one  pound  weight  will 
fall  nearly  as  fast  through  the  air  as  a  ball  of  two,  without 
alluding  to  the  theory  of  the  acceleration  of  falling  bodies, 
which  had  been  made  known  by  Galileo  more  than  thirty  years 
before.8  He  proposes  an  inquiry  with  regard  to  the  lever, — 
namely,  whether  in  a  balance  with  arms  of  different  length  but 

1  See  Mr.  Ellis’s  Preface  to  the  Descriptio  Globi  Intellectualis. 

2  See  Vol.  I.  p.  577.  note  2. 

’  Id.  ibid,  note  1. 

4  See  Preface  to  the  Historia  Densi  et  Rari,  Vol.  II.  p.  233. 

5  Id.  ibid.  6  See  Vol.  I.  p.  572.  note  1. 

7  Id.  p.  578.  note  1.  8  Id.  p.  625.  note  2. 


512 


PREFACE  TO  THE 


equal  weight  the  distance  from  the  fulcrum  has  any  effect  upon 
the  inclination — though  the  theory  of  the  lever  was  as  well 
understood  in  his  own  time  as  it  is  now.1  In  making  an  ex¬ 
periment  of  his  own  to  ascertain  the  cause  of  the  motion  of  a 
windmill,  he  overlooks  an  obvious  circumstance  which  makes 
the  experiment  inconclusive,  and  an  equally  obvious  variation 
of  the  same  experiment  which  would  have  shown  him  that  his 
theory  was  false.2  He  speaks  of  the  poles  of  the  earth  as  fixed, 
in  a  manner  which  seems  to  imply  that  he  was  not  acquainted 
with  the  precession  of  the  equinoxes 3 ;  and  in  another  place 
of  the  north  pole  being  above,  and  the  south  pole  below,  as  a 
reason  why  in  our  hemisphere  the  north  winds  predominate 
over  the  south.4 

This  list,  for  which  I  am  entirely  indebted  to  Mr.  Ellis’s  pre¬ 
faces  and  notes,  might  probably  be  increased ;  but  the  instances 
enumerated  are  sufficient  to  shew  not  only  that  Bacon  was  ill 
read  in  the  history  of  these  branches  of  learning,  (and  yet  it 
was  in  this  direction  that  science  was  making  the  most  real 
and  rapid  advances,)  but  also  that  upon  such  subjects  his  ideas 
were  not  clear ;  this  latter  defect  being  no  doubt  the  cause  of 
the  other;  for  where  he  could  not  readily  follow  the  steps  of 
the  investigation,  he  could  hardly  appreciate  the  value  of  the 
result. 

In  the  fact  itself  there  would  be  nothing  to  create  surprise. 
That  of  two  faculties  so  opposite  in  their  nature  as  to  suggest 
a  main  division  of  human  intellects  according  to  their  several 
predominance 5,  the  same  mind  should  be  largely  endowed  with 
one  and  scantily  with  the  other,  is  an  accident  far  less  singular 
than  the  perfect  developement  in  the  same  mind  of  both  to¬ 
gether.  The  only  wonder  is  (since  a  good  understanding  is 
generally  aware  of  its  own  defects)  that  if  Bacon’s  was  really 
weak  in  this  department,  he  did  not  find  the  weakness  out  be¬ 
fore  he  was  five-and-forty.  A  sufficient  explanation  of  this  may 
however  be  found,  I  think,  partly  in  the  excessive  activity  of 
his  discursive  faculty,  which  coming  to  the  rescue  in  every 
perplexity  with  a  throng  of  ingenious  suggestions,  seduced  his 
attention  from  the  exact  point  at  issue  and  flattered  him  that 

1  Vol.  I.  p.  638.  note  2.  2  See  Preface  to  Historia  Ventorum,  Vol.  II.  p.  6. 

*  Vol.  L  p.  343.  note  3.  4  Vol.  II.  p.  28.  note  1. 

6  Maximum  et  velut  radicale  discrimen  ingeniorum,  quoad  philosophiam  et  scientias, 
illud  est:  quod  alia  ingenia  sint  fortiora  et  aptiora  ad  notandas  rerura  difierentias ; 
alia  ad  notandas  rerura  similitudines.  —  Nov.  Org.  i.  55. 


DE  INTERPRET ATIONE  NATURE  PROCEMIUM.  513 


the  time  was  come  for  a  permissio  intellectus ; — partly  in  the 
great  pains  which  he  took  to  lay  his  subject  out  in  titles,  ar¬ 
ticles,  sections,  divisions,  and  subdivisions,  all  named  and  num¬ 
bered;  the  effect  of  which  would  be  to  give  his  investigations  an 
appearance,  though  a  superficial  and  delusive  one,  of  exact  and 
delicate  discrimination ; — and  partly  in  the  magnanimous  hope¬ 
fulness  of  his  nature,  which  inclined  him  to  trust  too  much  to 
the  labor  omnia  vincit  and  the  possunt  quia  posse  videntur.  As  he 
would  not  believe  that  nature  contained  labyrinths  impenetrable 
by  the  mind,  so  he  would  not  believe  that  the  mind  contained 
obstructions  insuperable  by  patient  industry.  And  believing  on 
the  other  hand  as  he  certainly  did,  that  the  divine  blessing  was 
upon  his  enterprise,  he  accepted  all  delays  and  disappointments 
as  nothing  more  than 

the  protractive  trials  of  great  Jove 
To  find  persistive  constancy  in  men. 

But  however  this  may  be,  I  see  no  way  of  escaping  the  conclu¬ 
sion  that  his  intellect  was  in  this  particular  faculty  originally 
defective ;  and  that,  whether  he  knew  of  the  defect  or  not,  he 
did  not  succeed  in  overcoming  it. 

Nor  am  I  aware  that  the  supposition  involves  any  further 
difficulty.  It  does  not  require  us  to  question  any  of  his  other 
intellectual  attributes.  For  it  is  certain  that  as  an  eye  which 
has  lost  the  power  of  reading  small  print  may  yet  be  perfect  in 
its  judgment  of  form,  colour,  distance,  and  proportion ;  so  a 
mind  which  cannot  take  distinct  impressions  of  subtle  and 
minute  differences  of  ideas,  or  cannot  retain  such  impressions 
long  enough  or  easily  enough  for  the  purpose  of  exact  com¬ 
parison,  may  nevertheless  be  perfect  in  its  power  of  dealing  with 
all  ideas  which  it  can  distinguish  and  compare.  And  I  suppose 
that  if  Bacon  could  have  put  on  a  pair  of  intellectual  specta¬ 
cles,  analogous  in  their  effect  on  the  understanding  to  that  of 
clearers  on  an  eye  which  is  growing  dim  with  age,  he  would 
have  seen  in  an  instant  the  true  import  and  value  of  the  rea¬ 
sonings  of  Archimedes,  Copernicus,  Galileo,  Ghetaldo,  and 
Kepler,  and  would  have  become  aware  in  the  same  instant  that 
he  had  never  before  really  understood  them.  The  lens  through 
which  he  had  been  looking  had  not  been  adjusted  to  the  object, 
and  had  transmitted  a  confused  image  to  the  mental  retina. 

The  existence  of  this  defect  being  once  admitted  and  allowed 
for,  the  rest  of  the  wonder  disappears  at  once.  Grant  this,  and 


514 


PREFACE  TO  THE 


the  question  which  I  began  by  proposing  is  readily  answered. 
Bacon  failed  to  devise  a  practicable  method  for  the  discovery  of 
the  Forms  of  Nature,  because  he  misconceived  the  conditions  of 
the  case ;  he  expected  to  find  the  phenomena  of  nature  more 
easily  separable  and  distinguishable  than  they  really  are;  a 
misconception  into  which  a  discursive  intellect,  an  enterprising 
spirit,  and  a  hopeful  nature,  would  most  naturally  fall.  He 
failed  to  discover  his  error,  because  in  all  the  cases  in  which  he 
tried  to  carry  his  method  out,  the  further  he  advanced  towards 
his  object  the  more  he  needed  the  very  faculty  in  which  he  was 
most  wanting,  and  was  baffled  by  the  difficulties  which  pre¬ 
sented  themselves  before  he  had  met  with  any  which  were  in 
their  nature  insuperable.  For  the  same  reason  he  failed  even 
to  make  any  single  discovery  which  holds  its  place  as  one  of 
the  steps  by  which  science  has  in  any  direction  really  advanced. 
The  clue  with  which  he  entered  the  labyrinth  did  not  reach 
far  enough  :  before  he  had  nearly  attained  the  end,  he  was 
obliged  either  to  come  back  or  to  go  on  without  it.  He  began 
with  an  attempt  to  investigate  the  nature  of  Motion  in  general : 
the  result  remains  in  a  long  list  of  titles  and  divisions,  exhibit¬ 
ing  merely  the  plan  upon  which  he  proposed  to  conduct  the 
enquiry 1 ;  and  this  plan  he  appears  afterwards  to  have  aban¬ 
doned  ;  for  the  doctrine  of  motion  was  ultimately  remitted  to  a 
subordinate  place  in  the  Novum  Organum  among  the  Preroga¬ 
tives  of  Instances.  He  then  tried  the  nature  of  Sound :  the  result 
remains  in  the  Sglva  Sylvarum ,  in  a  large  collection  of  curious 
observations  and  experiments ;  rough  materials  for  an  induc¬ 
tion  which  he  does  not  seem  to  have  carried  further.  Finally 
he  selected  the  nature  of  Heat  as  the  subject  to  try  his  method 
upon,  and  commenced  a  systematic  enquiry  which  was  to  be 
offered  as  a  specimen  of  it :  the  result  of  this  we  have  seen  in 
the  Novum  Organum ;  and  though  he  proceeded  in  it  but  a 
little  way,  it  appears  that  he  was  already  beginning  to  lose 
himself  among  the  subtler  phenomena  which  presented  them¬ 
selves  ;  for  it  is  the  opinion  of  the  best  judges  that  he  has  there 
confounded  things  essentially  different,  and  rested  in  conclu¬ 
sions  not  legitimately  deducible  from  the  facts  from  which  they 
profess  to  be  deduced.2  And  so  no  doubt  it  would  have  been 
in  any  other  subject  of  investigation  which  he  might  have  taken 

1  See  Inquisitio  Legitima  de  Motu  ;  further  on  in  this  volume. 

2  See  Mr.  Ellis’s  note  on  the  Vindemiatio  prirna  (Yol.  I.  p.  266.);  and  compare 
\\  hewell,  Phil,  of  lad .  Sci.  book  n.  ch.  11. 


DE  INTERPRET ATIONE  NATUR/E  PROtEMIUM.  515 


in  hand.  He  would  soon  have  arrived  at  a  point  where  the 
phenomena  of  nature  could  not  be  separated  accurately  enough 
for  the  purposes  of  the  enquiry  without  instruments  more  deli¬ 
cate  and  exact,  or  modes  of  calculation  more  subtle  and  com¬ 
plicated,  than  any  which  he  could  have  devised  or  used. 

Nor  is  this  the  only  difficulty  of  which  we  thus  obtain  a 
more  natural  explanation  than  has  hitherto  I  think  been  sug¬ 
gested.  For  the  same  defect  would  interfere  with  his  meta¬ 
physical  speculations  ;  and  may  serve  therefore  to  account  for 
the  misappreciation  of  Aristotle  with  which  he  is  now  com- 
Tnonly  ' charged,  apparently  upon  good  authority.  It  would  in¬ 
terfere  with  his  success  as  a  lawyer ;  the  law  having  then 
(very  unfortunately,  in  my  opinion)  fallen  entirely  into  the 
hands  of  men  whose  strength  was  in  subtlety  of  distinction, 
and  not  in  that  broad  common  sense  which  ought  (one  would 
think)  to  be  the  ruling  principle  in  an  institution  with  which 
all  classes  are  alike  concerned ;  and  thus  it  serves  to  account 
for  his  failure  to  obtain  that  authority  in  his  profession  to 
which  he  certainly  thought  himself  entitled.  It  would  inter¬ 
fere  with  his  speculations  in  a  science  like  political  economy, 
and  so  accounts  for  his  being  so  little  before  his  age  in  his  views 
with  regard  to  usury,  trade,  & c.  It  supplies  also  a  natural 
explanation  of  another  singular  fact ;  namely,  the  little  com¬ 
munication  which  he  seems  to  have  had  with  the  scientific  men 
of  his  own  time,  and  the  solitude  in  which  (as  he  himself  com¬ 
plained)  he  was  compelled  to  prosecute  his  enterprise.  For 
we  know  of  no  man  of  any  scientific  eminence,  who  was  either 
a  fellow-labourer  or  a  disciple.  But  the  truth  is  that  such 
a  defect  (though  the  perfection  of  his  intellect  in  those  depart¬ 
ments  where  we  can  all  more  or  less  judge  of  it,  coupled  with 
his  reputation  for  genius  in  regions  into  which  few  are  compe¬ 
tent  to  follow  him,  has  prevented  posterity  from  suspecting  it) 
could  hardly  have  escaped  the  notice  of  competent  judges  in 
his  own  time  who  knew  him.  And  accordingly  we  find  that 
William  Harvey,  “  though  he  esteemed  him  much  for  his  wit 
and  style,  would  not  allow  him  to  be  a  great  philosopher. 
‘  He  writes  philosophy  ’  (said  Harvey  to  Aubrey)  ‘  like  a  Lord 
Chancellor’  —  speaking  in  derision.”1  And  it  is  easy  to  imagine 
that  if  Newton  (for  instance)  had  been  a  young  man  in  Bacon’s 
later  years,  they  would  not  have  been  able  to  work  together, 

1  Aubrey’s  Lives,  ii,  281, 


34  Bacon  III 


516 


PREFACE  TO  THE 


but  would  probably  have  kept  by  mutual  consent  respectfully 
aloof  from  each  other.  And  this  enables  us  to  account  for  that 
silence  with  regard  to  his  contemporaries  for  which  he  has  been 
so  severely  censured  by  Coleridge  and  others,  better  than  by 
supposing  that  he  was  either  jealous  of  their  rivalry  or  illibe¬ 
rally  incredulous  as  to  their  merit.  It  was  merely  that  he  did 
not  like  to  pronounce  judgment  where  he  did  not  feel  that  he 
understood  the  case ;  and  if  he  did  not  take  more  pains  to 
understand  the  case,  it  was  only  because  it  lay  in  a  region  in 
which  he  could  not  himself  find  conclusions  which  he  felt  that 
he  could  safely  depend  upon.  He  could  follow  Gilbert  in  his 
enquiries  concerning  the  loadstone  ;  and  he  was  not  silent 
about  him,  but  refers  to  him  frequently,  with  praise  both  of 
his  industry  and  his  method;  censuring  him  only  for  endea¬ 
vouring  to  build  a  universal  philosophy  upon  so  narrow  a  basis. 
So  again  with  regard  to  Galileo.  The  direct  revelations  of 
the  telescope  were  palpable,  and  he  was  not  silent  about  them; 
but  hailed  the  invention  as  a  memorabilis  conatus,  —  a  thing 
dignurn  humano  genere :  there  was  no  doubt  that  it  brought 
within  the  range  of  vision  things  invisible  before.  But  when 
it  came  to  the  inferences  deducible  from  the  phenomena  thus 
revealed,  he  could  no  longer  speak  with  confidence.  It  was 
then  “  hinc  demonstrari  videtur,”  and  “  quatenus  fides  hujus- 
modi  demonstrationihus  tuto  adhiberi  possit :  ”  the  language 
of  a  man  who  did  not  feel  certain  in  his  own  mind  whether  the 
demonstration  was  conclusive  or  not,  —  which  is  the  natural 
condition  of  a  man  who  does  not  thoroughly  understand  it. 

I  need  hardly  add  that  the  admission  of  this  defect  in  Bacon 
does  not  in  any  way  diminish  either  the  value  of  his  real  ser¬ 
vices  to  philosophy,  —  of  the  general  principles  which  he  laid 
down,  and  those  large  and  just  views  as  to  the  nature  of  science 
and  of  man’s  mind  which  came  out  of  the  real  depths  of  his 
own  genius,  —  or  the  respect  due  to  himself.  The  truths  which 
he  told  must  stand  for  ever,  because  they  are  truths ;  and  until 
some  one  else  shall  embody  them  in  language  juster,  nobler, 
more  impressive,  and  more  comprehensive  than  his,  his  name 
will  stand  as  the  author  of  them.  And  for  the  rest,  a  more 
correct  appreciation  of  the  difficulties  with  which  he  had  to 
struggle,  instead  of  diminishing  our  sense  of  what  we  owe 
him,  ought  only  to  increase  our  admiration  of  the  high  instinct 
which  suggested  the  end,  the  courageous  hope  with  which  he 


DE  INTERPRET ATIONE  NATURE  PROOEMIUM.  517 


entered  upon  the  pursuit  of  it,  and  the  undaunted  resolution 
with  which  (however  unsuccessfully)  he  followed  it  up. 

Another  thing  in  the  paper  before  us,  not  to  be  found  else¬ 
where  in  Bacon’s  writings,  is  the  prophecy  of  civil  wars  ;  which 
he  anticipates  propter  mores  quosdam  non  ita  pridem  introduces : 
a  prediction  well  worthy  of  remark,  especially  as  being  uttered 
bo  early  as  the  beginning  of  James  the  First’s  reign. 


J.  s. 


518 


DE 

INTERPRETATIONS  NATURE 

PROCEMIUM. 


Ego  cum  me  ad  utilitates  humanas  natum  existimarem,  et 
curam  reipublicae  inter  ea  esse  quae  publici  sunt  juris  et  velut 
u'ndam  aut  auram  omnibus  patere  interpretarer ;  et  quid  homi- 
nibus  maxime  conducere  posset  quaesivi,  et  ad  quid  ipse  a  natura 
optime  factus  essem  deliberavi.  Inveni  autem  nil  tanti  esse 
erga  genus  humanum  meriti,  quam  novarum  rerum  et  artium, 
quibus  hominum  vita  excolatur,  inventionem  et  auctoramen- 
tum.  Nam  et  priscis  temporibus,  apud  homines  rudes,  ru- 
dium  rerum  inventores  et  monstratores  consecratos  fuisse,  et 
in  deorum  numerum  optatos,  animadverti ;  et  acta  heroum,  qui 
vel  urbes  condiderunt,  vel  legumlatores  extiterunt,  vel  justa 
imperia  exercuerunt,  vel  injustas  dominationes  debellarunt, 
locorum  et  temporum  angustiis  circumscripta  esse  notavi:  rerum 
autem  inventionem,  licet  minoris  pompae  sit  res,  ad  universali- 
tatis  et  aeternitatis  rationem  magis  accommodatam  esse  censui. 
Ante  omnia  vero,  si  quis  non  particulare  aliquod  inventum,  licet 
magnae  utilitatis,  eruat,  sed  in  natura  lumen  accendat,  quod  ortu 
ipso  oras  rerum  quae  res  jam  inventas  contingunt  illustret, 
dein  paulo  post  elevatum  abstrusissima  quaeque  patefaciat  et 
in  conspectum  det,  is  mihi  humani  in  universum  imperii  pro¬ 
pagator,  libertatis  vindex,  necessitatum  expugnator  visus 
est.  Me  ipsum  autem  ad  veritatis  contemplationes,  quam 
ad  alia,  magis  fabrefactum  deprehendi ;  ut  qui  mentem  et  ad 
rerum  similitudinem  (quod  maximum  est)  agnoscendam  satis 
mobilem,  et  ad  differentiarum  subtilitates  observandas  satis 
fixam  et  intentam  haberem ;  qui  et  quaerendi  desiderium,  et 
dubitandi  patientiam,  et  meditandi  voluptatem,  et  asserendi 
cunctationem,  et  resipiscendi  facilitatem,  et  disponendi  sollici- 
tudinem  tenerem  ;  quique  nec  novitatem  affectarem,  nec  anti- 


DE  INTERPRET ATIONE  NATURE  PRCKEMIUM. 


519 


quitatem  admirarer,  et  oranem  imposturam  odissem.  Quare 
naturam  meam  cum  veritate  quandam  familiaritatem  ct  cogna- 
tionem  habere  judicavi.  Attamen  cum  genere  et  educatioue 
rebus  civilibus  imbutus  essem,  et  opinionibus  aliquando,  utpote 
adolescens,  labefactarer,  et  patriae  me  aliquid  peculiare,  quod 
non  ad  omnes  alias  partes  ex  aequo  pertineat,  debere  putarem, 
speraremque  me,  si  gradum  aliquem  honestum  in  republica  ob- 
tinerem,  majore  ingenii  et  industriae  subsidio  quae  destinaverara 
perfecturum;  et  artes  civiles  didici,  et  qua  debui  modestia 
amicis  meis,  qui  aliquid  possent,  salva  ingenuitate  me  commen- 
davi.  Accessit  et  illud,  quod  ista,  qualiacunque  sint,  non  ultra 
hujusce  mortalis  vitae  conditionem  et  culturam  penetrant ;  subiit 
vero  spes  me  natum  religionis  statu  baud  admodum  prospero, 
posse,  si  civilia  munia  obirem,  et  aliquid  ad  animarum  salutem 
boni  procurare.  Sed  cum  studium  meum  ambitioni  deputa- 
retur,  et  aetas  jam  consisteret,  ac  valetudo  affecta  et  malae  tar- 
ditatis  meae  me  admoneret,  et  subinde  reputarem  me  officio  meo 
nullo  modo  satisfacere,  cum  ea  per  quae  ipse  hominibus  per  me 
prodesse  possem  omitterem,  et  ad  ea  quae  ex  alieno  arbitrio 
penderent  me  applicarem ;  ab  illis  cogitationibus  me  prorsus 
alienavi,  et  in  hoc  opus  ex  priore  decreto  me  totum  recepi. 
Nec  mihi  animum  minuit,  quod  ejus  quae  nunc  in  usu  est 
doctrinae  et  eruditionis,  declinationem  quandam  et  ruinam  in 
temporum  statu  prospicio.  Tametsi  enim  barbarorum  incur- 
siones  non  metuam  (nisi  forte  imperium  Hispanum  se  corrobo- 
raverit,  et  alios  armis,  se  onere,  oppresserit  et  debilitarit),  tamen 
ex  bellis  civilibus  (quae  mibi  videntur  propter  mores  quosdam 
non  ita  pridem  introductos  multas  regiones  peragratura),  et 
ex  sectarum  malignitate,  et  ex  compendiariis  istis  artificiis  et 
cautelis  quae  in  eruditionis  locum  surrepserunt,  non  minor  in 
literas  et  scientias  procella  videbatur  impendere.  Nec  typo- 
graphorum  officina  his  malis  sufficere  queat.  Atque  ista  qui- 
dem  imbellis  doctrina,  quae  otio  alitur,  praemio  et  laude  efflo- 
rescit,  quae  vebementiam  opinionis  non  sustinet,  et  artificiis  et 
imposturis  eluditur,  iis  quae  dixi  impedimentis  obruitur.  Longe 
alia  ratio  est  scientiae,  cujus  dignitas  utilitatibus  et  operibus 
munitur.  Ac  de  temporum  injuriis  fere  securus  sum,  de  homi- 
num  vero  injuriis  non  laboro.  Si  quis  enim  me  nimis  altum 
sapere  dicat,  respondeo  simpliciter,  in  civilibus  rebus  esse  mo 
destiae  locum,  in  contemplationibus  veritati.  Si  quis  vero  opera 
statim  exigat,  aio  sine  omni  impostura,  me  bominem  non  sencm 


520 


DE  INTERPRETATIONE  NATURE  PRCEOMIUM. 


valetudinarium,  civilibus  studiis  implicatum,  rem  omnium  ob- 
scurissimam  sine  duce  ac  luce  aggressum,  satis  profecisse  si 
machinam  ipsam  ac.  fabricam  exstruxerim,  licet  earn  non  exer- 
cuerim  aut  moverim.  Ac  eodem  candore  profiteor,  interpre- 
tationem  naturae  legicimam,  in  primo  adscensu  antequam  ad 
gradum  certum  generalium  perventum  sit,  ab  omni  applicatione 
ad  opera  puram  ac  sejunctam  servari  debere’.  Quin  et  eos 
omnes  qui  experientiae  se  undis  aliqua  ex  parte  dediderunt, 
cum  animo  parum  firmi  aut  ostentationis  cupidi  essent,  in  in- 
troitu  operum  pignora  intempestive  investigasse,  et  inde  ex- 
turbatos  et  naufragos  fuisse  scio.  Si  quis  autem  pollicitationes 
saltern  particulars  requirat,  is  noverit  homines  per  earn  quae 
nunc  in  usu  est  scientiam  ne  satis  doctos  ad  optandum  quidem 
esse.  Quod  autem  minoris  momenti  res  est,  si  quis  ex  politicis 
judicium  suum  in  istiusmodi  re  inserere  praesumat,  quibus 
moris  est  ex  personae  calculis  singula  aestimare  vel  ex  similis 
conatus  exemplis  conjecturam  facere,  illi  dictum  volo  et  illud 
vetus,  claudum  in  via  cursorem  extra  viam  antevertere,  et 
de  exemplis  non  cogitandum,  rem  enim  sine  exemplo  esse. 
Publicandi  autem  ista  ratio  ea  est,  ut  quae  ad  ingeniorum  corre- 
spondentias  captandas  et  mentium  areas  purgandas  pertinent, 
edantur  in  vulgus  et  per  ora  volitent ;  reliqua  per  manus  tra- 
dantur  cum  electione  et  judicio.  Nec  me  latet  usitatum  et 
tritum  esse  impostorum  artificium,  ut  quaedam  a  vulgo  secemant, 
nihilo  iis  ineptiis  quas  vulgo  propinant  meliora.  Sed  ego  sine 
omni  impostura  ex  providentia  sana  prospicio,  ipsam  interpre¬ 
tation^  formulam  et  inventa  per  eandem,  intra  legitima  et 
optata  ingenia  clausa,  vegetiora  et  munitiora  futura.  Ipse  vero 
alieno  periculo  ista  molior.  Mihi  enim  nil  eorum  quae  ab  ex¬ 
tends  pendent  cordi  est.  Neque  enim  famae  auceps  sum,  nec 
haeresiarcharum  more  sectam  condere  gratum  habeo,  et  privatum 
aliquod  emolumentum  ex  tanta  molitione  captare  ridiculum  et 
turpe  duco.  Mihi  sufficit  meriti  conscientia,  et  ipsa  ilia  rerum 
effectio,  cui  ne  fortuna  ipsa  intercedere  possit. 


TEMPORIS  PARTUS  MASCULUS. 


523 


PREFACE 

TO  THE 

TEMPORIS  PARTUS  MASCULUS. 


At  the  end  of  the  manuscript  of  the  Valerius  Terminus,  and 
immediately  following  it  in  the  same  page,  in  the  hand  of  the 
same  transcriber,  I  find  the  title  and  the  first  chapter  of  the 
piece  which  follows;  and  in  the  list  of  contents  inserted  by 
Bacon  himself  at  the  beginning  of  the  manuscript,  I  find  them 
thus  described :  “  The  first  chapter  of  a  book  of  the  same 
argument,  written  in  Latin,  and  destined  to  be  separate  and 
not  public.”  The  design  and  commencement  of  the  work  may 
therefore,  in  default  of  other  evidence,  be  safely  referred  to 
the  time  when  Bacon  revised  the  manuscript  of  Valerius  Ter¬ 
minus. 

Again,  in  Gruter’s  Scripta  Philosophica  I  find  this  same  first 
chapter  inserted,  though  not  in  connexion  with  the  general 
title,  among  the  Impetus  Philosophici,  and  followed  by  another 
which  is  headed  simply  Caput  secundum,  without  any  other  de¬ 
scription  ;  whence  I  conclude  that  the  two  were  found  by 
Gruter  together,  as  if  forming  one  piece.  If  so,  the  general 
title,  which  certainly  belongs  to  the  first,  may  be  safely  ex¬ 
tended  to  both :  and  accordingly  they  are  printed  here  as  the 
first  and  second  chapters  of  the  Temporis  Partus  Masculus. 

But  in  another  part  of  Gruter’s  book,  —  i.  e.  on  the  back  of 
the  titlepage  and  placed  there  by  itself  as  a  kind  of  frontis¬ 
piece  to  the  volume,  —  I  find  a  short  Latin  prayer,  with  the 
words  “Temporis  Partus  Masculus,  sive  Instauratio  Magna 
imperii  humani  in  Universum ,”  printed  at  the  head  of  it.  And  as 
this  title  cannot  be  applied  with  any  propriety  to  the  general 
contents  of  the  volume,  I  conclude  that  the  prayer  in  question 
was  found  by  Gruter  so  headed,  on  a  separate  sheet ;  and  that 
he  placed  it  there  by  itself,  not  knowing  what  particular  piece 


524 


PREFACE  TO  THE 


to  connect  it  with.  The  manuscript  of  Valerius  Terminus 
removes  the  difficulty.  Knowing  as  we  do  the  proper  title  of 
the  two  chapters  above  mentioned,  we  need  not  hesitate  to  con¬ 
nect  the  prayer  with  them,  and  to  place  it  in  front  of  them ; 
where,  though  very  likely  written  later,  it  was  probably  in¬ 
tended  to  stand. 

So  far  I  follow  the  example  of  M.  Bouillet.  But  with 
regard  to  two  other  fragments  —  namely  the  Aphorismi  et 
Consilia,  and  the  De  Interpretations  Naturae  Sententice  XII.  — 
which  he  has  included  under  the  same  title,  I  find  no  sufficient 
authority  for  his  proceeding.  If  indeed  the  typographical 
arrangement  of  Gruter’s  volume  could  be  trusted  as  a  true  in¬ 
dication  of  the  arrangement  of  the  manuscripts  from  which  he 
printed  it,  we  should  be  obliged  to  consider  the  Sententice  XII. 
as  immediately  connected  with  the  chapter  headed  Tradendi 
Modus  Legitimus,  and  introductory  to  it.  But  his  book  is  put 
together  with  so  little  care  or  skill  in  that  respect,  and  shows 
so  little  editorial  capacity  of  any  kind,  that  I  do  not  think  any 
such  inference  can  be  safely  drawn.  And  I  see  no  apparent 
connexion  between  the  two  writings  except  such  as  necessarily 
arises  from  their  relation  to  a  common  subject,  and  from  their 
being  both  addressed  to  a  disciple,  or  son. 

With  regard  to  the  date  of  composition,  it  will  be  observed 
that  my  reasons  for  connecting  the  Temporis  Partus  Masculus 
with  the  Valerius  Terminus  and  placing  it  next  in  order  to  the 
Advancement  of  Learning,  apply  only  to  the  first  chapter  and 
the  general  design  as  indicated  in  the  title.  The  second  chapter 
may,  for  anything  that  appears,  have  been  added  at  a  much 
later  period.  And  I  am  myself  much  inclined  to  suspect  that 
it  was  not  written  before  the  summer  of  1608. 

Its  object  is  to  explode  the  various  philosophical  systems  or 
theories  which  had  been  previously  propounded;  being  the 
first  and  principal  part  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Idols  of  the 
Theatre,  —  a  part  which,  though  not  directly  noticed  in  the 
Advancement  of  Learning,  assumed  soon  after  so  prominent  a 
place  in  Bacon’s  scheme  that  he  resolved  to  place  it  in  the 
very  front  of  his  battle.  “  Itaque  primus  imponitur  labor  (he 
says  in  the  Partis  Secundce  Delineatio )  ut  omnis  ista  militia 
theoriarum,  quae  tantas  dedit  pugnas,  mittatur  ac  relegetur.” 
This  primus  labor  is  what  he  here  begins  with.  He  goes  over 
the  same  ground  in  another  paper  entitled  Redargutio  Philoso - 


TEMP0R1S  PARTUS  MASCULUS. 


525 


phiarum,  and  again  in  the  Novum  Organum.  And  upon  a 
comparison  of  the  three,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  this  is 
the  earliest.  But  besides  its  being  more  crude,  there  is  a 
specific  peculiarity  in  the  style  and  manner  of  this  piece  which 
requires  explanation.  All  Bacon’s  other  writings  are  marked 
with  the  gentleness  and  modesty  which  are  said  to  have  dis¬ 
tinguished  his  demeanour  and  conversation,  and  which  were  no 
doubt  natural  to  him.  In  those  which  deal  with  the  errors  of 
received  opinions  in  philosophy,  he  is  profuse  even  to  ostenta¬ 
tion  in  professions  of  respect  and  deference  for  the  authors  of 
them,  and  in  disclaiming  for  himself  all  pretensions  to  rivalry  in 
abilities  or  authority.  Here  for  once  he  assumes  a  tone  quite 
different ;  entering  abruptly  into  the  subject  in  a  spirit  of  con¬ 
temptuous  invective,  not  to  call  it  presumptuous  and  insolent, 
of  which  in  all  his  writings,  public  or  private,  I  remember  no 
other  example.  How  is  this  to  be  accounted  for  ?  I  cannot 
help  thinking  that  it  was  one  of  those  experiments  which  I  have 
spoken  of  in  my  general  preface  to  the  third  part  of  the  Philo¬ 
sophical  works,  —  experiments  in  the  art  of  commanding  au¬ 
diences  and  winning  disciples,  —  and  that  the  key  to  the  true 
explanation  of  it  may  be  found  in  a  memorandum  set  down  by 
himself  in  July  1608.  To  assist  his  memory,  and  perhaps  also 
to  excite  his  thoughts,  he  was  in  the  habit  of  jotting  down  in 
commonplace  books  such  reflexions  and  suggestions  as  occurred 
to  him  on  the  sudden.  These  he  would  review  from  time  to 
time,  and  enter  in  a  fresh  book  such  of  them  as  he  thought  worth 
preserving.  At  the  end  of  July  1608,  the  business  of  term 
being  over  and  a  considerable  accession  to  his  income  having 
just  fallen  in,  he  seems  to  have  spent  three  or  four  days  in  this 
occupation,  —  reviewing  all  his  affairs  in  turn  and  endeavouring 
to  set  the  clock  of  his  life  anew ;  and  the  record  of  his  medita¬ 
tions  has  fortunately  been  preserved.  This  is  the  book  to  which 
I  have  already  so  often  referred  by  the  name  of  Commentarius 
Solutus,  and  which  will  be  printed  in  its  place  among  the  Occa¬ 
sional  Works.  The  notes  which  it  contains,  and  which  are 
evidently  set  down  solely  for  his  own  private  memory  and  in¬ 
struction,  refer  to  a  great  variety  of  subjects;  among  which  the 
progress  of  his  philosophy  has  a  prominent  place.  Of  these  a 
large  proportion  are  in  the  nature  of  queries  and  points  for 
consideration ;  as  for  instance,  what  parts  of  the  work  to  pro¬ 
ceed  with  next,  and  how  ;  what  persons  to  seek  acquaintance 


526  PREFACE  TO  THE  TEMPORIS  PARTUS  MASCULUS. 


with  for  assistance  and  co-operation  ;  what  points  to  press  and 
what  opinions  to  nourish  and  work  upon,  and  the  like  ;  all  set 
down  promiscuously  as  they  occurred.  Among  the  rest  I  find 
the  following :  “  Discoursing  scornfully  of  the  philosophy  of  the 
Grecians,  with  some  better  respect  to  the  ^Egyptians,  Persians, 
Caldees,  and  the  utmost  antiquity,  and  the  mysteries  of  the 
poets ;  ”  and  again,  a  little  further  on,  “  Taking  a  greater  con¬ 
fidence  and  authority  in  discourses  of  this  nature,  tanquam  sui 
certus  et  de  alto  despiciens.” 

Now  putting  these  two  memoranda  together,  we  see  the 
germ  of  an  idea  which  might  easily  and  naturally  lead  to  the 
composition,  as  an  experiment,  of  the  second  chapter  of  the 
Temp  oris  Partus  Masculus.  Finding  that  the  simple  proposi¬ 
tion  of  his  views  was  not  winning  converts,  he  had  a  mind  to 
try  what  effect  might  be  produced  by  putting  them  forward  in 
a  tone  of  confidence  and  superiority,  and  so  threw  his  argument 
into  the  form  in  which  we  have  it  here.  The  idea  was  not 
absurd :  for  it  is  not  less  true  in  speculative  than  in  practical 
matters  that  the  short  way  to  obtain  authority  among  men  is  to 
assume  it  boldly ;  and  the  text  “  If  a  man  come  in  his  own 
name  him  ye  will  receive,”  though  applied  by  Bacon  to  the 
Aristotelian  philosophy  as  contrasted  with  his  own,  has  in  fact 
been  verified  not  less  remarkably  in  himself.  This  first  ex¬ 
periment  however  he  seems  to  have  regarded  as  a  failure  ;  for 
he  soon  after  recast  the  argument  in  another  form,  leaving  out 
all  that  was  scornful  and  offensive  towards  others,  and  retain¬ 
ing  only  that  tone  of  lofty  confidence  in  the  worth  of  his  own 
speculations  which  grew  naturally  out  of  his  profound  con¬ 
viction  of  their  truth. 

I  have  thought  this  conjecture  of  mine  worth  recording, 
because  if  this  be  the  true  history  of  the  composition  it  gives  it 
a  new  and  peculiar  interest,  and  should  be  taken  along  with  us 
as  we  read.  It  has  however  another  interest  besides,  as  con¬ 
taining  many  opinions  which  Bacon  has  not  expressed  else¬ 
where  ;  and  though  the  manner  of  announcing  them  is  affected, 
the  opinions  are  no  doubt  his  own,  —  whatever  be  the  value  of 
them. 

The  notes  to  this  work  are  all  Mr.  Ellis’s. 


J.S. 


527 


TEMPORIS  PARTUS  MASCULUS 

SIVE 

IN STATTR ATIO  MAGNA  IMPERII  HUMANI  IN 
UNIVERSUM. 


Ad  Deum  Patrem,  Deum  Verbum,  Deum  Spiritum,  preces 
fundimus  humillimas  et  ardentissimas,  ut  humani  generis 
serumnarum  memores  et  peregrinationis  istius  vitae  nostra;  in 
qua  dies  malos  et  paucos  terimus,  nova  adhuc  refrigeria  e  fonti- 
bus  bonitatis  suae  ad  miserias  nostras  leniendas  aperiant ;  atque 
illud  insuper,  ne  humana  divinis  officiant,  neve  ex  reseratione 
viarum  Sensus  et  accensione  majore  luminis  Naturalis  aliquid 
incredulitatis  et  noctis  animis  nostris  erga  divina  mysteria 
oboriatur ;  sed  potius  ut  ab  Intellectu  a  phantasiis  et  vanitate 
puro  et  repurgato,  et  divinis  oraculis  nihilominus  subdito  et 
prorsus  dedititio,  Fidei  dentur  qua;  Fidei  sunt. 


528 


TEMPORIS  PARTUS  MASCULU^, 

SIYE  DE  INTERPRETATIONS  NATURE  LIB.  3.> 


1.  Perpolitio  et  applicatio  mentis. 

2.  Lumen  Naturae  ;  seu  formula  Interpretationis. 

3.  Natura  Illuminata ;  sive  veritas  rerum. 

CAPUT  PRIMUM. 

Tradendi  modus  legitimus. 

Reperio  (fili)  complures  in  rerum  scientia  quam  sibi  videntur 
adepti  vel  proferenda  vel  rursus  occultanda,  neutiquam  e  fide 
sua  ac  officio  se  gerere.  Eodem  damno,  licet  culpa  fortasse 
minore,  peccant  et  illi,  qui  probe  quidem  morati  sed  minus 
prudentes  sunt,  nec  artem  ac  praecepta  tenent  quo  quaeque 
modo  sint  proponenda.  Neque  tamen  de  hac  tradentium  scientias 
sive  malignitate  sive  inscitia  querela  est  instituenda.  Sane  si 
rerum  pondera  docendi  imperitia  fregissent,  non  immerito  quis 
indignetur;  rerum  vero  ineptiis  docendi  importunitatem  vel 
jure  deberi  existimandum  est.  Ego  autem  longe  ab  his  di- 
versus  te a  impertiturus,  non  ingenii  commenta,  nec  verborum 
umbras,  nec  religionem  admistam,  nec  observationes  quasdam 
populares,  vel  experimenta  quaedam  nobilia  in  theoriae  fabulas 
concinnata ;  sed  revera  naturam  cum  fetibus  suis  tibi  addicturus 
et  mancipaturus ;  num  videor  dignum  argumentum  prae  manibus 
habere,  quod  tractandi  vel  ambitione  vel  inscitia  vel  vitio  quovis 
polluam?  Ita  sim  (fili)  itaque  humani  in  universum  imperii 
angustias  nunquam  satis  deploratas  ad  datos  fines  proferam 
(quod  milii  ex  humanis  solum  in  votis  est),  ut  tibi  optima  fide, 
atque  ex  altissima  mentis  meas  providentia,  et  exploratissimo 
rerum  et  animorum  statu,  haec  traditurus  sim3  modo  omnium 

1  e.  libri  tres.  —  J.  S. 

2  te  ought  to  be  tibi.  Bacon  perhaps  thought  that  impertio,  being  here  used  as  a 

verb  of  teaching,  might  govern  an  accusative  of  the  person.  But  there  seems  to  tie 
no  authority  for  this  construction.  [I  suspect  te  to  be  merely  a  miscopy  for  et. _ J.  S  ] 

3  So  in  the  original  ;  a  mistake  probably  for  sum.  —  J.  S. 


TEMPORIS  PARTUS  MASCULUS. 


529 


max'ime  legltimo.  Quis  tandem  (inquies)  est  modus  ille  legi- 
timus?  Quin  tu  mitte  artes  et  ambages,  rem  exhibe  nudam 
nobis,  ut  judicio  nostro  uti  possimus.  Atque  utinam  (fili  sua- 
vissime)  eo  loco  sint  res  vestrae,  ut  hoc  fieri  posset.  An  tu 
censes,  cum  omnes  omnium  mentium  aditus  ac  meatus  obscuris- 
simis  idolis,  iisque  alte  haerentibus  et  inustis,  obsessi  et  obstructi 
sint,  veris  rerum  et  nativis  radiis  sinceras  et  politas  areas  ad- 
esse  ?  Nova  est  ineunda  ratio,  qua  mentibus  obductissimis  illabi 
possimus.  Ut  enim  phreneticorum  deliramenta  arte  et  ingenio 
subvertuntur,  vi  et  contentione  efferantur,  omnino  ita  in  hac 
universali  insania  mos  gerendus  est.  Quid?  leviores  illae  con- 
ditiones,  quas  ad  legitimum  scientiae  tradendae  modum  pertinent, 
an  tibi  tam  expeditae  et  faciles  videntur  ?  ut  modus  innocens  sit, 
di  est,  nulli  prorsus  errori  ansam  et  occasionem  praebeat?  ut 
vim  quandam  insitam  et  innatam  habeat  turn  ad  fidem  conci- 
liandam,  turn  ad  pellendas  injurias  temporis,  adeo  ut  scientia 
ita  tradita  veluti  planta  vivax  et  vegeta  quotidie  serpat  et  ado- 
lescat  ?  ut  idoneum  et  legitimum  sibi  lectorem  seponat,  et  quasi 
adoptet  ?  Atque  baec  omnia  praestiterim  necne,  ad  tempus  futu- 
rum  provoco. 


CAPUT  SECUNDUM. 

Plane  autem  non  dissimulo  (fib)  mihi  quopiam  submovendos 
esse  philosophastros  istos  poetis  ipsis  fabulosiores,  stupratores 
animorum,  rerum  falsarios,  et  multo  etiam  magis  horum  satel¬ 
lites  et  parasitos,  professoriam  illam  et  meritoriam  turbam.  Quis 
carmen  praeit,  ut  hos  1  oblivioni  devoveam  ?  quod  enim  veritati 
silentium,  si  isti  brutis  suis  et  inarticulatis  rationibus  obstre- 
pant?  Yerum  tutius  forsitan  fuerit  nominatim  eos  damnare,  ne, 
cum  tanta  autboritate  vigeant,  non  nominati  excepti  videantur ; 
neve  quis  putet  cum  inter  ipsos  tam  gravia  et  internecina  exer- 
ceantur  odia  et  tanta  dimicatione  certetur,  me  ad  has  larvarum 
et  umbrarum  pugnas  alteri  parti  velut  subsidio  missum.  Itaque 
citetur  Aristoteles,  pessimus  sophista,  inutili  subtilitate  atto- 
nitus,  verborum  vile  ludibrium.2  Ausus  etiam,  turn  cum  forte 

1  [ hoc  in  original.]  The  meaning  of  the  phrase  is,  “  Who  will  repeat  before  me  the 
form  of  words  whereby  I  may  devote  these  persons  to  oblivion  ?  ”  hoc  being  manifestly 
a  wrong  reading  for  hos.  Compare  Liv.  viii.  9. :  Agedum  pontifex  publicus  populi  R. 
prcei  verba  quibus  me  pro  legionibus  devoveam. 

8  Compare  what  Bacon  has  himself  said  in  the  Redargutio  Philosophiarum :  “  Ita- 


530 


TEMPORIS  PARTUS  MASCULUS. 


mens  humana  ad  veritatem  aliquant  casu  quopiam  tanquam  se- 
cunda  tempestate  delata  acquiesceret,  injicere  durissimas  animis 
compedes,  artemque  quandam  insanias  componere,  nosque  verbis 
addicere.  Quin  et  ex  istius  sinu  educti  nobis  sunt  ac  enutriti 
vaferrimi  illi  nugatores,  qui  cum  a  perambulatione  mundana  ac 
omni  rerum  ac  historic  luce  se  avertissent,  ex  hujus  maxime 
praeceptorum  et  positionum  ductili  admodum  materia,  et  ingenii 
inquieta  agitatione,  numerosissimas  scholarum  quisquilias  nobis 
exhibuere.  Iste  autem  horum  Dictator  tanto  illis  accusatior, 
quod  etiam  in  historioe  apertis  versatus,  subterranese  alicujus 
specus  opacissima  idola  retulit ;  atque  super  ipsam  quidem  hi- 
storiam  rerum  particularium  quasdam  veluti  operas  aranearum 
extruxit,  quas  causas  videri  vult,  cum  sint  nullius  prorsus  ro- 
boris  vel  pretii.  Quales  etiam  nostra  aetate  multa  cum  sata- 
gentia  fabricavit  Hieronymus  Cardanus,  uterque  rebus  ac  sibi 
discors.  Ne  vero  (fili)  cum  hanc  contra  Aristotelem  sententiam 
fero,  me  cum  rebelle  ejus  quodam  neoterico  Petro  Ramo  con- 
spirasse  augurere.  Nullum  mihi  commercium  cum  hoc  igno- 
rantise  latibulo  *,  perniciosissima  literarum  tinea,  compendiorum 
patre,  qui  cum  methodi  suee  et  compendii  vinclis  res  torqueat 
et  premat,  res  quidem,  si  qua  fuit,  elabitur  protinus  et  exilit; 
ipse  vero  aridas  et  desertissimas  nugas  stringit.  Atque  Aquinas 
quidem  cum  Scoto  et  sociis  etiam  in  non  rebus  rerum  varieta- 
tem  effinxit,  hie  vero  etiam  in  rebus  non  rerum  solitudinem 
aquavit.  Atque  hoc  hominis  cum  sit,  humanos  tamen  usus  in 
ore  habet  impudens,  ut  mihi  etiam  pro  sophistis  pravaricari 
videatur.  Verum  hos  missos  faciamus.  Citetur  jam  et  Plato, 
cavillator  urbanus,  tumidus  poeta,  theologus  mente  captus.  Tu 
certe  dum  rumores  nescio  quos  philosophicos  limares  et  simul 
committeres,  ac  scientiam  dissimulando  simulares,  animosque 
vagis  inductionibus  tentares  et  exsolveres,  vel  literatorum  vel 
civilium  virorum  conviviis  sermones,  vel  etiam  sermonibus 
quotidianis  gratiam  et  amorem  subministrare  potuisti.  Verum 
cum  veritatem  humana  mentis  incolam  veluti  indigenam  nec 
aliunde  commigrantem  mentireris,  animosque  nostros,  ad  histo- 

que  hos  duos  viros,  Platonem  et  Aristotelem,  si  quis  inter  maxima  mortalium  iugenia 
non  numerat,  aut  minus  perspicit  aut  minus  aequus  est.”  “  There  never  breathed,” 
says  Selden  in  speaking  of  Aristotle,  “  that  person  to  whom  mankind  was  more  be¬ 
holden.”  (  Table  Talk,  §  Truth) :  a  statement  which  is  certainly  much  nearer  the  truth 
than  that  of  the  text. 

1  From  Ramus  however  Bacon  derived  some  part  of  his  philosophical  terminology  ; 
particularly  his  use  of  the  word  axioma  as  equivalent  to  enuntiatum.  It.  is  to  be  ob . 
served  that  he  has  mentioned  Ramus’s  system,  at  least  a  portion  of  it,  with  commen¬ 
dation  both  in  Valerius  Terminus  and  in  the  De  Augmentis, 


TEMPORIS  PARTUS  MASCULUS. 


531 


mm  et  res  ipsas  nunquam  satis  applicatos  et  reductos,  aver- 
teres,  ac  se  subingredi,  ac  in  suis  csecis  et  confusissimis  idolis 
volutare  contemplationis  nomine  doceres,  turn  demum  fraudem 
capitalem  admisisti.  Deinde  etiam  tu  scelere  baud  minore  stul- 
tit.iae  apotbeosin  introduxisti,  et  vilissimas  cogitationes  religione 
munire  ausus  es.  Nam  levius  malum  est,  quod  philologorum 
parens  extitisti,  ac  tuo  ductu  et  auspiciis  plurimi,  ingenii  fama 
et  cognitionis  rerum  populari  et  molli  jucunditate  capti  et  con- 
tenti,  severiorem  veri  pervestigationem  corruperunt.  Inter  quos 
fuere  Marcus  Cicero  et  Anmeus  Seneca  et  Plutarchus  Chasro- 
neus,  et  complures  alii  neutiquam  his  pares.  Nunc  ad  Medicos 
pergamus.  Video  Galenum,  virum  angustissimi  animi,  deser- 
torem  experientiae,  et  vanissimum  causatorem.  Tune,  Galene, 
is  es,  qui  medicorum  inscitiam  et  desidiam  etiam  infami®  ex- 
imis,  et  in  tuto  collocas,  artis  ac  officii  eorum  finitor  ignavis- 
simus?  qui  tot  morbos  insanabiles  statuendo,  tot  segrotorum 
capita  proscribis,  borumque  spem,  illorum  industriam  praecidis  ? 
O  canicula !  Opestis!  Tu  mistionis  commentum  nature  pr®- 
rogativam 1 ;  tu  inter  calores  astri  et  ignis  seditionem  avide  arri  • 
piens  et  ostentans,  ubique  humanam  potestatem  malitiose  in 
ordinem  redigis,  et  ignorantiam  desperatione  in  aster num  munire 
cupis.  Do  indignitati  tu®  ne  t.e  amplius  morer.  Abducas  etiam 
tecum  licet  socios  tuos  et  foederatos  Arabes,  dispensatoriorum 
conditores,  qui,  pari  cum  c®teris  in  theoriis  amentia,  copiosius 
quidem  e  supinissimis  conjecturis  medicinarum  vulgarium  pol- 
licita  magis  quam  auxilia  composuere.  Nec  non  cape  comites 
perfunctoriam  Neotericorum  turbam.  Ileus  nomenclator,  sug- 
gere.  Atqui  respondet,  ne  dignos  esse  quorum  nomina  teneat. 
Sane  ut  inter  hujuscemodi  nugatores  gradus  quosdam  agnosco, 
pessimum  et  absurdissimum  genus  eorum,  qui  methodo  et  acri- 
bologia  universam  artem  comprehendunt,  quibus  vulgo  ob  elo- 
cutionem  et  ordinem  applauditur ;  qualis  est  Fernelius.  Minus 


the  first  person  who  in 


oned,  well  seen  in  mathematical  ana  naiuiai  science,  «iu 
who  in  modern  times  attempted  to  determine  the  magnitude  of  the 


35  Bacon  III 


532 


TEMPORIS  PARTUS  MASCULUS. 


incommodi  sunt,  qui  majorem  observationum  et  experimen- 
torum  varietatem  et  proprietatem  ostendunt,  licet  stultissimis 
causationibus  dilutam  et  iinmersam,  ut  Arnoldus  de  Villa  Nova, 
et  alii  id  genus.1  Intueor  ab  altera  parte  coliortem  Chymista- 
rum,  inter  quos  se  ante  alios  jactat  Paracelsus,  qui  audacia 
meruit  ut  separatim  coerceatur.  Atque  superiores  illi,  quos 
modo  perstrinximus,  mendacia ;  tu  monstra.  Quae  tu  novis  Bac- 
chi  oracula  in  meteoricis  fundis,  aemule  Epicuri  ? 2  Ille  tamen 
in  hac  parte  tamquam  indormiscens  et  aliud  agens  opiniones 
veluti  sorti  committit.  Tu  omni  sorte  stultior  in  absurdissimi 
cujusque  mendacii  verba  jurare  paratus  es.  Verum  alia  tua 
videamus.  Quas  tu  fructuum  elementorum  tuorum  inter  se 
imitationes?  quas  correspondentias?  quae  parallela  somnias,  ido- 
lorum  conjugator  fanatice  ?  Nam  hominem  scilicet  pantomimum 
effecisti.3  Quam  pr®clar®  autem  sunt  interpunctiones  iliac 
quibus  naturae  unitatem  lacerasti,  species  nimirum  tuae  ?  Quare 
facilius  Galenum  fero  elementa  sua  ponderantem,  quam  te 
somnia  tua  ornantem.  Ilium  enim  occult®  rerum  proprietates, 
te  communes  et  promiscu®  qualitates  exagitant.4  Nos  interim 
miseros,  qui  inter  tarn  odiosas  ineptias  degimus !  Principiorum 
autem  triadem 8,  commentum  baud  ita  prorsus  inutile  et  rebus 


earth.  He  seems  to  have  been  singularly  diligent  in  his  calling  and  in  his  studies  ;  and 
it  is  said  that  when  he  was  advised  to  give  himself  more  time  for  repose,  he  would 
make  answer  in  the  words  of  Ovid,  “  Longa  quiescendi  tempora  fata  dabunt.” 

1  Arnaldus  de  Villa  Nova  lived  towards  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century.  He  was 
an  alchemist,  and  was  accused  of  being  a  magician.  It  is  said  that  he  professed  me¬ 
dicine  at  Montpellier ;  and  probably  be  took  his  name  from  Villeneuve,  which  is  not 
far  from  it.  Brantome  (De  la  Vue,  &c.)  makes  Raymond  Lully  his  disciple.  Villa 
Nova’s  best  known  work  is  the  commentary  on  the  Regimen  Sanitatis  Scholee  Sa- 
lemitance  Sir  Alexander  Croke  has  given  some  specimens  of  it  in  his  edition  of  the 
Regimen.  It  is  in  some  places  sufficiently  fanciful.  The  line 

Dnica  nux  prodest,  nocet  altera,  tertia  mors  est. 
of  which  the  real  meaning  seems  plain,  is  made  to  imply  that  the  nutmeg  or  nux 
moschata  is  medicinal,  the  walnut  unwholesome,  and  the  nut  or  catch  of  the  cross¬ 
bow  deadly.  In  the  phrase  “  alii  id  genus”  it  is  probable  that  a  reference  is  intended 
to  Roger  Bacon. 

3  This  very  obscure  sentence  appears  to  be  corrupt.  Tt  is  probable  that  novis  ought 
to  be  novi  or  novioris.  But  it  is  difficult  with  any  probable  alteration  to  obtain  an 
intelligible  meaning.  [For  novis  read  nobis  ? — J.  S'.] 

3  Paracelsus’s  doctrine  of  the  microcosm  is  here  alluded  to.  It  recurs  throughout 
his  writings,  but  is  stated  more  definitely  than  usual  in  the  first  book  of  his  Phl- 
losophia  Sagax,  ii.  p.  532.  of  his  philosophical  writings.  See  the  same  work,  p.  553. 
for  a  statement  of  the  fruits  educed  from  each  of  the  four  elements  by  the  generating 
power  of  the  sun. 

4  The  meaning  is  that  Galen  seeking  to  explain  the  qualities  of  bodies  by  means  of 
the  qualities  of  the  elements  of  which  the  bodies  are  composed,  lost  sight  of  or  neglected 
all  which  cannot  be  thus  explained ;  whereas  Paracelsus,  by  referring  them  to  the 
specific  and  peculiar  nature  of  the  body,  made  it  impossible  to  arrive  at  any  general 
conclusion  respecting  them,  since  the  qualities  of  each  body  were  to  him  ultimate  facts. 

4  Namely  salt,  sulphur,  and  mercury. 


TEMPORIS  PARTUS  MASCULUS. 


533 


aliqua  ex  parte  finitimum,  quam  importune  inculcat  homo  im- 
posturae  peritissimus  ?  Audi  adhuc  crimina  graviora.  Tu  divina 
naturalibus,  sacris  profana,  fabulis  haereses  miscendo,  veritatem 
(sacrilege  impostor)  turn  humanam  turn  religiosam  polluisti. 
Tu  lumen  naturae  (cujus  sanctissimum  nomen  toties  impuro 
ore  usurpas)  non  abscond  isti,  ut  Sophistae,  sed  exstinxisti. 
Illi  experientiae  desertores,  tu  proditor.  Tu  evidentiam  re¬ 
rum  crudam  et  personatam  contemplationi  ex  praescripto 
subjiciens,  et  substantiarum  Proteos  pro  motuum  calculis 
quaerens,  scientiae  fontes  corrumpere  et  humanam  mentem 
exuere  conatus  es ;  et  ambages  et  taedia  experimentorum,  qui- 
bus  Sophistae  adversi,  Empirici  impares  sunt,  novis  et  adsci- 
titiis  auxisti ;  tantum  abest  ut  experientiae  repraesentativam 
secutus  sis,  aut  noveris.  Nec  non  Magorum  hiatus  ubique  pro 
viribus  amplificasti,  importunissimas  cogitationes  spe,  spem 
promissis  premens,  imposturae  turn  artifex  turn  opus.  Invideo 
tibi  (Paracelse)  e  sectatoribus  tuis  unum  Petrum  Severinum  ', 
virum  non  dignum  qui  istis  ineptiis  immoriatur.  Tu  certe, 
Paracelse,  ei  plurimum  debes,  quod  ea  quae  tu  (asinorum  ad¬ 
optive)  rudere  consueveras,  cantu  quodam  et  modulatione,  et 
gratissimo  vocuro  discrimine,  jucunda  et  harmonica  effecit,  et 
mendaciorum  odia  in  fabellae  oblectamenta  traduxit.  Tibi  vero, 
Severine,  veniam  do,  si  Sophistarum  doctrinam,  non  solum 
operum  effoetam,  verum  desperationem  ex  professo  captantem 
pertaesus,  alia  rebus  nostris  labentibus  firmamenta  quaesivisti. 
Cumque  Paracelsica  ista  se  obtulissent  et  ostentationum  prae- 
coniis  et  obscuritatis  subterfugiis  et  religionis  affinitatibus  et 
alio  fuco  commendata,  te  in  hos1 2 3,  non  rerum  fontes  sed  spei 
hiatus,  jactu  quodam  indignationis  dedisti.  Rite  et  ordine 
feceris,  si  ab  ingenii  placitis  ad  naturae  scita  te  transtuleris, 
tibi  non  modo  artem  brevem  sed  et  vitam  longam  porrectura. 
Jam  caeteros  Chymistas  sententia  in  Paracelsum  lata  defixos 
cerno  obstupescere.  Agnoscunt  profecto  decreta  sua,  qua  iste 
magis  promulgavit  quam  posuit,  ac  arrogantia  pro  cautelis 
(haud  plane  ex  antiqua  disciplina)  communivit :  ubi  sane  magna 
mentiendi  reciprocatione  inter  se  conciliati  largas  ubique  spes 

1  Peter  Severinus  was  born  in  1542  at  Ripen  in  Denmark,  and  died  in  1602.  Neither 
Haller  nor  Sprengel  speak  of  him  as  favourably  as  Bacon  ;  nor  does  he  seem  to  have 
had  any  great  share  of  reputation ;  at  least  he  is  not  mentioned  in  the  common 

biographical  dictionaries.  His  only  known  work  is  the  Idea  Medicine  Philosophic <*, 
to  which  Bacon  here  refers.  He  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  M.  A.  Seveiinus. 

3  hoc  in  original. — J.  S. 


534 


TEMPORIS  PARTUS  MASCULUS. 


ostentant,  et  per  experientiae  quidem  devia  vagi,  in  quasdam 
utilia,  casu  non  ductu,  quandoque  impinguntur.  In  theoriis 
vero  iisdem1  ab  arte  sua  (utpote  fornacis  discipuli)  non  recesse- 
runt.  Yerum  ut  delicatus  ille  adolescentulus,  cum  scalmum 
in  littore  reperisset,  navem  aedificare  concupivit;  ita  carbo- 
narii  isti  ex  pauculis  distillationum  experimentis  pbilosophiam 
condere  aggressi  sunt,  ubique  istis  separationum  et  liberationum 
absentissimis2  idolis  obnoxiam.  Nec  hos  tamen  uno  ordine 
omnes  habeo.  Siquidem  utile  genus  eorum  est,  qui  de  theoriis 
non  admodum  solliciti,  mechanica  quadam  subtilitate  rerum 
inventarum  extensiones  prehendunt ;  qualis  est  Bacon.3  Sce- 
leratum  et  sacrum  eorum,  qui  undique  theoriis  suis  plausus 
conquirunt,  ambientibus  etiam  et  pro  iis  supplicantibus  reli- 
gione,  spe,  et  impostura.  Talis  est  Isaac  Hollandus 4,  et  turbse 
Chymistarum  pars  longe  maxima.  Age  citetur  jam  Hippo¬ 
crates,  antiquitatis  creatura  et  annorum  venditor.  In  cujus 
viri  authoritatem  cum  Galenus  et  Paracelsus  magno  uterque 
studio,  velut  in  umbram  asini,  se  recipere  contendat,  quis  non 
cachinnum  tollat  ?  Atque  iste  homo  certe  in  experientia 
obtutu  perpetuo  haerere  videtur,  verum  oculis  non  natan- 
tibus  et  anquirentibus,  sed  stupidis  et  resolutis.  Deinde  a 
stupore  visu  parum  recollecto,  idola  quaedam,  non  immania 
quidem  ilia  theoriarum,  sed  elegantiora  ista  quae  superficiem 
historiae  circumstant,  excipit ;  quibus  haustis  tumens  et  semiso- 
phista,  et  brevitate  (de  illius  aetatis  more)  tectus,  oracula  demum 
(ut  his  placet)  pandit,  quorum  ii  se  interpretes  haberi  am- 
biunt ;  cum  revera  nihil  aliud  agat,  quam  aut  sophistica  quae- 

1  So  in  original,  qu.  iidem  ?  —  J.  S.  2  So  in  original _ J.  S. 

3  Roger  Bacon,  whom  his  namesake  has  here  so  faintly  praised,  was  beyond  all 
doubt  one  of  the  greatest  men  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived.  He  was  born  in  1214 
at  Hchester,  and  died  in  1292  or  1294.  One  of  the  most  remarkable  circumstances 
connected  with  him  is  the  influence  which  a  passage  in  the  Op v  s  Majus  exercised  on 
Columbus,  who  perhaps  had  never  heard  of  him.  Peter  de  Alliaco,  whose  Imago 
Mundi  was  compiled  in  1410,  transcribed  almost  literally,  but  without  acknowledgment, 
from  Roger  Bacon  a  passage  (containing  quotations  in  favour  of  the  possibility  of 
reaching  India  by  sailing  westward,  from  Aristotle,  Pliny,  and  Seneca)  which  seems  to 
have  made  a  profound  impression  on  Columbus ;  who,  as  Humboldt  remarks,  was 
familiar  with  the  Imago  Mundi.  Compare  the  three  passages  ;  viz.  the  passage  in  the 

Opus  Majus,  that  in  the  Imago  Mundi,  and  that  contained  in  the  letter  which  Co¬ 
lumbus  wrote  to  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  from  Haiti,  given  by  Humboldt,  vol.  i.  p.  60. 
of  his  Examen  Critique  de  V Histoire  de  la  Geographic. 

4  Very  little  is  known  of  Isaac  Hollandus.  He  is  said  by  Suertius  ( Athence  Bel- 
gicte)  to  have  been  a  native  of  the  Netherlands,  and  to  have  published  in  1582  a  work 
entitled  “  Abdita  qutedam  de  Opere  Animali  et  Vegetabili.”  But  Sprengel  speaks  of 
Isaac  Hollandus  as  one  of  the  precursors  of  Paracelsus.  There  is  also  a  John  Isaac, 
said  to  be  a  son  of  Isaac’s.  See  Sprengel  Hist.  Medic,  iii.  270.  I  have  not  seen  Adami, 
to  whom  Sprengel  refers. 


TEMPORIS  PARTUS  MASCULUS. 


535 


dam  per  abruptas  et  suspensas  sententias  tradens  redargutioni 
subducat,  aut  rusticorum  observations  supercilio  donet.  At- 
que  ad  hujus  quidem  viri  instituta,  non  tam  improba  quam 
inutilia,  proxime  (ut  etiam  vulgo  creditur)  accedit  Cornelius 
Celsus ;  sed  intentior  sophista,  et  historic  modificatae  magis 
obstrictus,  idem  moralem  moderationem  scientiae  progressibus 
aspergens,  et  errorum  extrema  amputans,  non  prima  evellens. 
Atque  de  istis  verissima  quidem  haec  sunt.  Nunc  autem  scis- 
citantem  te  audio  (fili)  an  non  forte  deteriora,  ut  fit,  voluere ; 
praesertim  cum  status  sciential  sit  semper  fere  democraticus  ? 
An  non  tempus  veluti  flumen  levia  et  inflata  ad  nos  devexit, 
solida  et  gravia  demersit  ?  Quid  veteres  illi  veritatis  inqui- 
sitores  Heraclitus,  Democritus,  Pythagoras,  Anaxagoras,  Em¬ 
pedocles,  et  alii,  alienis  non  propriis  scriptis  noti?  Quid 
denique  de  silentio  et  secretis  antiquitatis  statuis  ?  Ego  (fili) 
ut  tibi  (ex  more  meo,  id  est  usu  tuo)  respondeam,  antiquitatis 
fragmentum  unum  aut  alterum  (inventorum  dico  non  librorum) 
agnosco :  idque  ipsum  tamen  magis  ut  diligentite  et  ingenuitatis 
specimen,  quam  scientiae  authoris.  De  iis  vero  rebus,  quae  cum 
vestigiis  suis  aufugere,  si  innuerem  laboriosa  esse  ista  con- 
jecturarum  aucupia,  nee  consentaneum  me  utilitates  in  poste- 
rum  humano  generi  parantem  ad  antiquitatis  philologiam  retro- 
gredi,  sat  scio  pro  modestia  tua  acquiesceres.  Yeruntamen  ut 
perspicere  possis  quam  res  praesentes  bifrontes  vates  sint,  quam- 
que  et  futuras  et  praeteritas  coram  sistant,  decrevi  utriusque 
temporis  tabulis  (quae  non  tantum  scientiae  decursus  et  fluxus, 
sed  et  alios  rerum  provisus  complectantur)  tibi  gratificari. 
Neque  tu  hoc  quale  sit  (antequam  videas)  augurere;  non  enim 
cadit  in  te  vera  hujusce  rei  anticipatio;  nec  si  minus  ad  manus 
tuas  veniat,  requiras.  Gratificor  enim  (inquam)  quibusdam  ves- 
trum  hac  in  re  (fili)  et  delicatioribus  spiritus  concilio.  Omnino 
scientia  ex  naturae  lumine  petenda,  non  ex  antiquitatis  obscuri- 
tate  repetenda  est.  Nec  refert  quid  factum  fuerit;  illud  viden- 
dum,  quid  fieri  possit.  An  tu,  si  regnum  tibi  armis  et  victori 
bello  subjugatum  traderetur,  quaestiones  necteres  utrum  ma- 
jores  tui  illud  tenuerint  necne,  et  genealogiarum  rumores  soli- 
citares  ?  Atque  haec  de  antiquitatis  penetralibus  dieta  sunt. 
De  istis  vero  sectarum  ducibus,  quos  nominasti,  et  compluri- 
bus  aliis  id  genus,  facilis  sententia  est.  Errori  varietas,  veri- 
tati  unitas  competit.  Ac  nisi  temporum  politiae  et  provisus 
ejusmodi  ingeniorum  peregrinationibus  adversiores  extitissent, 


536 


TEMPORIS  PARTUS  MASCULUS. 


multse  etiam  alise  errorum  orae  fuissent  peragratae.  Immen- 
eum  enim  pelagus  veritatis  insulam  circumluit ;  et  supersunt 
adhuc  novae  ventorum  idolorum  injuriae  et  disjectiones.  Quin- 
etiam  nudiustertius  Bernardinus  Telesius  scenam  conscendit, 
et  fabulam  novam  egit,  nec  plausu  celebrem,  nec  argumento 
elegantem.  An  non  vides(fili)  turn  eccentricorum  et  epicyclorum 
ingeniatores,  turn  terras  aurigaa,  aequa  et  ancipiti  pbaenomenorum 
advocatione  gaudere?  Prorsua  ita  et  in  univeraalibu8  theoriia  fit. 
Nam  ve’uti  ai  quia  lingua  tantum  vernacula  uti  aciena  (adverte, 
fili,  nam  aimile  e8t  admodum)  scripturam  ignoti  8ermonia  capiat, 
ubi  paucula  quaedam  verba  aparaim  obaervans  auae  linguae  vocabu- 
lia  aono  et  literia  finitima,  ilia  quidem  atatim  ac  fidenter  ejusdem 
eaae  aignificationia  ponit  (licet  ab  ea  saepius  longisaime  rece- 
dant),  poatea  ex  iia  invicem  collatia  reliquum  orationia  aenaum 
multo  ingenii  labore,  aed  et  multa  libertate,  divinat ;  omnino 
talea  et  isti  naturae  interpretea  inveniuntur.  Nam  idola  quisque 
aua  (non  jam  acenae  dico,  aed  praecipue  fori  et  specua  '),  veluti 
linguaa  vernaculaa  diversaa,  ad  hiatoriam  atferentes,  confeatim 
quae  aimile  aliquid  eonant  arripiunt;  caetera  ex  horum  symme- 
tria  interpretantur.  Atque  jam  tempua  eat  (fili)  ut  noa  re- 
cipiamua  et  expiemua,  utpote  qui  tarn  profana  et  polluta  (licet 
importandi 2  animo)  attrectaverimua.  Ego  vero  adveraua  istoa 
omnea  minora  quam  pro  ipaorum  sontiaaimo  reatu  dixi.  Tu 
tamen  fortaaae  minua  iatam  redargutionem  intelligi8.  Nam  pro 
certo  habeas  (fili)  aententiaa  iataa  quas  adveraua  istoa  tuli,  nihil 
minua  esae  quam  contumeliam.  Ego  enim  non  ut  Velleius 
apud  Ciceronem,  declamator  et  philologus  opiniones  curaim 
perstringens,  et  magia  abjiciens  quam  frangena ;  vel  ut  Agrippa, 
neotericua  homo,  in  iatiuamodi  aermone  ne  nominandua  quidem, 
aed  trivialie  ecurra,  et  singula  diatorquena  et  lusui  propinana  (me 
miaerum,  qui  hominum  defectu  cum  brutis  me  conferre  necesse 
habeam  !)s;  ita  me  gessi.  Veruin  aub  maledicti  velo  miras  ac- 


1  Only  three  species  of  idols  are  here  noticed  —  that  of  the  tribe  being  omitted.  In 
the  Advancement  of  Learning  three  kinds  of  idols  are  mentioned,  but  not  by  name.  It 
seems  however  as  if  the  third  kind  includes  two  of  the  species  mentioned  in  the 
Novum  Organum ;  namely  the  idols  of  the  forum,  and  those  of  the  theatre.  In  Va¬ 
lerius  Terminus  four  kinds  of  idols  are  mentioned  :  those  here  and  subsequently  called 
idols  of  the  forum  being  there  called  idols  of  the  palace. 

‘  improbandi  ? 

’  Of  Cornelius  Agrippa,  thus  contemptuously  condemned,  Jocher’s  judgement  is 
“  Er  war  ein  aufrichtlger,  unerschrockener  und  grossmiithiger  Mann.  Seine  Natur- 
gaben  waren  gam  besonder,  und  seine  Erfahrenheit  in  alien  Wissenschaften  un- 
gemein.”  He  was  born  at  Cologne  in  1486,  and  died  in  1535.  His  best  known  work 
is  the  treatise  De  Incertudine  et  Vanitute  Scientiarum  from  which  Bacon  has  apparently 
borrowed,  though  not  largely,  in  the  Advancement  of  Learning. 


TEMPORIS  PARTUS  MASCULUS. 


537 


cusationum  animas,  et  singulari  artificio  in  singula  fere  verba 
contractas  et  reductas,  et  exquisitissima  oculi  acie  in  ipsa 
criminum  ulcera  directas  et  vibratas,  postmodum  respiciens 
videbis.  Atque  cum  isti  criminibus  et  reatu  valde  inter  se 
mixti  et  implicati  forent,  tamen  singulos  indiciis  maxime  pro- 
priis,  iisdem  autem  capitalibus,  reos  feci.  Mens  enim  humana 
(fili)  rerum  incursibus  et  observationibus  turgida  varias  ad- 
modum  errorum  species  molitur  et  educit  Aristoteles  vero 
velut  unius  est  speciei  planta  procerior,  sic  et  Plato,  et  alii 
deinceps.  At  confutationes  particulares  requiris.  Nse  illud 
peccatum  fuerit  largiter  in  humani  generis  fortunam  auream, 
pignus  imperii,  si  ego  ad  umbrarum  fugacissimarum  insecu- 
tionem  deflecterem.  Unum  (fili)  in  medio  ponendum  est  veri- 
tatis  lumen  clarum  et  radiosum,  quod  omnia  collustret,  et 
errores  universos  momento  dispellat.  Non  infirmi  quidam  et 
pallidi  lychni  ad  singulos  errorum  et  mendaciorum  angulos 
et  sinus  circumferendi  sunt.  Quare  quod  petebas  detestare 
(fili),  nam  profanum  est  valde.  Subinde  vero  interrogantem  te 
audio :  num  quae  isti  universi  asseruerunt,  omnia  prorsus  vana 
et  falsa  fuere  ?  Atqui  (fili)  infelicitatem  jam  narras,  eamque 
prodigiosam  non  ignorantiam.  Nemo  enim  non  quandoque  in 
aliquod  verum  impingitur.  Heraclitum,  cum  scientiam  ab 
hominibus  in  mundis  privatis,  non  in  mundo  communi,  quse- 
sitam  diceret,  bene  in  philosophise  introitu  litasse  video.1  De- 
mocritum,  cum  naturae  immensam  varietatem  et  infinitam 
successionem  tribuens,  se  e  regione  sisteret  caeterorum  fere 
philosophorum,  seculantatibus  deditissimorum,  et  mancipiorum 
consuetudinis,  et  hac  oppositione  utrumque  mendacium  in  se 
collidendo  perderet,  et  veritati  inter  extrema  viam  quandam 
aperiret,  non  infeliciter  philosophatum  esse  reputo.  Pythagoras 
numeros  etiam  boni  ominis  loco  pono.  Dindamum  Indum 
quod  morem  Antiphysin  dixerit,  laudo.2  Quin  et  Epicurum 
adversus  causarum  (ut  loquuntur)  per  intentiones  et  fines  ex- 
plicationem  disputantem,  licet  pueriliter  et  philologe,  tamen 
non  invitus  audio.  Etiam  Pyrrhonem  et  Academicos  vacil- 
lantes,  et  e  lintre  loquentes,  et  erga  idola  se  gerentes  veluti 
amatores  quosdam  morosos  (qui  amasios  suos  semper  probris 
afficiunt,  nunquam  deserunt),  animi  et  hilaritatis  gratia  adhibeo. 
Nec  immerito ;  caeteros  enim  idola  prorsum  agunt,  hos  vero  in 


1  Vol.  I.  p.  831.  note  4. 


1  Vol.  I.  p.  460.  note  2 


538 


TEMPORIS  PARTUS  MASCULUS. 


orbem ;  quod  jocosius  est.  Denique  Paracelsum  et  Severinum 
cum  tantis  clamoribus  homines  ad  experientias  suggestum 
convocant,  prascones  mihi  exopto.1  Quid  igitur  ?  Num  veritatis 
compotes  isti  ?  Nihilo  minus.  Et  rusticorum  (fili)  proverbia 
nonnulla  apposite  ad  veritatem  dicuntur.  Sus  rostro  si  forte 
humi  A  literam  impresserit,  num  propterea  suspicabere  in- 
tegram  tragcediam,  veluti  literam  unam,  ab  ea  posse  describi  ? 
Longe  alia  est  ratio  (fili)  veritatis  qua;  est  ex  scientite  analogia, 
alia  quae  ex  idoli  sectione  enuntiatur.2  Ilia  constans  et  quota 
gemma,  haec  discors  et  solitaria.  Quod  etiam  in  operibus  fit. 
Pulvis  tormentorum  si  ductu,  non  casu  (at  loquuntur)  et  im- 
pactu  inventum  fuisset,  non  solitarium,  sed  cum  multa  inven- 
torum  nobilium  (qua;  sub  eundem  meridianum  cadunt)  fre- 
quentia  prodiisset.  Sic  et  alia,  turn  opera  turn  posita.  Quare 
moneo,  si  forte  idolum  aliquod  alicujus  istorum  meam  (id  est, 
rerum)  veritatem  aliquo  in  puncto  secuerit,  noli  aut  de  iis 
rnajora,  aut  de  me  inferiora  cogitare,  cum  satis  appareat  ex 
reliquorum  ignoratione  ipsa  ilia,  non  ex  scientiae  analogia,  eos 
dixisse.  Adhuc  instas  (fili)  num  ergo  universas  istorum  chartas 
thuri  et  odoribus  amicula  fieri  jubeo 3  ?  Non  illud  dixerim. 
Manet  enim  paulisper  aliquis  eorum  usus,  tenuis  quidem  et 
angustus,  et  longe  alius  quam  in  quem  destinatae  erant  ac 
nunc  usurpantur,  sed  tamen  aliquis.  Adde  et  alias  multas 
chartas  illis  celebritate  obscuriores,  usu  praestantiores  esse. 
Aristotelis  et  Platonis  moralia  plerique  mirantur ;  sed  Tacitus 
magis  vivas  morum  observationes  spirat.  Yerum  quae  tandem 
utilitas  ex  chartis  capi  possit,  quaeque  alias  aliis  utilitate  ante- 
cedant,  quaeque  minima  pars  sint  chartarum  munera,  eorum 
quae  ad  interpretationem  naturae  conferunt,  suo  loco  dicetur. 
Postremo  (fili)  ita  te  quaerentem  audio  :  num  tu  te  in  istorum 
omnium  locum  sufficis?  Bespondebo,  atque  id  [non]  dissimu- 
lanter,  et  ex  intimo  sensu  meo.  Ego  (fili  suavissime)  tibi 
sanctum,  castum,  et  legitimum  connubium  cum  rebus  ipsia 


1  To  this  somewhat  short  list  of  things  which  he  could  commend,  Bacon  might  have 
added  the  motto  which  a  Chinese  philosopher  put  up  in  his  library  —  “  Fei,  Fei :  ” 
“  Reject  what  is  false ;  ”  by  which  he  meant  to  imply  that  the  rejection  of  what  is 
false  is  a  better  road  to  knowledge  than  “  She,  She  ” —  or  the  direct  assertion  of  what 
is  true ;  Bacon’s  own  method  being  based  as  he  often  says  on  negation  and  exclusion. 
The  name  of  this  Chinese  philosopher  was  Ngheou-Yang-Sieou.  See  Premare,  Notitia 
Linguae  Sinicse,  p.  203. 

2  That  is,  1  believe,  “  in  cases  in  which  the  fantastical  hypothesis,  idolum,  cuts  in 
upon  or  intersects  (secat)  the  truth. 

‘  jubes  in  the  original. — J  S. 


TEMPORIS  PARTUS  MASCULUS. 


539 


firmabo.  Ex  qua  consuetudine  (supra  omnia  epitbalamiorum 
vota)  beatissimam  prolem  vere  Heroum  (qui  infinitas  humanas 
necessitates,  omnibus  gigantibus,  monstris,  et  tyrannis  exitio- 
siores,  subacturi  sunt,  et  rebus  vestris  placidam  et  festam 
securitatem  et  copiam  conciliaturi)  suscipies.  Ego  vero  (fill) 
si  te  jamjam  animo  ab  idolis  non  repurgato  vertiginosis  ex- 
perientiiB  ambagibus  committerem,  nae  tu  ducem  cito  deside- 
rares.  Idola  autem  exuere  simplici  praecepto  meo  sine  rerum 
notitia,  ne,  si  velles  maxime,  posses.  In  tabulis  nisi,  priora 
deleveris,  non  alia  inscripseris.  In  mente  contra:  nisi  alia 
inscripseris,  non  priora  deleveris.  Atque  ut  hoc  fieri  posset 
ut  idola  hospitii  exueres,  tamen  periculum  omnino  est  ut  ab 
idolis  vice  non  initiatus  obruare.  Nimis  duci  assuevisti.  Etiam 
Korn®,  firmata  semel  tyrannide,  semper  postea  sacramentum  in 
senatus  populique  Romani  nomen  irritum  fuit.  Confide  (fill), 
et  da  te  mihi,  ut  te  tibi  reddam. 


■ 


PARTIS  INSTAURATIONIS  SECUNDJ! 

DELINEATIO  ET  ARGUMENTUM, 

ET 


REDARGUTIO  PHILOSOPHIARUM. 


543 


PREFACE 

TO  THE 

PARTIS  INSTAURATIONIS  SECUNDJ1  DELINEATIO 
ET  ARGUMENTUM. 


Among  the  pieces  collected  by  Gruter  under  the  title  Impetus 
Philo  sopliici,  the  first  is  entitled  Indicia  vera  de  Interpretatione 
Naturae.  It  consists  of  the  preface  to  the  Novum  Organum 
(  Qui  de  natura  tanquam  de  re  explorata  8fc.)  which  has  already 
been  printed  Yol.  I.  p.  115.;  the  Partis  secundce  delineatio  etArgu- 
mentum  ;  and  a  small  portion  of  the  Redargutio  Philosophiarum  ; 
all  three  printed  consecutively  under  the  same  general  heading, 
as  if  they  had  been  found  together  in  the  original  manuscript 
and  formed  one  composition.  The  last  (which  has  no  separate 
heading,  but  is  printed  as  if  it  were  a  part  of  the  Delineatio) 
breaks  off  abruptly.  But  a  manuscript  discovered  by  Robert 
Stephens  among  Lord  Oxford’s  collections,  and  now  in  the 
British  Museum1,  enables  us  to  complete  it,  and  supplies  the 
title.  That  it  is  the  same  writing  there  can  be  no  doubt ;  for 
the  first  three  or  four  pages  of  the  manuscript  are  identical,  or 
nearly  so,  with  the  last  three  or  four  printed  by  Gruter,  and 
the  whole  fits  perfectly  into  its  place. 

The  Delineatio  is  a  sketch  of  the  plan  of  the  Novum  Organum, 
as  then  designed ;  and  is  interesting  for  three  reasons.  First, 
it  contains  the  earliest  intimation  of  the  entire  scheme  of  the 
Instauratio  Magna ;  which  Bacon  had  already  resolved  to  dis¬ 
tribute  into  six  parts :  the  second  to  treat  of  the  art  of  inter¬ 
pretation  ;  the  third,  fourth,  and  sixth  to  exhibit  the  results  of 
the  art  applied ;  and  the  fifth  to  be  provisional,  consisting  of 
anticipations  arrived  at  by  the  ordinary  method,  which  were 
afterwards  to  be  verified  by  the  true  method.  All  which  agrees 
exactly  with  the  design  ultimately  developed  in  the  Distributio 
Operis.  Of  the  first  part  he  says  nothing ;  perhaps  because. 


1  Harl.  MSS.  6855. 


544 


PREFACE  TO  THE 


though  he  had  determined  to  introduce  into  it  the  substance  of 
the  Advancement  of  Learning,  he  had  not  yet  settled  the  form; 
and  this  again  agrees  very  well  with  my  conjecture  as  to  the 
history  of  the  De  .Augmentis.  Secondly,  it  marks  a  stage  in 
the  development  of  Bacon’s  philosophical  theory:  by  com¬ 
paring  it  with  the  Valerius  Terminus,  the  Cogitata  et  Visa,  and 
the  Novum  Organum,  we  learn  something  as  to  the  changes  which 
his  design  underwent  as  he  worked  it  out  (see  Mr.  Ellis’s  Ge¬ 
neral  Preface,  Vol.  I.  p.  39.,  and  Preface  to  Novum  Organum, 
p.  79.).  Thirdly,  though  it  was  afterwards  superseded  by  that 
portion  of  the  Distributio  Operis  which  describes  the  contents 
of  the  second  part  of  the  Instauratio,  it  is  in  some  places  more 
full  and  particular,  and  the  description  of  the  Ministratio  ad 
Rationem  adds  something  to  what  we  otherwise  know  concern¬ 
ing  those  parts  of  the  inductive  process  which  were  to  have 
been  developed  in  the  third  book  of  the  Novum  Organum. 

As  to  the  time  when  it  was  composed,  Mr.  Ellis  has  shown 
in  his  preface  to  the  Novum  Organum  that  it  must  have  been 
written  before  the  Cogitata  et  Visa,  and  as  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  it  was  written  after  the  Advancement  of  Learning 
and  the  Valerius  Terminus,  it  may  be  referred  with  tolerable 
confidence  to  the  year  1606  or  1607. 

According  to  the  plan  sketched  out  in  it,  the  work  was  to 
begin  with  an  attempt  to  clear  the  mind  from  impressions  de¬ 
rived  from  the  philosophical  theories  then  extant  and  received ; 
and  with  this  accordingly,  the  sketch  of  the  plan  being  com¬ 
pleted,  the  work  itself  begins.  The  Redargutio  Pliilosophiarum 
which  follows  may  in  fact  be  considered  as  the  first  chapter  of 
the  second  part  of  the  Instauratio,  as  it  was  then  designed.  I 
therefore  print  them  together.  I  would  not  however  be  under¬ 
stood  to  imply  thereby  that  they  were  composed  at  the  same 
time.  The  arguments  which  convince  Mr.  Ellis  that  the  Deli - 
neatio  was  written  before  the  Cogitata  et  Visa  apply  to  the 
Delineatio  only.  The  Redargutio,  like  the  second  chapter  of 
the  Temporis  Partus  Masculus,  may  have  been  composed  at  a 
much  later  period  than  the  work  of  which  it  was  nevertheless 
meant  to  form  a  part ;  and  while  the  internal  evidence  proves 
almost  conclusively  that  that  second  chapter  was  an  earlier  form 
of  the  Redargutio  than  this,  there  is  a  piece  of  external  evidence 
which  strongly  inclines  me  to  think  that  the  idea  out  of  which 
they  both  grew  occurred  to  Bacon  about  the  same  time. 


DELINEATIO  ET  ARGUMENTUM. 


545 


In  my  general  preface  to  the  third  part  of  the  Philosophical 
works  I  have  spoken  of  the  difficulty  which  Bacon  found  or 
apprehended  about  this  time  in  obtaining  an  audience  for  his 
views,  and  the  various  devices  which  he  resorted  to  for  the 
purpose  of  overcoming  or  avoiding  them.  In  my  preface  to  the 
Temporis  Partus  Masculus  I  have  endeavoured  to  account  for 
the  tone  of  arrogance  assumed  in  the  second  chapter,  by  sup¬ 
posing  it  to  have  been  an  experiment  of  that  kind ;  and  I  have 
quoted  two  entries  from  the  Commentarius  Solutus,  as  suggest¬ 
ing  a  possible  and  I  think  not  improbable  explanation  of  it.  I 
shall  now  quote,  in  connexion  with  this  much  improved  edition 
of  the  same  argument,  the  entire  page  in  which  one  of  those 
entries  occurs.  The  date  is  July  26,  1608  ;  and  the  notes  run 
thus: 

“  Ordinary  discourse  of  plus  ultra  in  sciences,  as  well  the 
intellectual  globe  as  the  material,  illustrated  by  discovery  in 
our  age. 

“Discoursing  scornfully  of  the  philosophy  of  the  Grecians, 
with  some  better  respect  to  the  ^Egyptians,  Persians,  Caldees, 
and  the  utmost  antiquity,  and  the  mysteries  of  the  poets. 

“  Comparing  the  case  with  that  which  Livy  sayeth  of  Alex¬ 
ander,  Nil  aliud  quam  bene  ausus  vana  contemnere. 

“  Qu.  of  an  oration  ad  filios  ;  delightful,  sublime,  and  mixed 
with  elegancy,  affection,  novelty  of  conceit  and  yet  sensible, 
and  superstition. 

“  To  consider  what  opinions  are  fit  to  nourish  tanquam 
ansse,  and  so  to  grift  the  new  upon  the  old,  ut  religiones  solent. 

“  Ordinary  course  of  incompetency  of  reason  for  natural 
philosophy  and  invention  of  works,  a  pretty  device  to  buy  and 
sell  with :  Aditus  non  nisi  sub  persona  infantis.” 

Now  if  the  tenor  of  these  notes,  especially  the  fourth,  be  com¬ 
pared  with  the  noble  oration  supposed  to  be  addressed  to  the 
assembled  sages  of  Paris  in  the  Redargutio  Philosophiarum,  the 
connexion  will  appear  close  enough,  I  think,  to  justify  us  in  con¬ 
cluding  that  it  was  composed  after  July  1608  ;  and  this  would 
accord  very  well  with  M.  Bouillet’s  conjecture  that  this  was 
the  manuscript  sent  by  Bacon  to  Tobie  Matthew  in  a  letter 
dated  October  10, 1609,  and  alluded  to  in  the  following  passage: 
“  I  send  you  at  this  time  the  only  part  which  hath  any  harsh¬ 
ness.  And  yet  I  framed  to  myself  an  opinion  that  whosoever 
allowed  well  of  that  preface  which  you  so  much  commend, 


546  PREFACE  TO  THE  DELINEATIO  ET  ARGUMENTUM. 

will  not  dislike,  or  at  least  ought  not  to  dislike,  this  other 
speech  of  preparation.  For  it  is  written  out  of  the  same  spirit 
and  out  of  the  same  necessity.  Nay  it  doth  more  fully  lay  open 
that  the  question  between  me  and  the  ancients  is  not  of  the 
virtue  of  the  race,  hut  of  the  rightness  of  the  way.  And  to 
speak  truth,  it  is  to  the  other  but  as  palma  to  pugnus  —  part  of 
the  same  thing,  more  large.” 

Of  the  matter  of  the  oration  it  is  not  necessary  to  say  any¬ 
thing,  since  it  is  all  to  be  found  either  in  the  prefaces  to  the 
Novum  Organum,  or  in  the  aphorisms  of  the  first  book.  The 
form  is  peculiar  to  this  composition,  which  exhibits  as  perfect 
a  specimen  as  we  have  of  Bacon’s  power  as  an  artist  and  an 
orator. 

I  have  taken  the  text  from  the  manuscript  (which  has  been 
revised  and  corrected  throughout  by  Bacon  himself,  and  some 
sentences  added  between  the  lines  or  in  the  margin),  except  in 
the  part  which  has  been  printed  by  Gruter,  and  which  appears 
to  have  been  taken  from  a  corrected  copy.  For  as  I  find  that 
all  the  alterations  made  by  Bacon  in  the  manuscript,  with  only 
one  exception,  are  contained  in  Gruter’s  copy,  I  infer  that  the 
differences  between  the  two  are  due  to  further  alterations  made 
subsequently,  and  that  the  manuscript  which  Gruter  had  was 
the  beginning  of  a  fair  transcript  of  later  date.  I  have  however 
given  the  readings  of  the  Harleian  manuscript  in  the  notes  :  so 
that  on  this  point  the  reader  may  judge  for  himself. 


J.  S. 


647 


PARTIS  INSTAURATIONIS  SECUNDJ) 
DELINEATIO  ET  ARGUMENTUM. 


Memores  autem  instituti  nostri,  omnia  perspicue  proponemus, 
atque  ordine  non  perturbato.  Pateat  itaque  hujus  partis  de- 
stinatio  et  distributio.  Destinatur  huic  parti  doctrina  de  meliore 
ac  perfectiore  usu  rationis  quam  hucusque  hominibus  sit  cogni- 
tus  aut  monstratus ;  eo  consilio,  ut  per  hoc  intellectus  humanus 
(quantum  conditio  mortalitatis  recipit)  exaltetur,  et  facultate 
amplificetur  ad  naturae  obscuritatem  vincendam  et  interpre- 
tandam.  Namque  ipsi  Interpretation i  Naturae  attribuuntur 
libri  tres ;  tertius,  quartus,  et  sextus ;  siquidem  quintus,  qui 
ex  Anticipationibus  est  secundum  usum  rationis  communem, 
ad  tempus  tantum  sumitur,  et  deinceps,  postquam  figi  coeperit 
atque  ex  usu  rationis  legitimo  verificari,  et  transfertur  et  com- 
miarrat  in  sextum.  Huic  vero  libro  secundo  committitur  In- 

O  t 

tellectus  ipse  ejusque  cura  et  regimen,  ommsque  apparatus 
atque  instructio  ad  veram  rationis  administrationem  conducens 
describitur.  Atque  licet  nomen  ipsum  Logicae,  sive  Dialectics, 
propter  depravationes  apud  nos  ingratum  fere  sonet,  tamen  ut 
homines  per  consueta  tanquam  manu  ducamus,  est  certe  ars  ea 
quam  adducimus  ex  genere  Logics,  qus  et  ipsa  (vulgaris  in- 
quam)  auxilia  et  prssidia  intellectui  parat  et  molitur.  Differt 
autem  nostra  a  Logica  vulgari,  turn  aliis  rebus,  turn  prscipue 
tribus ;  videlicet  initiis  inquirendi,  ordine  demonstrandi,  atque 
fine  et  officio.  Nam  et  inquisitionis  initium  altius  sumit,  ea 
subjiciendo  examini  qus  logica  vulgaris  veluti  ex  fide  aliena 
et  authoritate  csca  recipit;  principia,  notiones  primas,  atque 
ipsas  informationes  senses;  et  ordinem  demonstrandi  plane 
invertit,  propositiones  et  axiomata  ab  historia  et  particularibus 
ad  generalia  per  scalam  a'dscensoriam  continenter  subvehendo 


36  Bacon  III 


548 


PARTIS  INSTAURATIONIS  SECUNDiE 


et  excitando  ;  non  protinus  ad  principia  et  magis  generalia  ad- 
volando,  atque  ab  illis  medias  propositiones  deducendo  et  de- 
rivando.  Finis  autem  hujus  scientiae  est,  ut  Res  et  Opera,  non 
argumenta  et  rationes  probabiles,  inveniantur  et  judicentur. 
Quare  institutum  hujus  libri  secundi  hujusmodi  est.  Nunc 
distributionem  ejusdem  similiter  proponemus.  Quemadmodum 
in  generatione  luminis  requiritur,  ut  corpus  lumen  recepturum 
poliatur,  atque  deinde  in  debito  ad  lucem  situ  sive  conversion  e 
ponatur,  antequam  lucis  ipsius  fiat  immissio ;  prorsus  ita  est 
operandum.  Primo  enim  mentis  area  aequanda,  et  liberanda  ab 
eis  quae  hactenus  recepta  sunt ;  turn  conversio  mentis  bona  et 
congrua  facienda  est  ad  ea  quae  afferuntur ;  postremo  menti 
praeparatae  informatio  exhibenda.  Atque  pars  destruens  triplex 
est,  secundum  triplicem  naturam  idolorum  quae  mentem  obsi- 
dent.  Ilia  enim  aut  adscititia  sunt,  idque  dupliciter,  nimirum 
quae  immigrarunt  in  mentem  eamque  occuparunt,  vel  ex  philo- 
sophorum  placitis  atque  sectis,  vel  rursus  ex  perversis  legibus 
et  rationibus  demonstrationum ;  aut  ea  quae  menti  ipsi  et 
substantiae  ejus  inhaerentia  sunt  atque  innata.  Sicut  enim 
speculum  inaequale  veros  rerum  radios  ex  sectione  propria 
immutat:  ita  et  mens,  quando  a  rebus  per  sensum  patitur,  in 
motibus  suis  expediendis,  haudquaquam  optima  fide,  rerum 
naturae  suam  naturam  inserit  et  immiscet.  Itaque  primus 
imponitur  labor,  ut  omnis  ista  militia  Theoriarum,  quae  tantas 
dedit  pugnas,  mittatur  ac  relegetur.  Accedit  labor  secundus, 
ut  mens  a  pravis  demonstrationum  vinculis  solvatur.  Hunc 
excipit  tertius,  ut  vis  ista  mentis  seductoria  coerceatur,  atque 
idola  innata  vel  evellantur,  vel,  si  evelli  non  possint,  ita  tamen 
indicentur  atque  pernoscantur  ut  variationes  restitui  possint. 
Inutilis  enim  et  fortasse  damnosa  fuerit  errorum  in  philosophiis 
demolitio  et  destructio,  si  ex  prava  complexione  mentis  novi 
errorum  surculi,  et  fortasse  magis  degeneres,  pullulaverint ; 
neque  prius  absistendum,  quam  omnis  spes  praecidatur  ex  usu 
rationis  communi  aut  ex  vulgaris  logicae  praesidiis  et  auxiliis 
philosophiae  absolvendae  aut  majorem  in  modum  amplificandae  ; 
ne  forte  errores  non  abjiciamus  sed  permutemus.  Itaque  pars 
ista,  quam  destruentem  appellamus,  tribus  redargutionibus  ab- 
solvitur ;  Redargutione  Philosophiarum  ;  Redargutione  Demon¬ 
strationum  ;  et  Redargutione  Rationis  Humanae  Nativae.  Neque 
nos  fugit,  absque  tanto  motu  accessiones  non  parvas  ad  sci- 
entias  a  nobis  fieri  potuisse,  atque  aditu  fortasse  ad  laudera 


DELINE  ATIO  ET  ARGUMENTUM. 


549 


molliore.  Verum  nos  nescii  quando  hcoc  alicui  alii  in  mentern 
ventura  sint,  fidem  nostram  in  integrum  liberare  decrevimus. 
Post  aream  mentis  aequatam,  sequitur  ut  mens  ponatur  in 
conversione  bona  et  veluti  in  adspectu  benevolo  ad  ea  qua3 
proponemus.  Cum  enim  in  re  nova  valeat  ad  praejudicium,  non 
solum  praeoccupatio  fortis  opinionis  veteris,  verum  etiam  prte- 
ceptio  sive  praefiguratio  falsa  rei  quae  affertur,  etiam  huic  malo 
remedium  adhibendum  est  atque  mens  non  tantum  vindicanda 
sed  et  praeparanda.  Ea  praeparatio  nihil  aliud  est  quam  ut 
verae  habeantur  de  eo  quod  adducimus  opiniones,  ad  tempus 
tantummodo,  et  tanquam  usurariae,  donee  res  ipsa  pernoscatur. 
Atque  hoc  in  eo  fere  situm  est,  ut  pravae  et  sinistrae  suspiciones, 
quales  ex  praenotionibus  receptis  (veluti  ex  atra  bile  quadam 
epidemica)  mentes  hominum  subituras  facile  conjicimus,  arce- 
antur  atque  intercipiantur  ;  quod  ait  ille. 


ne  qua 

Occurrat  facies  inimica,  atque  oiuina  turbet. 

Primo  igitur  si  quis  ita  cogitet,  occulta  naturae  veluti  signo 
divino  clausa  manere,  atque  ab  humana  sapientia  interdicto 
quodam  separari,  dabimus  operam  ut  haec  opinio  infirma  atque 
invida  tollatur,  eoque  rem  perducemus,  simplici  veritate  freti, 
ut  non  solum  ne  qua  oblatret  superstitio,  verum  etiam  ut  re- 
ligio  in  partes  nobis  accedat.  Pursue  si  cui  hujusmodi  quippiam 
in  mentem  veniat  opinari,  magnam  illam  et  solicitam  moram  in 
experientia  et  in  mate  rise  et  rerum  particularium  undis  quam 
hominibus  imponimus,  mentem  veluti  in  Tartarum  quendam 
confusionis  dejicere,  atque  ab  abstracts  sapientia;  serenitate  et 
tranquillitate,  ut  a  statu  multo  diviniore,  submovere;  doce- 
bimus,  atque  in  perpetuum,  ut  speramus,  stabiliemus  (non  sine 
rubore,  ut  existimamus,  omnis  scholae  quae  meditationibus  ina- 
nibus  atque  ab  omni  essentia  desertissimis  apotheosin  quandam 
attribuere  non  veretur),  quantum  inter  divinae  mentis  ideas  et 
humanae  mentis  idola  intersit.  Quinetiam  illis  quibus  in  con¬ 
templation^  amorem  effusis  frequens  apud  nos  operum  mentio 
asperum  quiddam  atque  ingratum  et  mechanicum  sonat,  mon- 
strabimus  quantum  illi  desideriis  suis  propriis  adversentur;  cum 
puritas  contemplationum  atque  substructio  et  inventio  operum 
prorsus  eisdem  rebus  nitantur,  ac  simul  perficiantur.  Adhuc 
si  quis  haesitet,  atque  istam  scientiarum  ab  integro  regenerati- 
onem  ut  rem  sine  exitu  et  vastam  et  quasi  infinitam  accipiat, 


550 


PARTIS  INSTAURAT10N1S  SECUNDiE 


ostendemus  earn  contra  censeri  debere  potius  errorum  et  vasti- 
tatis  terminum  et  verum  finitorem ;  atque  planum  faciemus, 
inquisitionem  rerum  particularium  justam  et  plenam,  demptis 
individuis  et  gradibus  rerum  et  variationibus  minutis  (id  quod 
ad  scientias  satis  est),  atque  inde  debito  modo  excitatas  notio- 
nes  sive  ideas,  rem  esse  multis  modis  magis  finitam  et  babilem 
et  comprehensibilem  et  sui  certam,  et  de  eo  quod  confectum  est 
atque  eo  quod  superest  gnaram,  quam  speculationes  et  medi- 
tationes  abstractas,  quarum  revera  nullus  est  finis,  sed  perpetua 
circulatio,  volutatio,  et  trepidatio.  Atque  etiamsi  quis  sobrius 
(ut  sibi  videri  possit),  et  civilis  prudentiae  diffidentiam  ad  haec 
transferens,  existimet  haec  quae  dicimus  votis  similia  videri, 
quaeque  spei  nimis  indulgeant ;  revera  autem  ex  philosophise  statu 
mutato  nil  aliud  secuturum  quam  ut  placita  fortasse  transfe- 
rantur,  res  autem  humanae  nihilo  futurae  sint  auctiores ;  huic 
fidem,  ut  putamus,  faciemus,  nil  minus  agi  quam  placitum  aut 
sectam ;  nostramque  rationem  ab  iis  quae  hucusque  in  philosophia 
et  scientiis  praebita  sunt  toto  genere  differre ;  operum  autem 
certissimam  messem  sponderi,  ni  homines  museum  sive  segetem 
herbidam  demetere  praeoccuparint,  atque  affectu  puerili  et 
conatu  fallaci  operum  pignora  intempestive  captaverint.  Atque 
ex  his  quae  diximus  pertractatis,  satis  cautum  de  praejudicio 
fore  existimamus  illius  generis  quod  ex  prava  et  iniqua  rei 
quae  adducitur  perceptione  conflatur,  atque  una  secundam  par¬ 
tem,  quam  praeparantem  appellamus,  absolvi ;  postquam  et  ex 
parte  religionis,  et  ex  parte  contemplationis  abstractae,  et  ex 
parte  prudentiae  naturalis,  atque  ejus  comitatu,  diffidentia  et 
sobrietate  et  similibus,  omnis  adversa  aura  conticuerit  et  re¬ 
flare  desierit.  Attamen  ut  omnibus  numeris  completa  adhibe- 
atur  praeparatio,  illud  deesse  videtur,  ut  languor  ipse  mentis  et 
torpor  ex  rei  miraculo  contractus  tollatur.  Haec  autem  mala 
dispositio  mentis  tantum  per  causarum  indicationem  aufertur. 
Sola  enim  causarum  cognitio  miraculum  rei  et  stuporem  mentis 
eolverit.  Itaque  omnes  impedimentorum  malitias  et  molestias 
quibus  interclusa  philosophia'  vera  remorata  est  signabimus,  ut 
minime  mirum  sit  humanum  genus  erroribus  tarn  diutumis 
implicatum  atque  exercitum  fuisse.  In  qua  parte,  etiam  illud 
opportune  ad  spem  solido  argumento  fovendam  patebit,  nimirum 
licet  vera  ilia  Naturae  Interpretatio  quam  molimur  merito 
maxime  difficilis,  tamen  multo  maximam  diflicultatis  partem  in 
iis  subesse  quae  in  potestate  nostra  sunt  atque  corrigi  possunt. 


DELINEATIO  ET  ARGUMENTUM 


551 


non  in  iis  quae  extra  potestatem  nostram  sita  existunt;  in 
mente  (inquam),  non  in  rebus  ipsis  aut  in  sensu.  Quod  si  cui 
supervacua  videatur  accurata  ista  nostra  quam  adhibemus  ad 
mentes  praeparandas  diligentia,  atque  cogitet  hoc  quiddam 
esse  ex  pompa  et  in  ostentationem  compositum,  itaque  cupiat 
rem  ipsam,  missis  ambagibus  et  praestructionibus,  simpliciter 
exhiberi ;  certe  optabilis  nobis  foret  (si  vera  esset)  hujusmodi 
insimulatio.  Utinam  enim  tam  proclive  nobis  esset  difficultates 
et  impedimenta  vincere,  quam  fastum  inanem  et  falsum  appa- 
ratum  deponere.  Verum  hoc  velimus  homines  existiment,  nos 
haud  inexplorato  viam  in  tanta  solitudine  inire,  praesertim  cum* 
argumentum  hujusmodi  prae  manibus  habeamus,  quod  tractandi 
imperitia  perdere  et  veluti  exponere  nefas  sit.  Itaque  ex 
perpenso  et  perspecto  tam  rerum  quam  animorum  statu,  duri- 
ores  fere  aditus  ad  hominum  mentes  quam  ad  res  ipsas  inve- 
nimus,  ac  tradendi  labores  inveniendi  laboribus  haud  multo 
leviores  experimur,  atque,  quod  in  intellectualibus  res  nova 
fere  est,  morem  gerimus,  et  tam  nostras  cogitationes  quam 
aliorum  simul  bajulamus.  Omne  enim  idolum  vanum  arte 
atque  obsequio  ac  debito  accessu  subvertitur ;  vi  et  contentione 
atque  incursione  subita  et  abrupta  efferatur.  Neque  hoc  ideo 
tantum  fit,  quod  homines  vel  admiratione  authorum  captivi,  vel 
propria  fiducia  tumidi,  vel  assuetudine  quadam  renitentes,  se 
sequos  praebere  nolint.  Si  quis  libentissime  sibi  aequitatem 
imperare  voluerit  atque  omne  praejudicium  veluti  ejuraveiit, 
tamen  et  tali  mentis  disposition!  neutiquam  propterea  fidere 
oporteret.  Nemo  enim  intellectui  suo  ex  arbitrio  voluntatis 
suas  imperat,  neque  philosophorum  (ut  prophetarum)  spiritus 
philosophis  subjecti  sunt.  Itaque  non  aliorum  .  aequitas  aut 
sinceritas  aut  facilitas,  sed  nostra  propria  cura  atque  mori- 
geratio  et  insinuatio  nobis  praesidio  esse  possit.  Qua  in  re 
accedit  et  alia  quaedam  diflicultas  ex  moribus  nostris  haud 
parva,  quod  constantissimo  decreto  nobis  ipsi  sancivimus,  ut 
candorem  nostrum  et  simplicitatem  perpetuo  retineamus,  nec 
per  vana  ad  vera  aditum  quaeramus,  sed  ita  obsequio  nostro 
moderemur,  ut  tamen  non  per  artificium  aliquod  vafrum  aut 
imposturam  aut  aliquid  simile  imposturae,  sed  tantummodo  per 
ordinis  lumen  et  per  novorum  super  saniorem  partem  veterum 
solertem  insitionem,  nos  nostrorum  votorum  compotes  fore  spe- 
remus.  Itaque  eo  redimus,  ut  hanc  praemuniendi  ddigentiam 
minorem  potius  pro  tantis  difficultatibus,  quam  minus  necessa- 


552 


PARTIS  INSTAURATIONIS  SECUND^ 


riam  esse  judicemus.  Missa  autem  jam  parte  prasparante,  ad 
partem  informantem  veniemus,  atque  artis  ipsius  quam  ad- 
ducimus  figuram  simplicem  et  nudam  proponemus.  Quas  ad 
intellectum  perficiendum  ad  Interpretationem  Naturae  faciunt, 
dividuntur  in  tres  ministrationes ;  ministrationem  ad  Sensum, 
ministrationem  ad  Memoriam,  et  ministrationem  ad  Ratio - 
nem.  In  ministratione  ad  Sensum  tria  docebimus.  Primo, 
quomodo  bona  notio  constituatur  et  eliciatur,  ac  quomodo  te- 
statio  sensus,  quae  semper  est  ex  analogia  hominis,  ad  analogiam 
mundi  reducatur  et  rectificetur ;  neque  enim  multum  sensui 
tribuimus  in  perceptione  immediata,  sed  quatenus  motum  sive 
alterationem  rei  manifestat.  Secundo,  quomodo  ea  quae  sensum 
effugiunt,  aut  subtilitate  totius  corporis,  aut  partium  minutiis, 
aut  loci  distantia,  aut  tarditate  vel  etiam  velocitate  motus,  aut 
familiaritate  objecti,  aut  alias,  in  ordinem  sensus  redigantur, 
atque  ejus  judicio  sistantur ;  ac  insuper  in  casu  quo  adduci  non 
possunt,  quid  faciendum,  atque  quomodo  huic  destitutioni  vel 
per  instrumenta  vel  per  graduum  observationem  peritam  vel 
per  corporum  proportionatorum  ex  sensibilibus  ad  insensibilia 
indicationes  vel  per  alias  vias  ac  substitutiones,  sit  subveni- 
endum.  Postremo  loco  de  historia  naturali,  et  de  modo  expe- 
rimentandi  dicemus,  qualis  sit  ea  historia  naturalis  quae  ad 
philosopbiam  condendam  sufficere  possit;  et  rursus  qualis  ex- 
perimentatio  deficiente  historia  necessario  sit  suscipienda :  ubi 
etiam  quaedam  de  provocanda  et  figenda  attentione  admisce- 
bimus.  Multa  enim  in  historia  naturali  atque  experimentis, 
notitia  ipsa  adesse  jampridem,  usu  abesse  solent,  propter  vim 
animi  apprehensivam  minime  excitatam.  His  tribus  mini- 
stratio  ad  sensum  absolvitur.  Aut  enim  sensui  materia  prse- 
betur,  aut  juvamentum ;  nimirum  vel  ubi  deficit,  vel  ubi 
declinat.  Materiae,  historia  et  experimenta;  defectui  sensus, 
substitutiones ;  declinationi,  rectification es  debentur.  Mini- 
stratio  ad  Memoriam  hoc  officium  prsestat,  ut  ex  turba  rerum 
particularium  et  naturalis  his  tor  ice  generalis  acervo  particu- 
laris  historia  excerpatur,  atque  disponatur  eo  ordine  ut  judi¬ 
cium  in  earn  agere  et  opus  suum  exercere  possit.  Etenim 
vires  mentis  sobrie  sestimandse,  neque  sperandum  et  ea)  in 
rerum  infinitate  discurrere  possint.  Manifestum  autem  est, 
memoriam  turn  in  rerum  multitudine  comprehendenda  inca- 
pacem  et  incompetentem,  turn  in  rerum  delectu  quse  ad 
inquisitionem  aliquam  definitam  faciant  suggerendo,  imparatam 


DELINEATIO  ET  ARGUMENTUM. 


553 


atque  inhabUem  esse.  Quod  autem  ad  prius  malum  attinet, 
facilis  est  medendi  ratio ;  unico  enim  remedio  absolvitur ;  ut 
nulla  nisi  de  scripto  inquisitio  aut  inventio  recipiatur.  Perinde 
enim  est  ut  quis  Interpretationem  Naturae  in  aliquo  subjecto 
memoria  sola  nixus  complecti  velit,  ac  si  computationes  ephe- 
meridis  memoriter  tenere  aut  perficere  tentet.  Quinetiam 
satis  liquet  quantum  memoriae  et  mentis  discursui  tribuamus, 
cum  nec  de  scripto  inventionem,  nisi  per  tabulas  ordinatas,  pro- 
bemus.  De  posteriore  igitur  magis  laborandum.  Atque  certe 
postquam  subjectum  inquisitioni  constitutum  et  terminatum 
sit  atque  a  corpore  rerum  abscissum  et  inconfusum  constiterit 
(in  quo  babemus  nonnulla  quae  utiliter  praecipiamus),  mini- 
stratio  ista  ad  memoriam  tribus  operis  sive  officiis  constare  vi- 
detur.  Primo,  docebimus  qualia  sint  ea  quae  circa  subjectum 
datum  sive  propositum  (discurrendo  per  historiam)  inquiri  de- 
beant,  quod  est  instar  Topicae.  Secundo,  quo  ordine  ilia  disponi 
oporteat,  et  in  tabulas  digeri.  Neque  tamen  ullo  modo  spera- 
mus  veram  rei  venam  quae  ex  analogia  universi  sit,  jam  a 
principio  inveniri  posse,  ut  earn  partitio  sequatur  ;  sed  tantum 
apparentem,  ut  res  aliquo  modo  secetur  in  partes.  Citius  enim 
emerget  veritas  e  falsitate  quam  e  confusione,  et  facilius  ratio 
corriget  partitionem  quam  penetrabit  massam.  Tertio  itaque 
ostendemus,  quo  modo  et  quo  tempore  inquisitio  sit  reinte- 
granda,  et  chart*  sive  tabulae  praecedentes  in  chartas  novellas 
transportand®,  et  quoties  inquisitio  sit  repetenda.  Etenim 
primas  chartarum  series  vel  sequelas  super  polos  mobiles  verti 
statuimus,  et  tantum  probationes  esse  et  tentamenta  inquisi- 
tionis;  siquidem  mentem  in  naturam  rerum  jus  suum  persequi 
et  obtinere  posse,  nisi  repetita  actione,  plane  diffidimus. 
Itaque  ministratio  ad  memoriam  tribus  (ut  diximus)  doctrinis 
absolvitur  ;  de  locis  inveniendi,  de  methodo  contabulandi,  et  de 
modo  instaurandi  inquisitionem.  Superest  ministratio  ad  Ra- 
tionem,  cui  ministrationes  du®  priores  subministrant.  Nullum 
enim  per  eas  constituitur  axioma,  sed  tantum  notio  simplex 
cum  historia  ordinata ;  certo  verificata  per  ministrationem 
primam,  atque  ita  repr*sentata  per  secundam,  ut  tanquam 
inpotestate  nostra  sit.  Atque  ministratio  ad  rationem  ea 
maxime  probari  meretur,  qu®  rationem  ad  opus  suum  exe- 
quendum  et  finem  obtinendum  optime  juvabit.  Opus  autem 
rationis  natura  unicum ;  fine  et  usu  geminum  est.  Aut 
enim  scire  el  contemplari ,  aut  agere  et  efficere,  homini  pro  fine 


554 


PARTIS  INSTAURATIONIS  SECUND^ 


est.  Itaque  aut  causae  expetitur  cognitio  et  contemplatio ; 
aut  effecti  potestas  et  copia.  Quamobrem  dati  effectus  vel 
naturae  in  quovis  subjecto  causas  nosse,  intentio  est  humanae 
scientiae.  Atque  rursus,  super  datam  materiae  basin  effectual 
quodvis  sive  naturam  (inter  terminos  possibilis)  imponere  vel 
superinducere,  intentio  est  humanae  potentiae1.  Atque  hae  in- 
tentiones,  acutius  inspicienti  et  vere  aestimanti,  in  idem  coinci- 
dunt.  Nam  quod  in  contemplatione  instar  causae  est,  in  ope- 
ratione  est  instar  medii ;  scimus  enim  per  causas,  operamur 
per  media.  Et  certe  si  media  universa  quae  ad  opera  quaelibet 
requiruntur  bomini  optato  ad  manum  suppeterent,  nil  opus 
foret  magnopere  ista  separatim  tractare.  Yerum  cum  operatio 
bumana  in  multo  majores  angustias  compellatur  quam  scientia, 
propter  individui  multiplices  necessitates  et  inopias  ;  adeo  ut  ad 
partem  operativam  requiratur  saepius  non  tam  sapientia  univer¬ 
salis  et  libera  de  eo  quod  fieri  potest,  quam  prudentia  sagax 
et  solers  ad  delectum  eorum  quae  praesto  sunt;  ista  tractatu 
felicius  disjungi  consentaneum  est.  Quare  et  ministrationis 
eandem  partitionem  faciemus,  ut  aut  parti  contemplativae  aut 
activae  ministretur.  Atque  quod  ad  partem  contemplativam 
attinet,  ut  verbo  dicamus,  in  uno  plane  sunt  omnia.  Hoc 
ipsum  non  aliud  est,  quam  ut  verum  constituatur  axioma, 
sive  idea 2  copulata ;  haec  enim  est  veritatis  portio  solida, 
cum  simplex  notio  instar  superficiei  videri  possit.  Hoc  autem 
axioma  non  elicitur  aut  efformatur,  nisi  per  inductionis  for- 
mam  legit  imam  et  propriam  ;  quae  experientiam  sol  vat  et 
separet,  atque  per  exclusiones  et  rejectiones  debitas  neces- 
sario  concludat.  Vulgaris  autem  inductio  (a  qua  tamen  princi- 
piorum  ipsorum  probationes  petuntur)  puerile  quiddam  est,  et 
precario  concludit,  periculo  ab  instantia  contradictoria  exposita; 
adeo  ut  dialectic!  de  ea  nec  serio  cogitasse  videantur,  fasti- 
dientes  et  ad  alia  properantes.  Illud  interim  manifestum  est, 
quae  per  inductionem  cujusvis  generis  concluduntur,  simul  et 
inveniri  et  judicari,  nec  a  principiis  aut  mediis  pendere,  sed 
mole  stare  sua,  neque  aliunde  probari.  Multo  magis  necesse 
est  ea  quae  ex  vera  inductionis  forma  excitantur  axiomata,  esse 

1  praesentia  in  Gruter. 

2  Gruter’s  copy  lias  idem  copulata ;  obviously  a  misprint ;  which  Blackboum  at¬ 
tempted  to  correct  by  silently  substituting  copulatum ;  a  reading  in  which  all  subse¬ 
quent  editors  have  acquiesced,  including  M.  Bouillet.  I  cannot  doubt  however  that 
the  error  was  in  idem,  and  that  the  reading  which  1  have  introduced  into  the  text  is 
the  true  one. 


DELINEATIO  ET  ARGUMENTUM. 


555 


seipsis  contenta,  atque  ipsis  principiis,  quae  vocantur,  certiora 
et  firmiora.  Atque  hoc  genus  inductionis  illud  est,  quod  in- 
terpretationis  formulam  appellare  consuevimus.  Itaque  pr® 
omnibus  doctrinam  de  constitutione  axiomatis  et  formula  inter- 
pretandi  diligenter  et  perspicue  complectimur.  Restant  tamen 
quae  buic  rei  serviunt  tria  maximi  omnino  momenti,  sine  quo¬ 
rum  explicatione  inquisitionis  istius  praescriptum,  licet  potestate 
validum,  tamen  usu  operosum  censeri  possit.  Ea  sunt,  inqui¬ 
sitionis  ipsius  continuatio,  variatio,  et  contractio;  ut  nihil  in 
arte  aut  abruptum,  aut  incongruum,  aut  pro  humanae  vitae  bre- 
vitate  longum  relinquatur.  Docebimus  itaque  primo  usum 
axiomatum  (jam  per  formulam  inventorum)  ad  alia  axiomata 
inquireuda  et  excitanda,  quae  superiora  et  magis  generalia  sint: 
ut  per  veros  et  nusquam  intermissos  gradus  scalae  adscensoriae 
ad  unitatem  naturae  perveniatur.  In  quo  tamen  adjiciemus 
modum  eadem  axiomata  superiora  per  experientias  primas  exa- 
minandi  et  verificandi,  ne  rursus  ad  conjecturas  et  probabilia 
atque  idola  prolabamur.  Atque  h®c  est  ea  doctrina,  quam  in¬ 
quisitionis  continuationem  appellamus.  Variatio  autem  inquisi¬ 
tionis  sequitur  naturam  diversam,  aut  causarum  quarum  gratia 
inquisitio  instituitur,  aut  rerum  ipsarum  sive  subjectorum  in 
quibus  inquisitio  versatur.  Itaque  missis  causis  finalibus,  quae 
naturalem  philosophiam  prorsus  corruperunt,  iniiia  sumemus 
ab  inquisitione  variata  sive  accommodata  formarum;  qu®  res 
pro  desperata  hucusque  abjecta  est,  idque  merito.  Neque  enim 
ulli  obvenire  possit  tanta  facultas  aut  felicitas,  ut  ex  anticipa- 
tionibus  et  dialecticis  argumentationibus  alicujus  rei  formam 
eruat.  Sequentur  inquisitiones  materiarum  et  efficientium.  Cum 
autem  efficientia  et  materias  dicimus,  non  efficientia  remota  aut 
materias  communes  (qualia  in  disputationibus  agitantur),  sed 
efficientia  pcopiora  et  materias  pr®paratas  intelligimus.  Id  ne 
s®pius  subtilitate  inutili  repetatur,  inventionem  latentis  pro¬ 
cessus  subtexemus.  Latentem  autem  processum  appellamus 
seriem  et  ordinem  mutationis ;  rem  scilicet  ex  efficientis  motu 
et  materi®  fluxu  conflatam.  Qu®  autem  secundum  subjecta 
fit  inquisitionis  variatio,  ex  duabus  rerum  conditionibus  ortum 
habet;  aut  ex  natura  simplicis  et  compositi  (alia  enim  accom- 
modatur  inquisitio  ad  res  simplices,  alia  ad  compositas  et  de- 
compositas  et  perplexas),  aut  ex  histori®  copia  et  inopia,  qu® 
ad  inquisitionem  peragendam  parari  possit.  Ubi  enim  historia 
abundat,  expedita  est  ratio  inquisitionis;  ubi  tenuis  est,  in  arcto 


556 


PARTIS  INSTAURATIONIS  SECUNDiE 


est  labor,  et  multifaria  industria  et  arte  opus  habet.  Itaque 
per  ista  quae  jam  dicta  sunt  tractata,  variationem  inquisitionis 
absolvi  putamus.  Kestat  inquisitionis  contractio,  ut  non  tantum 
in  inviis  via,  sed  et  in  viis  compendium,  et  tanquam  linea  recta 
quae  per  ambages  et  flexus  secet,  ex  indiciis  nostris  innotescat. 
Hoc  autem  (veluti  et  omnis  ratio  compendiaria)  maxime  in  re¬ 
rum  delectu  consistit.  Duas  autem  invenimus  veluti  rerum 
praerogativas,  quae  ad  inquisitionis  compendia  plurimum  faciunt ; 
Praerogativam  Instautiae,  et  Praerogativam  Inquisiti.  Itaque  do- 
cebimus  primo  quales  sint  ill®  instantiae,  sive  experimenta,  quae 
ad  illuminationem  prae  caeteris  excellant,  adeo  ut  pauc®  idem 
quod  ali®  plures  pr®stent.  Hoc  enim  et  moli  ipsius  histori®, 
et  discurrendi  laboribus  parcit.  Deinde  etiam  explicabimus 
qualia  sint  ea  inquisita,  a  quibus  interpretationem  auspicari 
oporteat,  utpote  qu®  pr®disposita  sequentibus  facem  quandam 
pr®ferunt,  aut  ob  exquisitam  certitudinem  in  se,  aut  ob  natu- 
ram  universalem,  aut  ob  necessitatem  ad  probationes  mecha- 
nicas.  Atque  hie  ministrationi  qu®  ad  contemplativam  partem 
spectat,  finem  imponimus.  Activam  autem  partem  ac  ejus  mini- 
strationem  triplici  doctrina  claudemus,  si  prius  duo  monita  ad 
aperiendas  hominum  mentes  pr®mittamus.  Horum  primum  est., 
in  inquisitione  ea  qu®  fit  per  formulam,  inter  contemplativam 
partem  activam  ipsam  perpetuo  intercurrere.  Hoc  enim  fert 
rerum  natura,  ut  propositions  et  axiomata  a  magis  generalibus 
per  argumentationem  dialecticam  deducta  et  derivata,  ad  parti¬ 
culars  et  opera  obscure  admodum  et  incerto  innuant.  Quod 
autem  ex  particularibus  axioma  educitur,  ad  nova  particularia 
tanquam  correspondents  manifesto  et  constanti  tramite  ducat. 
Alterum  hujusmodi  est,  ut  meminerint  homines,  in  inquisitione 
activa  necesse  esse  rem  per  scalam  descensoriam  (cujus  usum  in 
contemplativa  sustulimus)  confici.  Omnis  enim  operatio  in  in- 
dividuis  versatur,  qu®  infimo  loco  sunt.  Itaque  a  generalibus 
per  gradus  ad  ea  descendendum  est.  Neque  rursus  fieri  potest, 
ut  per  axiomata  simplicia  ad  ea  perveniatur ;  omne  enim  opus 
atque  ejus  ratio  ex  coitione  axiomatum  diversorum  instituitur 
et  designatur.  Itaque  h®c  pr®fati,  ad  triplicem  illam  doctrinam 
activam  veniemus ;  quarum  prima  proponit  modum  inquisitionis 
distinctum  et  proprium,  ubi  non  jam  causa  aut  axioma,  sed 
operis  alicujus  effectio,  ex  intentione  est  atque  inquisitioni  sub- 
jicitur.  Secunda  ostendit  modum  conficiendi  tabulas  practicas 
generales,  per  quas  omnigen®  operum  designationes  facilius  et 


DELINEATIO  ET  ARGUMENTUM. 


557 


promptius  deducantur.  Tertia  subjungit  modum  quendam  in- 
quirendi  sive  inveniendi  opera,  imperfectum  certe,  sed  taraen 
non  inutilem,  quo  ab  experimento  ad  experimentum  procedatur 
absque  constitutione  axiomatis.  Nam  quemadmodum  ab  axio- 
mate  ad  axioma,  ita  etiam  ab  experimento  ad  experimentum 
datur  et  aperitur  quaedam  via  ad  inveniendum  instabilis  et  lu- 
brica,  sed  tamen  non  prorsus  silentio  pratermittenda.  Jam 
igitur  et  practicam  ministrationem  quoque,  quae  in  distributione 
ultima  posita  est,  absolvimus.  Atque  baec  est  hujusce  secundi 
libri  aperta  et  brevis  delineatio.  Quibus  explicatis,  Thalamum 
nos  Mentis  Humanse  et  Universi,  pronuba  divina  bonitate, 
plane  constituisse  confidimus.  Epithalamii  autem  votum  sit,  ut 
ex  eo  connubio  auxilia  humana,  tanquam  stirps  heroum,  quae  ne¬ 
cessitates  et  miserias  hominum  aliqua  ex  parte  debellent  et  do- 
ment,  suscipiatur  et  deducatur.  Sub  finem  tamen  quaedam  de 
laborum  consociatione  et  successione  subjiciemus.  Tunc  enim 
demum  homines  vires  suas  noscent,  cum  non  eadem  infiniti,  sed 
omissa  alii  prsestabunt.  Neque  sane  de  futuris  aetatibus  spem 
abjecimus,  quin  exoriantur  qui  ista  a  tenuibus  profecta  initiis  in 
rnajus  provehant.  Illud  enim  occurrit,  hoc  quod  agitur,  ob  boni 
naturam  eminentem,  manifeste  a  Deo  esse.  In  divinis  autem 
operibus  minima  quaeque  principia  eventum  trahunt.1 

REDARGUTIO  PHILOSOPHIARUM. 

Atque  in  redargutione  ipsa  philosophiarum  quam  paramus, 
nescimus  fere  quo  nos  vertamus,  cum  via  quae  aliis  in  con- 
futationibus  patuit  nobis  interclusa  sit.  Nam  et  tot  et  tanta 
se  ostendunt  errorum  agmina,  ut  ea  non  strictim  sed  confertim 
evertere  et  summovere  necesse  sit ;  et  si  propius  accedere  et 
cum  singulis  manum  conserere  velimus,  id  frustra  fuerit ;  sub- 
lata  disputationis  lege,  cum  de  principiis  non  consentiamus  ;  et 
multo  magis,  quod  ipsas  probationum  et  demonstrationum 
formas  et  potestates  rejiciamus.  Quod  si  (id  quod  solum  re- 
linqui  videtur)  ea  quae  nos  asserimus  a  sensu  ipso  et  experientia 
educere  et  excitare  connitamur,  rursus  eodem  revolvimur ;  et 


1  Here  tlie  Delineation  ends,  and  the  work  itself  begins,  with  the  first  part  of  the 
Pars  Destruens ;  namely  the  Redargutio  Philosophiarum.  The  Harleian  MS.  (which 
begins  with  the  words  Dum  hcec  tractarem,  at  the  bottom  of  the  next  page  and  enables 
us  to  complete  this  fragment)  bears  that  title,  and  this  seems  to  be  the  proper  place 
for  the  introduction  of  it;  though  there  is  uo  title  here  in  the  original,  but  only  a 
fresh  paragraph. 


558 


REDARGUT10  PHILOSOPHIARUM. 


obliti  eorum  quae  de  animorum  praeparatione  dicta  sunt,  con- 
trariam  ingressi  viam  inveniamur ;  nam  in  res  ipsas  abrupte  et 
directo  incidamus,  ad  quas  viam  quandam  aperiri  et  substerni, 
propter  obfirmatas  animorum  prseoccupationes  et  obsessiones, 
necesse  esse  decrevimus.  Sed  tamen  propterea  ipsi  nos  minime 
deseremus ;  sed  aliquid  comminisci  et  tentare  quod  proposito 
nostro  consentaneum  sit  conabimur ;  turn  signa  quaedam  ad- 
ducentes,  ex  quibus  de  philosophiis  judicium  fieri  possit ;  turn 
interim  inter  ipsas  philosophias,  portenta  errorum  nonnulla,  et 
mera  animorum  ludibria,  ad  earum  authoritatem  labefactandam 
notantes.  Neque  tamen  nos  fugit,  fortius  hujusmodi  errorum 
sera 1  figi,  quam  ut  eis  per  satyram  derogetur  ;  praesertim  cum 
viris  doctis  non  sit  nova  aut  incognita  ea  confident!*  et  jactantiae 
species,  quae  opiniones  abjicit,  non  frangit.  Sed  nec  nos  ali¬ 
quid  levius  aut  inferius  quam  pro  rei  quae  agitur  maj estate 
afferemus,  neque  ex  hoc  genere  redargutionis  prorsus  fidem 
facere,  sed  tantum  patientiam  et  aequanimitatem,  idque  in 
ingeniis  tantum  altioribus  et  firmioribus,  conciliare  speramus. 
Neque  enim  quispiam  ex  isto  assiduo  et  perpetuo  errorum 
contubernio  ita  se  recipere  potest,  et  ad  nostra  cum  tanta  be- 
nevolentia  et  animi  magnitudine  accedere,  ut  non  cupiat  habere 
interim  quae  de  veteribus  et  receptis  cogitet  et  opinetur.  Sane 
in  tabellis  non  alia  inscripseris,  nisi  priora  deleveris ;  in  mente 
aegre  priora  deleveris,  nisi  alia  inscripseris. 

Itaque  huic  desiderio  subveniendum  putavimus,  atque  haec 
prorsus  eo  spectant  (ut  quod  res  est  aperte  eloquamur)  ut 
volentes  ducant,  non  ut  nolentes  trahant.  Omnem  violentiam 
(utjam  ab  initio  professi  sumus)  abesse  volumus :  atque  quod 
Borgia  facete  de  Caroli  Octavi  expeditione  in  Italiam  dixit, 
Gallos  venisse  in  manibus  cretam  tenentes,  qua  diversoria  no- 
tarent,  non  arma,  quibus  perrumperent ;  similem  quoque  in- 
ventorum  nostrorum  et  rationem  et  successum  animo  praecipimus ; 
nimirum  ut  potius  animos  hominum  capaces  et  idoneos  seponere 
et  subire  possint,  quam  contra  sentientibus  molesta  sint.  Yerum 
in  hac  parte  de  qua  jam  loquimur,  quae  ad  redargutionem  phi- 
losophiarum  pertinet,  feliciter  sane  levati  sumus,  casu  quodam 
opportuno  et  mirabili.  Nam2  dum  haec  tractarem,  intervenit 

1  aera  in  Grutcr. 

2  Here  begins  the  Harleian  MS.  :  the  title  Redargutio  Philosophiarum  being  in¬ 
serted  at  the  head  of  it,  but  in  a  comparatively  modern  hand.  Whether  it  bore  that 
title  originally  must  remain  doubtful,  the  cover  (if  it  ever  had  any)  being  lost. 


REDARGUTIO  PHILOSOPHIARUM. 


559 


amicus  meus  quidam  ex  Gallia  rediens,  quem  cum  salutassem, 
atque  ego  ilium,  ille  me,  de  rebus  nostris  familiariter  inter- 
rogassemus:  Tu  yero,  inquit,  vacuis  tuis  ab  occupationibus 
civilibus  spatiis ',  aut  saltern  remittentibus  negotiis,  quid  agis  ? 
Opportune,  inquam  ;  nam  ne  nihil2  me  agere  existimes,  meditor 
Instaurationem  Philosophise,  quae3  nihil  inanis  aut  abstracti 
habeat,  quaeque  vitae  humanse  conditiones  in  melius  provehat. 
Honestum  profecto  opus,  inquit :  et  quos  socios  habes  ?  Ego 
certe,  inquam,  in  summa  solitudine  versor.4  Durae  inquit, 
partes  tuae  sunt ;  et  statim  addidit ;  Atque  tamen  scito  haec  aliis 
curae  esse.  Turn  ego  laetatus,  Animam,  inquam,  reddidisti.5 
Ego  enim  hoc  animo  praeceperam,  foetum  meum  veluti  in 
eremo  periturum.6  Vis,  inquit,  ut  tihi  narrem  quae  mihi  in 
Gallia  circa  hujusmodi  negotium  evenerunt  ?  Libentissime,  in¬ 
quam,  atque  insuper  gratiam  habebo.  Turn  retulit  se  Parisiis 
vocatum  a  quodam  amico  suo,  atque  introductum  in  consessum 
virorum,  qualem,  inquit,  vel  tu  videre  velles ;  nihil7  tin  vita 
mihi  accidit  jucundius.  Erant  autem  circiter  quinquaginta 
viri,  neque  ex  iis  quisquam  adolescens,  sed  omnes  aetate  pro- 
vectiores  ;  quique  vultu  ipso  dignitatem  cum  probitate  singuli 
prae  se  ferrent.  Inter  quos  aiebat  se  cognovisse  nonnullos 
honoribus  perfunctos,  atque  alios  ex  senatu  ;  etiam  antistites  sa- 
crorum  insignes,  atque  ex  omni  fere  ordine  eminentiore  aliquos. 
Erant  etiam  quidam,  ut  aiebat,  peregrini  ex  diversis  nationibus. 
Atque  cum8  primo  introiisset,  invenisse9  eos  familiariter  inter  se 
colloquentes ;  sedebant  tamen  ordine  sedilibus  dispositis,  ac 
veluti  adventum  alicujus  expectantes.  Neque  ita  multo  post 
ingressum  ad  eos  virum  quendam10,  aspectus  (ut  ei  videbatur) 
admodum  placidi  et  sereni ;  nisi  quod  oris  compositio  erat  tan- 
quam  miserantis ;  cui  cum  omnes  assurrexissent :  Ille  circum- 
spiciens  et  subridens,  nunquam,  inquit,  existimavi  potuisse  fieri, 
ut  otium  omnium  vestrum,  cum  singulos  recognosco,  in  unum 


The  word  spatiis  is  crossed  out  in  the  MS.,  and  intervallis  substituted  in  Bacon’s 
hand.  It  is  the  only  correction  which  Gruter’s  copy  does  not  contain. 

1  nit  in  MS. 

*  ejusmodi  qua  in  MS. 

4  Ego  certe,  inquam,  profecto  nuUos  :  quin  nec  quenquam  habeo  quocum  familiariter 
de  hujusmodi  rebus  colloqui  possim,  ut  me  saltern  explicem  et  exacuam.  MS. 

5  Guttula,  inquam,  me  aspersisti  atque  animam  reddidisti.  —  MS. 

«  Ego  enim  anum  quandam  fatidicam  non  ita  pridem  conveni,  qua  mihi  nescio  quid 
obmurmurans  vaticinata  est  fatum  meum  in  solitudine  periturum.  MS. 

7  nihil  enim.  —  MS,  . 

«  cum  ille.  —  MS.  tnvenU-  ~  MS’ 

10  ingressus  est  ad  eos  vir  quidam, — MS. 


560 


REDARGUTIO  PHILOSOPHIARUM. 


atque  idem  tempus  coincident ;  idque  quomodo  evenerit,  satis 
mirari  non  possum.  Cumque  unus  ex  coetu  respondisset,  eura 
ipsum  hoc  otium  illis  fecisse,  cum  quae  ab  ipso 1  exspectarent  illi 
ducerent  omni  negotio  potiora :  Atque  (ut  video)  inquit,  uni- 
versa  ilia  jactura  ejus  quod  hie  consumetur  temporis,  quo  certe 
vos  separati  multis  mortalibus  profuissetis,  ad  meas  rationes  ac- 
cedet.  Quod  si  ita  est,  videndum  profecto  ne  vos  diutius  morer ; 
simul  consedit,  absque  suggesto  aut  cathedra,  sed  ex  aequo 
cum  caeteris;  atque  hujusmodi  quaedam  apud  eum  consessum 
verba  fecit.  Nam  aiebat  qui  haec  narrabat,  se  ilia  turn  excepisse 
ut  potuit ;  licet  cum  apud  se  una  cum  iilo  amico  suo,  qui  eum 
introduxerat,  ea  recognosceret,  fateretur  ea  longe  inferiora  iis 
quae  turn  dicta  essent  visa  esse.  Exemplum  autem  orationis  2, 
quod  circa  se  habebat,  proferebat.  Illud  ita  scriptum  erat :  Yos 
certe,  filii,  homines  estis:  hoc  est,  ut  ego  existimo,  non  ani- 
mantes  erecti,  sed  Divi  mortales.3  Deus,  mundi  conditor  et 
vestrum,  animas  vobis  donavit  mundi  ipsius  capaces ;  nec  tamen 
eo  ipso  satiandas.  Itaque  fidem  vestram  sibi  seposuit  et  reti- 
nuit4,  mundum  sensui  attribuit;  neutra  autem  oracula  clara  esse 
voluit,  sed  involuta ;  neque  queri  potestis  si  vos  exerceat 5, 
quandoquidem  excellentiam  rerum  rependat.6  Atque  de  rebus 
divinis  optima  de  vobis  spero;  circa  humana  autem  metuo 
vobis,  ne  diuturnus  error  vos  usuceperit.  Existimo  enim  hoc 
apud  vos  penitus  credi,  vos  statu  uti  scientiarum  florente  et 
bono.  Ego  rursus  moneo  vos,  ne  eorum  qure  habetis  aut  co- 
piam  aut  utilitatem,  quasi  ad  magnum  aliquod  fastigium  evecti 
et  votorum  compotes  aut  laboribus  perfuncti  accipiatis.  Idque 
sic  considerate;  si7  omnem  illam  scriptorum  varietatem  qua 
scientise  tument  et  luxuriantur  excutiatis,  et  de  eo  quod  affe- 
runt  scripta  ilia8  interpelletis  et  stricte  et  presse  examinetis, 
ubique  reperietis  ejusdem  rei  repetitiones  infinitas ;  verbis,  or- 
dine,  exemplis,  atque  illustratione,  diversas ;  rerum  summa  et 
pondere  ac  vera  potestate  praelibatas  ac  demum  fere 9  iteratas ; 
ut  in  pompa  paupertas  sit,  et  in  rebus  jejunis  fastidium.  Atque 
si  vobiscum  familiariter  loqui  et  jocari  hac  de  re  liceat,  videtur 

1  So  MS.  Gruter’s  copy  has  illo. 

2  orationis,  quam  e.rceperat.  —  MS. 

*  homines  estis  et  mortales ;  nec  conditionis  vestree  tantum  pceniteat  si  natures  vestree  satis 
memineritis.  —  MS. 

4  et  retinuit  omitted  in  MS.  5  ut  vos  exerceret .  —  MS. 

*  repen  dent.  —  MS.  *  in  omnem.  —  MS. 

8  excutiatis  et . .  .  scripta  ilia  omitted  in  MS.  8  ac  plane  in  MS. 


REDARGUTIO  PHILOSOPHIARUM. 


561 


doctrina  vestra  corn®  illius 1  hospitis  Chalcidensis  similllma,  qui 
cum  interrogaretur  unde  tam  varia  venatio,  respondit,  ilia 
omnia  condimentis2  ex  mansueto  sue  esse  facta.  Neque  enim 
uegabitis  universam  istam  copiam  nil  aliud  esse  quam  por- 
tionem  quandam  philosophic  Grsecorum ;  eamque  certe  minime 
in  saltu  aut  sylvis  n  a  tune  nutritam ;  sed  in  scholis  et  cellis,  tan- 
quam  animal  domesticum  saginatum.  Si  enim 3  a  Graecis  iisque 
paucis  abscedatur 4,  quid  tandem  babent  vel  Romani  vel  Arabes 
vel  nostri,  quod  non  ab  Aristotelis,  Platonis,  Hippocratis,  Ga- 
leni,  Euclidis 5,  Ptolemfei  inventis  derivetur,  aut  in  eadem  re- 
cidat?  Itaque  videtis  divitias  vestras  esse  paucorum  census; 
atque  in  sex  fortasse  hominum  cerebellis  spes  et  fortunas  om¬ 
nium  sitas  esse.6  Neque  vero  idcirco  Deus  vobis  animas  ra¬ 
tionales  indidit,  ut  Autboris  vestri  partes7  (fidem  scilicet  vestram 
quae  Deo  et 8  divinis  debetur)  hominibus  differretis :  neque  sen- 
sus  informationem  firmam  et  validam  attribuit,  ut  paucorum 
hominum  opera,  sed  ut  ipsius  Dei  opera9,  Coelum  et  Terram, 
contemplaremini ;  laudes  ejus  10  celebrantes,  et  hymnum  condi- 
tori11  vestro  canentes,  iis 12  etiam  viris,  si  placet  (nihil  enim  ob- 
stat),  in  chorum  receptis.13  Quinetiam  ista  ipsa  doctrina,  usu 
vestra,  origine  Graeca,  qu®  tanta  pompa  incedit,  quota  pars 
fuit  ilia  sapienti®  Grsecorum?  Ea  enim  varia  fuit;  varietas 
autem  ut  veritati  non  acquiescit,  ita  nec  errorem  figit ;  sed  ad 
veritatem  est  instar  iridis  ad  solem,  quas  omnium  imaginum  est 
maxime  infirma  et  quasi  deperdita,  sed  tamen  imago.  Yerum 
et  hanc  quoque  varietatem  nobis  extinxit  (Gnecus  et  ipse) 
Aristoteles :  credo,  ut  discipuli  res  gestas  aequaret.  Atque  di- 
ecipuli  prcconium  (si  recte  memini)  tale  celebratur : 

Felix  terrarum  praedo,  non  utile  mundo 

Editus  exemplum,  terras  tot  posse  sub  uno 

Esse  viro. 

An  et  magister,  felix  doctrin®  praedo  ?  Acerbe  illud,  sed  quae 
sequuntur  optime.  Nullo  enim  modo  ille  utilis  rebus  humanis, 
qui  tot  egregia  ingenia,  tot  (inquam)  libera  capita  in  servitutem 
redegerit.  Itaque,  filii,  de  copia  vestra  audistis  quam  arcta. 


1  ilH  MS  2  condimentis  omitted  in  MS. 

«  'Quod  si  —MS.  4  a-bscedatis.  —  MS. 

6  In  the  MS.  Euclidis  is  inserted  between  the  linfs  in  Bacon’s  hand. 

6  Itaque  videtis  in  sex  fortasse  hominum  cerebellis  et  animulis  spes  et  fortunas  vestras 
sitas  esse.  —  MS. 

*  saas  paries.  —  MS.  8  Deo  et  omitted  in  MS.  . 

»  sua  demum  opera.  -  MS.  10  suas  in  MS.  ’  —  MS. 

12  /,is  Ms.  13  acceptis.— MS.  Here  Gruter  s  coiiy  ends. 


562 


REDARGUTIO  PHILOSOPHIARUM. 


quam  ad  paucos  redacta.  Divitite  enim  vestrae  sunt  paucorum 
census.1  De  utilitate  jam  attendite.  At  quem  tandem  aditum 
ad  mentes  et  sensus  vestros,  non  dicam  impetrabimus  (vos  enim 
benevoli),  sed  struemus  aut  machinabimur,  res  siquidem  diffi- 
cilis  ?  Quo  fomite,  qua  accensione  lumen  vobis  innatum  ex- 
citabimus,  idque  a  praestigiis  luminis  adventitii  et  infusi  libera- 
bimus  ?  Quomodo,  inquam,  nos  vobis  dabimus,  ut  vos  vobis 
reddamus  ?  Infinita  praejudicia  facta  sunt,  opiniones  haustaa, 
receptae,  sparsae.  Theologi  multa  e  philosophia  ista  sua  fece- 
runt,  et  speculativam  quandam  ab  utraque  doctrina  coagmen- 
tatam  condiderunt.  Yiri  civiles,  qui  ad  existimationis  suae 
fructum  pertinere  putant  ut  docti  habeantur,  multa  ubique  ex 
eadem  scriptis  suis  et  orationibus  inspergunt.  Etiam  voces, 
filii,  et  verba  ex  dictamine  ejusdem  philosophiae,  et  secundum 
ejus  praescripta  et  placita,  apposite  conficta  sunt ;  adeo  ut  simul 
ac  loqui  didiceritis  (felicem  dicam  an  infelicem)  hanc  errorum 
Cabalam  haurire  et  imbibere  necesse  fuerit.  Neque  baec  tantum 
consensu  singulorum  firmata,  sed  et  institutis  academiarum, 
collegiorum,  ordinum,  fere  rerumpublicarum,  veluti  sancita  est. 
Huic  itaque  jam  subito  renunciabitis  ?  idne  sumus  vobis  au- 
thores?  Atqui  ego,  filii,  hoc  non  postulo,  neque  hujusmodi 
philosophiae  vestrae  fructus  moror,  aut  eos  vobis  interdico,  neque 
in  solitudinem  aliquam  vos  abripiam.  Utimini  philosophia 
quam  habetis,  disputationes  vestras  ex  ejus  uberibus  alite,  ser- 
mones  ornate,  graviores  apud  vulgus  hominum  hoc  ipso  nomine 
estote.  Neque  enim  philosophia  vera  ad  haec  multum  utilis 
vobis  erit:  non  praesto  est,  nec  in  transitu  capitur,  nec  ex 
praenotionibus  intellectui  blanditur,  non  ad  vulgi  captum  (nisi 
per  utilitatem  et  opera)  descendit.  Servate  itaque  et  illam 
alteram,  et  prout  commodum  vobis  erit  adhibete  :  atque  aliter 
cum  natura,  aliter  cum  populo  negotiamini.  Nemo  enim  est 
qui  plus  multo  quam  alius  quis  intelligit,  quin  ad  minus  intelli- 
gentem  tanquam  personatus2  sit,  ut  se  exuat,  alteri  det.  Verum 
illud  vos  familiariter  pro  more  nostro  moneo,  Habete  Laidem 
dummodo  a  Laide  non  habeamini.3  Judicium  sustinete;  aliis 
vos  date,  non  dedite  ;  et  vos  melioribus  servate.  Atque  vide- 

1  This  sentence  is  underlined  in  the  MS.  In  Gruter’s  copy  it  is  introduced  before 
and  would  probably  have  been  omitted  here. 

2  Compare  De  hit.  Nat.  Sententice,  XII. ;  Privata  Negotia  personatus  administret, 
rerum  tamen  provisus  subvenerans. 

*  Diog.  Laert  in  Aristippo.  —  R.  L.  E. 


REDARGUTIO  PHILOSOPHIARUM.  563 

mur  minus  quiddam  vobis  imponere1,  quod  haec  quae  in  manibus 
habetis  usu  vobis  et  bonore  manebunt ;  ideoque  aequiore  animo 
passuri  estis,  eadem  de  veritate  et  utilitate  in  dubium  vocari. 
Verum  etiamsi  vos  optime  animati  essetis,  ut  quaecunque  hac- 
tenus  didicistis  aut  credidistis,  spretis  opinionibus  ac  etiam  rati- 
onibus  vestris  privatis,  vel  boc  ipso  loco  deposituri  sitis,  modo  de 
veritate  vobis  constaret ;  attamen  bac  quoque  ex  parte  baeremus ; 
neque  habemus  fere  quo  nos  vertamus,  ut  fidem  vobis  rei  tarn 
inopinatae  et  novae  faciamus.  Certe  disputationis  lex  penitus 
sublata  est,  cum  de  principiis  nobis  vobiscum  non  conveniat. 
Etiam  spes  ejusaem  praecisa  est,  quia  de  demonstrationibus  quae 
nunc  in  usu  sunt  dubitatio  injecta  est,  atque  accusatio  suscepta. 
Atque  hoc  animorum  statu  veritas  ipsa  vobis  non  tuto  commit- 
titur.  Itaque  intellectus  vester  praeparandus  antequam  docen- 
dus,  animi  sanandi  antequam  exercendi  sunt,  area  denique  pur- 
ganda  antequam  inaedificanda :  atque  ad  bunc  finem  boc  tempore 
convenistis.  Qua  igitur  industria  aut  commoditate  boc  nego- 
tium  discutiemus  aut  agemus  ?  Non  desperandum.  Inest  pro- 
fecto,  filii,  animae  bumanae,  utcunque  occupatae  et  obsessae, 
aliqua  pars  intellectus  pura  et  veritatis  hospita ;  estque  ad  earn 
aliqua  molli  clivo  orbita  deducens.  Agite,  filii,  vos  et  ego  viros 
doctos,  si  quid  in  hoc  genere  sumus,  exuamus ;  et  faciamus  nos 
tanquam  aliquos  e  plebe,  et  omissis  rebus  ipsis  ex  signis  qui- 
busdam  externis  conjecturas  capiamus.  Haec  enim  saltern  nobis 
cum  hommibus  communia  sunt.  Goctrina  vestra,  ut  dictum 
est,  fluxit  a  Graecis.  Qualis  natio?  Nil  mihi  rei  cum  convitio 
est,  fibi ;  itaque  quae  de  ea  dicta  sunt  ab  aliis,  nec  repetam  nec 
imitabor.  Tantum  dico  earn  nationem  fuisse  semper  ingemo 
praeproperam,  more  professoriam ;  quae  duo  sapientiae  et  veritati 
sunt  inimicissima.  Nec  praeterire  fas  est  verba  sacerdotis 
AiVyptii,  praesertim  ad  virum  e  Graecia  excellentem  prolata,  ab 
authore  etiam  nobili  e  Graecia  relata.  Is  sacerdos  certe  verus 
vates  fuit,  cum  diceret,  Yos  Graeci  semper  pueri.  Annon  bene 
divinatum  est?  Verissime  certe,  Graecos  pueros  aeternos  esse; 
idque  non  tantum  in  historia  et  rerum  memoria,  sed  multo 
magis  in  rerum  contemplatione.  Quidni  enim  sit  instar  pueritiae 
ea  philosophia,  quae  garrire  et  causari  noverit,  generare  et  pro- 
creare  non  possit?  Disputationibus  inepta  operibus  inanis? 
Mementote  ergo  (ut  ait  propbeta)  rupis  ex  qua  excisi  estis,  et 

1  Atque  respirare  mihi  nonnihil  videmini,  was  the  original  reading  of  the  MS. 


37  Bacon  III 


564 


REDARGUTIO  PHILOSOPHIARUM. 


de  natione  cujus  authoritatem  sequimini,  quod  Graeca  sit,  in- 
terdum  cogitate.  Sequitur  temporis  nota,  qua  philosopliia  ista 
vestra  nata  est  et  prodiit.  iEtas  erat,  filii,  cum  ilia  condita 
fuit,  fabulis  vicina,  historiae  egena,  peregrinationibus  et  notitia 
orbis  parum  informata  aut  illustrata,  quaeque  nec  antiquitatis 
yenerationem  nec  temporum  recentium  copiam  habebat,  sed 
utraque  dignitate  et  prasrogativa  carebat.  Etenim  antiquis 
temporibus  credere  licet  fuisse  di vinos  viros,  qui  altiora  quam 
pro  hominum  communi  conditione  saperent.  Nostram  autem 
aetatem  fateri  necesse  est,  prae  ilia  de  qua  loquimur,  (ut  taceam 
ingeniorum  et  meditationum  fructus  et  labores)  etiam  duorum 
fere  mille  annorum  eventis  et  experientia,  et  duarum  tertiarum 
orbis  notitia  auctam  esse.  Itaque  videte  quam  anguste  habi- 
taverint  vel  potius  conclusa  fuerint  iilius  astatis  ingenia,  si  rem 
vel  per  tempora  vel  per  regiones  computetis.  Neque  enim 
mille  annorum  historiam,  quae  digna  historic  nomine  sit,  habe- 
bant;  sed  fabulas  et  somnia.  Regionum  vero  tractuumque 
mundi  quotam  partem  noverant?  Cum  omnes  hyperboreos 
Scythas,  omnes  occidentales  Celtas,  indistincte  appellarent ;  nil 
in  Africa  ultra  citimam  JEthiopiae  partem,  nil  in  Asia  ultra 
Gangem,  multo  minus  novi  orbis  provincias,  ne  per  auditum 
sane  aut  fama  nossent ;  imo  et  plurima  climata  et  zonas,  quibus 
populi  infiniti  spirant  et  degunt,  tanquam  inbabitabiles  ab  illis 
pronuntiatae  sint:  quinetiam  peregrinationes  Democriti,  Pla- 
tonis,  Pytbagorae,  non  longinquae  profecto,  sed  potius  subur- 
banae,  ut  magnum  aliquid  celebrantur.  Atque  experientia,  filii, 
ut  aqua,  quo  largior  est  eo  minus  corrumpitur.  Nostris  autem 
temporibus  (ut  scitis)  oceanus  sinus  laxavit,  et  novi  orbes  pa- 
tuere,  et  veteris  orbis  extrema  undique  innotescunt,  idque 
distincte  ac  proprie,  Itaque  ex  aetatis  et  temporis  natura,  veluti 
ex  nativitate  et  genitura  philosophise  vestrae,  nil  magni  de  ea 
Chaldaei  praedixerint.  De  hominibus  videamus.  Qua  in  re 
optimo  fato  boc  fit  (neque  id  artificio  aliquo  nostro  cautum  est, 
sed  ipsa  res  hoc  non  solum  patitur,  verum  etiam  postulat),  ut  et 
illis  honor  servetur,  et  nos  modestiam  nostram  tueri  et  retinere 
possimus,  et  tamen  fidem  liberare.  Nos  enim,  filii,  nec  invidiae 
nec  j actant iae  nobis  conscii  sumus,  nec  de  ingenii  palma  nec  de 
placitorum  regno  contendimus ;  longe  alia  nostra  ratio  est  et 
finis,  hocque  mox  aperietur.  Itaque  antiquorum  ingeniis,  ex- 
cellentiae,  facultati,  nihil  detrahimus ;  sed  generi  ipsi,  vise,  insti¬ 
tute,  authoritati,  placitis,  necessario  derogamus.  Immensum 


REDARCUTIO  Pl'ILOSOPIII ARUM. 


5G5 


cnim  est  quantum  scientiarum  progressum  deprimant ;  atque 
opinio  copias  inter  maximas  causas  inopise  reperitur.  Atque  duo 
sunt  viri,  filii,  quorum  placita  ex  libris  eorum  propriis  haurire 
licet :  Plato  et  Aristo teles :  utinam  illud  et  reliquorum  non- 
nullis  contigisset.  Sed  Aristoteles,  Othomannorum  more,  re- 
gnare  se  non  potuisse  existimavit,  nisi  fratres  trucidasset.  Idque 
ei,  non  statim  sane  sed  postea,  ex  voto  nimis  feliciter  successit. 
De  Iris  itaque  duobus  pauca  dicere  instituimus.  Xenophontem 
autem  tertium  non  adjungimus,  suavem  scriptorem  et  virum 
excellentem.  Yerum  cum  illia  qui  philosophiam  tanquam 
ingenii  peregrinationem  amoenam  et  jucundam,  non  tanquam 
provinciam  laboriosam  et  solicitam,  susceperunt,  nobis  non 
multum  rei  est.  Itaque  hos  duos  viros,  Platonem  et  Aristote- 
lem,  si  quis  inter  maxima  mortalium  ingenia  non  numeret,  aut 
minus  perspicit  aut  minus  ajquus  est.  Ingenia  certe  illorum 
capacia,  acuta,  sublimia.  Sed  tamen  videndum  primo,  cujus 
generis  philosophantium  censeri  possint.  Invenio  enim  tria 
genera  apud  Gra;cos  eorum  qui  philosophise  cultores  habiti  sint. 
Primum  erat  sophistarum,  qui  per  plurimas  civitates  instituta 
profectione,  et  per  singulas  mansitantes,  adolescentes,  recepta 
mercede,  sapientia  imbuere  professi  sunt ;  quales  fuere  Gorgias, 
Protagoras,  Hippias,  quos  Plato  ubique  exagitat,  et  fere  in 
comoedise  morem  deridendos  propinat.  Neque  enim  hi  rhetores 
tantum  erant,  aut  orationum  conscriptores,  sed  universalem  re¬ 
rum  notitiam  sibi  arrogabant.  Secundum  erat  eorum  qui  majore 
fastu  et  opinione,  locis  certis  et  sedibus  fixis,  scholas  aperiebant, 
atque  placita  et  sectam  condentes  aut  excipientes,  auditores,  se- 
ctatores,  successores  insuper  habebant.  Ex  quo  genere  erant 
Plato,  Aristoteles,  Zeno,  Epicurus.  Nam  Pythagoras  etiam  au¬ 
ditores  traxit,  et  sectam  constituit;  sed  traditionum  potius  quam 
disputationum  plenam,  et  superstitioni  quam  philosophise  propio- 
rem.  Tertium  autem  genus  erant  eorum,  qui  remoto  strepitu 
et  pompa  professoria,  serio  veritatis  inquisitioni  et  rerum  con- 
templationi  dediti,  et  (tanquam  Endymion)  solitarii  et  qunsi 
sopiti,  sibi  philosophabantur  ;  aut  adhibitis  paucis  (quibus  idem 
amor  erat)  in  colloquiorum  suavitatem,  destinata  perficiebant ; 
neque  Galatese  more,  cujus  lusus  in  undis,  disputationum  pro- 
cellis  se  oblectabant.  Atque  tales  fuere  Empedocles,  Heraclitus, 
Democritus,  Anaxagoras,  Parmenides.  Neque  enim  reperietis 
hos  scholas  aperuisse,  sed  tandem  speculationes  et  inventa  sua 
in  scripta  redegisse,  et  posteris  transmisisse.  Nunc  autem 


566 


REDARGUT10  PHILOSOPHIARUM. 


videtis  certe,  filii,  quae  res  agatur.  Ego  enim  duo  prima  genera 
(utcunque  se  invicem  abnegent  et  proscindant)  tamen  natura 
rei  ipsius  connexa  esse  statuo.  Itaque  non  h®sitabo  apud  vos 
dicere,  me  locum  Platoni  et  Aristoteli  tribuere  inter  Sophistas : 
sed  tanquam  ordinis  emendati  et  reformati.  Eandem  enim  rem 
prorsus  video.  Aberat  fortasse  loci  mutatio  et  circumcursatio, 
et  mercedis  indignitas,  et  inepta  ostentatio ;  atque  lucet  in  illis 
certe  quiddam  solennius  et  nobilius ;  sed  aderant  schola,  au¬ 
ditor,  secta.1  Itaque  genus  ipsum  profecto  cernitis.  Jam  vero 
de  viris  ipsis  aliquid  separatim  dicamus ;  institutum  servantes, 
ut  missis  rebus  ex  signis  conjiciamus.  Itaque  ab  Aristotele 
exorsi,  memoriam  vestram,  filii,  testamur,  si  in  physicis  ejus  et 
metaphysicis  non  ssepius  dialectic®  quam  naturae  voces  audiatis. 
Quid  enim  solidi  ab  eo  sperari  possit,  qui  mundum  tanquam  e 
categoriis  effecerit  ?  qui  negotium  materi®  et  vacui,  et  raritatis 
et  densitatis,  per  distinctionem  Actus  et  Potentiae  transegerit  ? 
qui  anim®  genus  non  multo  melius  quam  ex  vocibus  secundae 
intentionis  trifeuerit?  Yerum  haec  ad  res  ipsas  penetrant. 
Itaque  ab  hujusmodi  sermone  absistendum.  Nam  cum  con- 
futationem  justam  instituere  immemoris  plane  sit,  ita  et  opini- 
ones  tanti  hominis  per  satyram  perstringere  superbum  foret. 
Signa  autem  in  illo  non  bona,  quod  ingenium  incitatum  et  se 
proripiens,  nec  alien®  cogitationis  nec  propri®  fere  patiens ; 
quod  qu®stionum  artifex2,  quod  contradictionibus  continuus, 
quod  antiquitati  infestus  et  insultans,  quod  qu®sita  obscu- 
ritas  est ;  alia  plurima,  qu®  omnia  magisterium  sapiunt,  non 
inquisitionem  veritatis.3  Quod  si  quis  ad  h®c :  censuram 
rem  proclivem  fortasse  esse ;  illud  interim  constare,  post 
Aristotelis  opera  edita,  pleraque  antiquorum  veluti  deserta 
exolevisse ;  apud  tempora  autem  qu®  sequuta  sunt,  nil  me¬ 
lius  inventum  esse ;  magnum  itaque  virum  Aristotelem,  qui 
utrumque  tempus  ad  se  traxerit ;  atque  verisimile  esse,  phi- 
losopbiam  in  eo  ipso  tanquam  sedes  fixas  posuisse,  ut  nihil 
restet  nisi  ut  conservetur  et  ornetur :  —  Ego,  filii,  cogita- 
tionem  hanc  esse  existimo  hominis  vel  imperiti,  vel  partibus 
infecti,  vel  desidis.  Est  enim  (ut  dicit  scriptura)  desidia  qu®- 

'  The  words  nobis  autem  pro  desperata  fiab'etur  res .  cum  inquisitio  veritatis  transit 
in  institutionem  aut  defensionem  secta,  which  followed  in  the  MS.,  have  a  line  drawn 
through  them. 

2  Originally  Signa  autem  ilia  non  bona  quod  ubique  inanes  quastiones  subdit,  dein 
solvit  ;  Qvod  in  causarum  explicatione ,  prasertim  earvm  qua  ad  parti cu! a  res  opera - 
tiones  spectant ,  aut  propria  subtilitate  attonitus  liar  el  et  ambigit,  aut  partem  rei  attirigit 
et  statim  se  abripit :  Quod  contradictionibus ,  &c. 

3  Originally,  et  conditorem  secta,  non  samnn  et  sinccram  inquisitionem  veritatis . 


REDARGUTIO  PHILOSOPHIARUM. 


567 


dam,  qu®  sibi  prudens  videtur  et  septemplici  rationum  pondere 
gravior.  Atque  proculdubio  (si  verum  omnino  dicendum  est) 
ista  desidia  hujus  opinionis  invenietur  pars  vel  maxima ;  dum 
human®  naturae  ingenita  superbia,  vitiis  propriis  non  solum 
ignoscens  verum  etiam  cultum  quendam  prophanum  attribuens, 
laborum  et  inquirendi  et  experiendi  fugam  pro  ea  quae  pru- 
dentiae  comes  sit  diffidentia  veneretur ;  neque  ita  multo  post, 
socordia  singulorum  judicium  et  authoritatem  universorum  re- 
praesentet  et  effingat.  Nos  vero  primo  illud  interrogamus,  an 
ob  illud  vir  magnus  Aristoteles,  quod  utrumque  tempus  traxe- 
rit?  Certe  magnus:  Itane?  At  non  major  quam  impostorum 
maximus.  Impostur®  enim,  atque  adeo  Principis  Impostur® 
Antichristi,  h®c  pr®rogativa  singularis  est.  Y eni  (inquit  veritas 
ipsa)  in  nomine  patris  mei,  nec  recipitis  me  :  si  quis  venerit 
nomine  suo,  eum  recipietis.  Audistisne  filii  ?  sensu  non  proprio 
certe,  sed  pio  et  vero,  qui  in  nomine  paternitatis  aut  antiqui- 
tatis  venerit  non  receptum  iri ;  qui  autem  priora  prosternendo, 
destruendo,  authoritatem  sibi  usurpaverit  et  in  nomine  proprio 
venerit,  eum  homines  sequi.  Atque  si  quis  unquam  in  phi- 
losophia  in  nomine  proprio  venit,  is  est  Aristoteles,  per  omnia 
sibi  author,  quique  antiquitatem  ita  despexit,  ut  neminem  ex 
antiquis  vel  nominare  fere  dignetur,  nisi  ad  confutationem  et 
opprobrium.  Quin  et  disertis  verbis  dicere  non  erubescit  (bene 
ominatus  certe  etiam  in  maledicto),  verisimile  esse  majores 
nostros  ex  terra  aliqua  aut  limo  procreatos  fuisse,  ut  ex  opini- 
onibus  et  institutis  eorum  stupidis  et  vere  terreis  conjicere  licet. 
Neque  tamen  illud  verum  est,  antiquorum  philosophorum  opera, 
postquam  Aristoteles  de  iis  ex  authoritate  propria  triumphasset, 
statim  extincta  fuisse.  Yidemus  enim  qualis  fuerit  opinio  de 
prudentia  Democriti  post  C®sarum  tempora, 

Cujus  prudentia  monstrat, 

Magnos  posse  viros,  et  magna  exempla  daturos, 

Vervecum  in  patria,  crassoque  sub  acre  nascid 

Atque  satis  constat,  sub  tempora  excultiora  imperii  Romani 
plurimo3  antiquorum  Gr®corum  libros  incolumes  mansisse. 
Neque  enim  tantum  potuisset  Aristoteles  (licet  voluntas  ei 
non  defuerit)  ut  ea  deleret,  nisi  Attila  et  Gensericus  et  Gothi 
ei  in  hac  re  adjutores  fuissent.  Turn  enim  postquam  doctrina 
humana  naufragium  perpessa  esset,  tabula  ista  Aristotelic® 
philosophi®,  tanquam  materi®  alicujus  levioris  et  minus  solid®. 


1  .Tuv.  x.  48. 


568 


REDARGUTIO  PIIILOSOPIIIARUM. 


servata  est,  et  cxtinctis  acmulis  recepta.  At  quod  de  consensu 
homines  sibi  fingunt,  id  et  infidum  et  infirmum  est.  An  vos,  filii, 
temporis  partus  habetis  numeratos  et  descriptos  in  fastis,  eos 
inquam  qui  perierunt,  latuerunt,  aut  aliis  orbis  partibus  inno- 
tuerunt  ?  An  et  abortus  qui  nunquam  in  lucem  editi  sunt  ? 
Itaque  desinant  homines  angustias  suas  mundo  et  saeculis  attri- 
buere  et  imponere.  Quid  si  de  suffragiis  ipsis  litem  move- 
amus,  et  negemus  verum  et  legitimum  consensum  esse,  cum 
homines  addicti  credunt,  non  persuasi  judicant  ?  Transierunt, 
filii,  ab  ignorantia  in  prasjudicium :  haec  demum  est  ilia  coitio 
potius  quam  consensus.  Postremo,  si  de  isto  consensu  non 
diffiteamur,  sed  eum  ipsum  ut  suspectum  rejiciamus,  an  nos 
inter  morbum  istum  animorum  grassantem  et  epidemicum  sani- 
tatis  poenitebit  ?  Pessimum  certe,  filii,  omnium  augurium  est 
de  consensu  in  rebus  intellectualibus  ;  exceptis  divinis  ',  cum 
veritas  descendit  coelitus.  Nihil  enim  multis  placet,  nisi  aut 
imaginationem  feriat,  ut  superstitio,  aut  notiones  vulgares,  ut 
doctrina  sophistarum :  tantumque  consensus  iste  a  vera  et  solida 
authoritate  abest,  ut  etiam  violentam  praesumptionem  inducat 
in  contrarium.  Optime  enim  Graecus  ille,  Quid  peccavi  ?  cum 
complauderent.  Quod  si  is  esset  vir  qui  putatur  esse  Aristo- 
teles,  tamen  nullo  modo  vobis  author  sim,  ut  unius  hominis  cogi- 
tata  et  placita  instar  oraculi  recipiatis.  Quaa  enim,  filii,  est  ista 
voluntaria  servitus  ?  tantone  auditoribus  monachi  illius  ethnici 
deteriores  estis,  ut  illi  suum  Ipse  dixit  post  septennium  depo- 
nerent,  vos  illud  post  annos  bis  mille  retineatis  ?  Atque  nec 
istum  ipsum  pneclarum  authorem  habuissetis,  si  antiquitatis 
studium  valuisset :  et  tamen  eadem  in  ilium  lege  et  conditione 
uti  veremini.  Quin,  si  me  audietis,  dictaturam  istam,  non 
modo  huic  homini  sed  et  cuivis  mortalium  qui  sunt,  qui  erunt, 
in  perpetuum  negabitis;  atque  homines  in  recte  inventis  se- 
quemini,  ut  videntes  lucem,  non  in  omnibus  promiscue,  ut  cseci 
ducem.  Neque  certe  vos  virium  pceniteat,  si  experiamini : 
neque  enim  Aristotele  in  singulis,  licet  forte  in  omnibus,  in- 
feriores  estis.  Atque  quod  caput  rei  est,  una  certe  re  ilium 
longe  superatis,  exemplis  videlicet  et  experimentis  et  monitis 
temporis.  Nam  ut  ille  (quod  narrant)  librum  confecerit  iu 
quo  ducentarum  quinquaginta  quinque  civitatum  leges  et 

’  In  the  corresponding  passage  to  the  Novum  Organum  (i.  §  77.)  he  adds  et  polticis, 
ubi  sujfragiorum  jus  est. 


REDARGUTIO  PHILOSOPIIIARUM. 


569 


instituta  collegerit1,  tamen  non  dubito  quin  unius  reipublicte 
Komanas  mores  et  exempla  plus  ad  prudentiam  et  militarem  et 
civilem  contulerint  quam  omnia  ilia.  Similia  etiam  et  in 
naturali  philosopkia  evenerunt.  Itane  vero  animati  estis,  ut 
non  tantum  dotes  vestras  proprias,  sed  etiam  temporis  dona 
projiciatis  ?  Itaque  vindicate  vos  tandem,  et  vos  rebus  addite, 
neque  accessio  unius  hominis  estote.  De  Platone  vero  ea  nos¬ 
tra  sententia  est ;  ilium,  licet  ad  rempublicam  non  accessisset 
sed  a  rebus  civilibus  administrandis  quodammodo  refugisset 
propter  temporum  perturbationes,  tamen  natura  et  inclina- 
tione  omnino  ad  res  civiles  propensum,  vires  eo  praicipue  in- 
tendisse  ;  neque  de  philosophia  naturali  admodum  solicitum 
fuisse,  nisi  quatenus  ad  philosopbi  nomen  et  celebritatem 
tuendam,  et  ad  majestatem  quandam  moralibus  et  civilibus 
doctrinis  addendum  et  aspergendam  sufficeret.  Ex  quo  fit,  ut 
qua;  de  natura  scripsit  nil  firmitudinis  habeant.  Quinetiam 
naturam  theologia,  non  minus  quam  Aristoteles  dialectica, 
infecit  et  corrupit.  Optima  autem  in  eo  signa  (si  euetera  con- 
sensissent),  quod  et  formarum  cognitionem  ambiret,  et  indu¬ 
ctions  per  omnia,  non  tantum  ad  principia  sed  etiam  ad  medias 
propositions  uteretur :  licet  et  base  ipsa  duo  vere  divina,  et  ob 
qua;  nomen  divini  non  dico  tulit  sed  meruit 2,  corruperit  et 
inutilia  reddiderit,  dum  et  formas  abstractas  prensaret,  et  in¬ 
duction^  materiam  tantum  ex  rebus  obviis  et  vulgaribus  desu- 
meret ;  quod  hujusmodi  scilicet  exempla  (quia  notiora)  disputa- 
tionibus  potius  convenirent.  Itaque  cum  ei  diligens  naturalium 
rerum  contemplatio  et  observatio  deesset,  qua;  unica  philosophia; 
materia  est,  nil  mirum  si  nec  ingenium  altum  nec  modus  in- 
quisitionis  felix  magnopere  profecerint.  Yerumnos  ex  signo- 
rum  consideratione  nescio  quo  medo  in  res  ipsas  prolabimur: 
non  eniin  facile  separari  possunt,  neque  ea  ingrata  vobis  auditu 
fuisse  ar  bitram ur.  Quinetiam  fortasse  et  illud  insuper  scire 
vultis,  quid  de  reliquis  illis  sentiamus,  qui  alienis,  non  propriis, 
scriptis  nobis  noti  sunt ;  Py thagora,  Empedocle,  Ileraclito,  An- 
axagora,  Democrito,  Parmenide,  aliis.  Atque  liac  de  re,  filii,  nil 
reticebimus,  sed  animi  nostri  sensum  integrum  et  sincerum  vobis 
aperiemus.  Scitote  itaque,  nos  summa  cum  diligentia  et  cura 

1  His  Republic.  See  the  Life  of  Aristotle  ascribed  to  Amraonius.  Diog.  Laertius 
says  158.  V.  §  27 ,  —  R.L.E. 

*  The  words  duo  —  meruit  are  inserted  between  the  lines,  in  Bacon’s  hand ;  also  the 
words  et  inutilia  reddiderit . 


570 


REDARGUTIO  PHILOSOPHIARUM. 


omnes  vel  tenuissimas  auras  circa  horum  virorum  opiniones  et 
placita  captasse  :  ut  quicquid  de  illis,  vel  dum  ab  Aristotele  con- 
futantur,  vel  dum  a  Platone  et  Cicerone  citantur,  vel  in  Plutarchi 
fasciculo,  vel  in  Laertii  vitis,  vel  in  Lucretii  poemate,  vel  in  ali- 
quibus  fragmentis,  vel  in  quavis  alia  sparsa  memoria  et  mentione, 
inveniri  possit,  evolverimus ;  neque  cursim  aut  contemptim,  sed 
cum  fide  et  deliberatione  examinaverimus.  Atque  dubium  pro- 
fecto  non  est,  quin  si  opiniones  eorum,  quas  nunc  perinternun- 
tios  quosdam  minime  fidos  solummodo  habemus,  in  propriis  ex- 
tarent  operibus,  ut  eas  ex  ipsis  fontibus  haurire  liceret,  majorem 
firmitudinem  habiturae  fuissent ;  cum  theoriarum  vires  in  apta  et 
semutuo  sustinente  partium  harmonia,  et  quadam  in  orbem  de- 
monstratione  consistant,  ideoqueper  partes  tradit®  infirm®  sint. 
Neque  negamus  nos  reperire,  inter  placita  tam  varia,  haud 
pauca  in  contemplatione  naturae  et  causarum  assignatione  non 
indiligenter  notata.  Alios  autem  in  aliis  (ut  fere  fieri  solet) 
constat  feliciores  fuisse.  Quod  si  cum  Aristotele  conferantur, 
plane  censemus  fuisse  ex  iis  nonnullos,  qui  in  multis  Aristotele 
longe  et  acutius  et  altius  in  naturam  penetraverint ;  quod  fieri 
necesse  fuit,  cum  experienti®  cultores  magis  religiosi  fuerint, 
praesertim  Democritus,  qui  ob  naturae  peritiam  etiam  magus 
habitus  est.  Yeruntamen  nobis  necesse  est,  si  simpliciter  et 
absque  persona  vobiscum  agere  stat  decretum,  nomina  ista 
magna  brevi  admodum  sententia  transmittere :  esse  nimirum 
hujusmodi  philosopborum  placita  ac  theorias  veluti  diversa- 
rum  fabularum  in  theatro  argumenta,  in  quandam  veri  simili- 
tudinem,  alia  elegantius,  alia  negligentius  aut  crassius  con- 
ficta;  atque  habere,  quod  fabularum  proprium  est,  ut  veris 
interdum  narrationibus  concinniora  et  commodiora  videan- 
tur,  et  qualia  quis  libentius  crederet.  Sane  cum  isti  famce  et 
opinioni,  tanquam  seen®,  minus  servirent  quam  Aristoteles  et 
Plato  et  reliqui  e  scholis,  puriores  fuere  ab  ostentatione  et  im- 
postura,  atque  eo  nomine  saniores;  caetera  similes  erant.  Una 
enim  quasi  navis  philosophic  Grccorum  videtur,  atque  errores 
diversi,  cause  errandi  communes.  Quinetiam  nobis  minime 
dubium  est,  si  penes  populum  et  civitates  liberas  res  mansis- 
sent ',  fieri  non  potuisse  ut  humani  ingenii  peregrinationes 

1  Originally.,  et  nisi  tempora  sequentia  et  in  Gracia  et  alibi  a  populi  poientia  ad 
monarchias  et  ad  imperia  magis  unita  et  ordinata  inclinassent ,  fieri  non  potuisse  ut 
humani  ingenii  peregrinationes  et  errores ,  utevnque  inter  tantam  theoriarum  varietatem 


REDARGUT10  PHIEOSOPIIlARTTM. 


571 


popularibus  auris  velificantes,  utcunque  inter  tam  numerosa  et 
varia  theoriarum  commenta  se  sistere  aut  continere  potuissent. 
Quemadmodum  enim  in  astronomicis,  et  iis  quibus  terram  ro- 
tari  placet  et  iis  qui  veterem  1  constructionem  tenuerunt  phc- 
nomenorum  in  ccelis  patrocinia  a: qua  sunt ;  quin  et  tabularum 
calculi  utrisque  respondent :  eodem  modo  ac  multo  etiam  faci- 
lius  est  in  naturali  philosophia  complures  theorias  excogitare, 
inter  se  multum  differentes,  sed  tamen  singulas  sibi  constantes, 
et  experientiam  et  praesertim  instantias  vulgares,  quae  in  quae- 
stionibus  philosophicis  (ut  nunc  fit)  judicia  exercere  solent, 
in  diversum  trahentes,  et  pro  testibus  citantes.  Neque  enim 
defuerunt  etiam  nostra  aetate,  in  nostris  inquam  frigidis  prae- 
cordiis  atque  tempore  quo  res  religionis  ingenia  consumpse- 
runt2,  qui  novas  pbilosophiae  naturalis  fabricas  meditati  sunt. 
Nam  Telesius  ex  Consentia  scenam  conscendit  et  novam  fabu- 
lam  egit,  argumento  profecto  magis  probabilem  quam  plausu 
celebrem.  Et  Gilbertus  ex  Anglia,  cum  naturam  magnetis 
laboriosissime  et  magna  inquisitionis  firmitudine  et  constantia, 
necnon  experimentorum  magno  comitatu  et  fere  agmine,  per- 
scrutatus  esset,  statim  imminebat  et  ipse  novas  philosophic  con- 
dendas ;  nec  Xenophanis  nomen  in  Xenomanem  per  ludibrium 
versum  expavit,  in  cujus  sententiam  inclrnabat.  Quin  et  Fra- 
castorius,  licet  sectam  non  condiderit,  tamen  libertate  judicii 
honeste  usus  est.  Eadem  ausus  est  Cardanus,  sed  levior.3  At¬ 
que  existimo,  filii,  vos  ad  istam  quam  ex  nobis  auditis  tam 
latam  et  generalem  opinionum  et  authorum  rejectionem  obstu- 
pescere.  Licet  enim  de  nobis  bene  existimetis,  tamen  vereri 
videmini  ut  invidiam  hujusce  rei  nobiscum  una  sustinere  pos- 
sitis.  Quin  et  ipsi  (credo)  miramini  et  animi  pendetis,  quor- 
sum  res  hasc  evasura  sit,  et  quam  tandem  conditionem  vobis 
afferamus.  Itaque  diutius  suspensos  vos  non  tenebimus :  atque 
simul  et  vos  admiratione  et  nos  invidia,  ut  speramus,  nisi  ad- 


se  sisterent  aut  finirent ,  serf  ut  alia  multa  proculdubio  fuissent  novarum  sectarum 
emanationes. 

1  per  veterem  in  the  MS.  But  I  think  the  per  belonged  to  the  sentence  as  originally 
written,  and  was  meant  to  be  struck  out  The  words  for  which  veterem  constructionem 
tenuerunt  are  substituted  are  too  effectually  obliterated  to  be  read.  But  the  two  first 
are  eccentricos  et  epicyclos and  the  sentence  probably  stood  originally  as  in  the  cor¬ 
responding  passage  of  the  Coyitatu  et  V isa  —  qui  per  eccentricos  et  epicyclos  motus 
expediunt. 

2  This  clause  Is  added  between  the  lines  in  Bacon’s  hand. 

3  These  two  sentences  are  added  in  the  margin  in  Bacon’s  own  hand  ;  as  are  also 
the  words  in  Xenomanem  per  in  the  last  sentence. 


572 


REDARGUTIO  PH1LOSOPHIARUM. 


modum  iniqua  fuerit,  exolvemus.  Atque  meministis  profecto 
etiam  ab  initio  nos  tale  quiddam  significasse :  antiquis  non  certe 
authoritatem  et  fidem  (id  enim  pernitiosum),  sed  honorem  ac 
reverentiam  intacta  et  imminuta  fore ;  tametsi  possemus  pro 
jure  nostro,  neque  eo  ipso  alio  quam  omnium,  si  quid  apud  eos 
non  recte  inventum  aut  positum  sit,  id  reprehendere  aut  notare. 
Sed  res  ipsa  hoc  non  postulat ;  fato  quodam,  ut  arbitramur, 
ad  invidiam  et  contradictionem 1  extinguendam  et  depellendam 
meliore.  Audite  itaque,  filii,  quae  jam  dicemus.  Nos,  si  pro- 
fiteamur  nos  meliora  afferre  quam  antiqui,  eandem  quam  anti- 
qui  viam  ingressos,  nulla  verborum  arte  efficere  possimus  quin 
inducatur  quaedam  ingenii  vel  excellentiae  vel  facultatis  com- 
paratio  sive  contentio;  non  ea  quidem  illicita  aut  nova;  sed 
impar  ob  virium  nostrarum  modum,  quem  eum  esse  satis  sen- 
timus  ut  non  solum  antiquis  sed  et  vivis  cedat.  Cum  autem 
(ut  simpliciter  apud  vos  loquamur)  claudus  in  via  (quod  dici 
solet)  cursorem  extra  viam  antevertat,  commutata  ratio  est. 
Atque2  de  via  (mementote)  non  de  viribus  quaestio  oritur; 
nosque  Indicis  non  Judicis  partes  sustinemus.  Itaque  aperte, 
valejusso  omni  fuco  et  artificio,  fatemur  nos  in  hac  opinione 
esse,  omnia  omnium  aetatum  ingenia  si  in  unum  coierint,  eo 
quo  nunc  res  geritur  modo,  hoc  est  (ut  clare  loquamur)  ex  medi- 
tatione  et  argumentatione,  in  scientiis  magnos  processus  facere 
non  posse.  Quin  neque  hie  finis ;  sed  addimus  insuper,  quanto 
quis  ingenio  plus  valet,  eundem  si  naturae  lucem,  id  est  histo- 
riam  et  rerum  particularium  evidentiam,  intempestive  deserat, 
tanto  in  obscuriores  et  magis  perplexos  phantasiarum  recessus 
et  quasi  specus  se  detrudere  et  involvere.  Annon  forte  animad- 
vertistis,  filii,  quanta  ingeniorum  et  acumina  et  robora  apud 
philosophos  scholasticos,  otio  et  meditationibus  luxuriantes  et 
ob  tenebras  ipsas  in  quibus  enutriti  erant  feroees,  quales  nobis 
telas  aranearum  pepererint,  textura  et  subtilitate  fili  mirabiles, 
usus  et  commodi  expertes  ?  Etiam  illud  simul  affirmamus; 
nostram  quam  ad  artes  adducimus  rationem  et  inquisitionis 
formam,  talem  esse  quae  hominum  ingenia  et  facultates,  ut 
haereditates  Spartanas,  fere  aequet.  Nam  quemadmodum  ad 
hoc  ut  linea  recta  aut  circulus  perfectus  describatur,  plurimum 
est  in  manus  ac  visus  facultate,  si  per  constantiam  manus  et 

1  The  words  et  contradictionem  are  an  interlineation. 

2  nam  originally.  Atque  substituted  in  Bacon’s  hand. 


REDARGUTIO  PH1ROSOPII1ARUM. 


573 


oculorum  judicium  tantum  res  tentetur ;  sin  per  regulam  ad- 
motam  aut  circinum  circumductum,  non  item ;  eadem  ratione 
et  in  contemplatione  rerum  quae  mentis  viribus  solum  incumbit, 
homo  homini  praestat  vel  maxime ;  in  ea  autem  quam  nos 
adhibemus,  non  multo  major  in  hominum  intellectu  eminet  in- 
aequalitas  quam  in  sensu  inesse  solet.  Quin  et  ab  ingeniorura 
acumine  et  agilitate  (ut  dictum  est),  dum  suo  motu  feruntur, 
periculum  metuimus ;  atque  in  eo  toti  aumus,  ut  hominum  in- 
geniis  non  plumas  aut  alas,  sed  plumbum  et  pondera  addamus. 
Nullo  enim  modo  videntur  homines  adhuc  nosse,  quam  severa 
sit  res  veritatis  et  naturae  inquisitio,  quamque  parum  hominum 
arbitrio  relinquat.  Neque  tamen  nos  peregrinum  quiddam,  aut 
mysticum,  aut  Deum  Tragicum  ad  vos  adducimus.  Nil  enim 
aliud  est  nostra  via,  nisi  literata  experientia,  atque  ars  sive 
ratio  naturam  sincere  interpretandi,  et  via  vera  a  sensu  ad  in- 
tellectum.  Yerum  annon  videtis,  filii,  quid  per  haec  quae  dixi- 
mus  effectum  sit?  Primum  Antiquis  suus  honos  manet.  Nam 
in  iis  quae  in  ingenio  et  meditatione  posita  sunt,  illi  mirabiles 
viros  se  praestitere ;  neque  nobis  sane  earn  viam  ingressis 
longo  intervallo  eorum  progressus  aequare,  ut  arbitramur, 
vires  suffecissent.  Deinde,  intelligitis  profecto,  minus  quid- 
dam  esse  hanc  rejectionem  authorum  generalem,  quam  si 
alios  rejecissemus,  alio3  probassemus.  Turn  enim  judicium 
quoddam  exercuissemus ;  cum  nunc  tantummodo  (ut  dictum 
est)  indicium  faciamus.  Postremo  etiam  perspicitis,  quid  nobis 
prorsus  relinquatur,  sive  nos  aliquid  sumere  sive  aliis  aliquid 
nobis  tribuere  libeat:  Non  ingenii,  non  excellent!;®,  non  facul- 
tatis  laus,  sed  fortuna  quaedam,  ea  magis  vestra  quam  nostra, 
cum  res  sit  potius  usu  fructuosa  quam  inventione  admirabilis. 
Nam  uti  ves  fortasse  miramini,  quando  hoc  nobis  in  mentem 
venire  potuerit :  ita  et  nos  vicissim  miramur,  quomodo  idem 
aliis  in  mentem  jam  pridem  non  venerit;  non  ulli  mortalium 
cordi  aut  curse  fuisse,  ut  intellectui  humano  auxilia  et  praesidia 
ad  naturam  contemplandam  et  experientiam  digerendam  com- 
pararet ;  sed  omnia  vel  traditionum  caligini,  vel  argumentorum 
vertigini  et  turbini,  vel  casus  et  experimentorum  undis  et  am- 
bagibus  permissa  esse,  nec  mediam  quandam  viam  inter  expe¬ 
rientiam  et  dogmata  aperiri  potuisse.  Sed  tamen  mirari  de- 
sinimus,  cum  in  multis  rebus  videre  liceat  mentem  humanam 
tam  lsevam  et  male  compositam  esse,  ut  primo  diffidat  et  paulo 
post  se  contemnat;  atque  primo  incredibile  videatur  aliquid 


574 


REDARGUTIO  PHILOSOPHIARUM. 


tale  inveniri  posse ;  postquam  autem  inventum  sit,  rursus  in 
credibile  videatur  id  homines  tam  diu  fugere  potuisse.  Sed  ut 
quod  res  est  proferamus,  huic  rei  de  qua  nunc  agimus  impedi- 
mento  fuit  non  tain  rei  obscuritas  aut  difficultas,  quam  superbia 
bumana,  cui  natura  ipsa  magna  ex  parte  eaque  potiore  sor- 
descit,  quaeque  homines  eo  dementias  provehit,  ut  spiritus 
proprios,  non  spiritum  naturae  consulant ;  ac  ei  artes  facerent, 
non  invenirent.  Atque,  filii,  inter  istam  vestram  tanquam  per 
statuas  antiquorum  deainbulationem,  fieri  potest  ut  aliquam 
partem  porticus  notaveritis  velo  esse  discretam.  Ea  sunt  pene¬ 
tralia  antiquitatis  ante  doctrinam  Graecorum.  Sed  quid  me 
vocatis  ad  ea  tempora,  quorum  et  res  et  rerum  vestigia  aufuge- 
runt  ?  Annon  antiquitas  ilia  instar  famas  est,  quae  caput  inter 
nubila  condit  et  fabulas  narrat  ?  facta  et  infecta  simul  canens  ? 
Atque  satis  scio,  si  minus  sincera  fide  agere  vellem,  non  difficile 
foret  bominibus  persuadere,  apud  antiquos  sapientes  diu  ante 
Grajcorum  tempora,  scientias  et  philosophiam  majore  virtu te 
licet  majore  etiam  fortasse  silentio  floruisse :  ideoque  1  solennius 
milii  foret,  ea  quas  jam  afferuntur  ad  ilia  referre,  ut  novi 
homines  solent,  qui  nobilitatem  alicujus  veteris  prosapiae  per 
genealogiarum  rumores  et  conjecturas  sibi  affingunt.  Verum 
nobis  stat  sententia,  rerum  evidentia  fretis,  omnem  imposturae 
conditionem,  quantumvis  sit  licet  bella  et  commoda,  recusare. 
Itaque  judicium  nostrum  de  illis  saeculis  non  interponimus ; 
illud  obiter  dicimus,  licet  poetarum  fabulas  versatilis  materiae 
sint,  tamen  nos  non  multum  arcani  aut  mysterii  hujusmodi  nar- 
rationibus  subesse  haud  cunctanter  pronuntiassemus,  si  ab  iis 
inventae  a  quibus  traditae  sunt;  quod  nos  secus  esse  existi- 
mamus :  pleraeque  enim  traduntur  tanquam  prius  creditae  et 
cognitae,  non  tanquam  novae  ac  tunc  primo  oblatas:  quae  res 
earum  existimationem  apud  nos  auxit,  ac  si  essent  reliquiae 
quaedam  sacrae  temporum  meliorum.  Verum  utcunque  ea  res 
se  babet,  non  plus  interesse  putamus  (ad  id  quod  agitur)  utrum 
quae  jam  proponentur  aut  illis  fortasse  majora  antiquis  etiam 
innotuerint,  quam  bominibus  curas  esse  debeat  utrum  novus 
orbis  fuerit  insula  ilia  Atlantis,  et  veteri  mundo  cognita,  an 
nunc  primum  reperta ;  rerum  enim  inventio  a  naturae  luce 
petenda,  non  a  vetustatis  tenebris  repetenda  est.  Jam  vero 
(filii)  etiam  sponte,  non  fortasse  interpellati  ab  expectatione 


idque  in  MS.,  but  compare  Cog.  et  Visa  (p.  605.):  Atque  idea  solennius  fore,  &e. 


REDAIIGUTIO  PHILOSOPIIIARUM. 


575 


vestra,  de  philosophia  Chimistarum  opinionem  subjungemus. 
Etenim  ilia  vestra  pkilosopbia,  disputationibus  potens,  operibus 
invalida,  artis  chimic®  nonnullam  existimationem  apud  quosdam 
peperit.  Atque  sane  quod  ad  practicam  Chimistarum  attinet, 
fabulam  illam  in  earn  competere  existimamus  de  sene  qui  filiis 
suis  aurum  in  vinea  defossum  (nec  se  satis  scire  quo  loco)  lega- 
verit :  unde  illos  protinus  ad  vineam  fodiendam  incubuisse ; 
atque  auri  quidem  nihil  repertum,  sed  vindemiam  ea  cultura 
factam  fuisse  uberiorem.  Simili  modo  et  chi  mi®  filii,  dum 
aurum  (sive  vere  sive  secus)  in  naturae  arvo  abditum  et  quasi 
defossum  laboriose  eruere  conantur,  multa  moliendo  et  ten- 
tando,  magno  proventui  hominibus  et  utilitati  fuere,  et  com- 
pluribus  inventis  non  contemnendis  vitam  et  res  humanaa 
donavere.  Veruntamen  speculativam  eorum  rem  levem  et 
minus  sanam  esse  judicamus.  Nam  ut  ille  adolescentulus  deli- 
catus  cum  scalmum  in  littore  reperisset  navem  aedificare  con- 
cupivit,  ita  et  hi,  arti  su®  indulgentes,  ex  paucis  fornacis 
experimentis  philosophiam  condere  aggressi  sunt.  Atque  hoc 
genus  theoriarum  et  s®pius  et  manifestius  vanitatis  coarguitur, 
quam  illud  alterum,  quod  certe  magis  sobrium  et  magis  tectum 
est.  Nam  philosophia  vulgaris,  omnia  percurrens  et  nonniliil 
fere  de  singulis  degustans,  se  apud  maximum  hominum  partem 
optime  tuetur.  Qui  autem  ex  paucis  quibus  ipse  maxime 
insuevit  reliqua  comminiscitur,  is  et  re  ipsa  errat  magis,  et  apud 
alios  levior  est.  Atque  ex  hoc  genere  philosophiam  chimicam 
esse  censemus.  Certe  ilia  opinionis  fabrica  qu®  eorum  philo- 
sophi®  basis  est,  esse  nimirum  quatuor  rerum  matrices  sive 
elementa  in  quibus  semina  rerum  sive  species  foetus  suos  absol- 
vunt,  atque  producta  eorum  quadriformia  esse,  pro  differentia 
scilicet  cujusque  elementi;  adeo  ut  in  coelo,  aere,  aqua,  terra 
nulla  species  inveniatur  qu®  non  habeat  in  tribus  reliquis  con- 
jugatum  aliquod  et  quasi  parallelum  (nam  hominem  etiam 
pantomimum  effecerunt,  ex  omnibus  conflatum,  abusi  elegantia 
vocabuli  i nicrocosmi) ;  hoc,  inquam,  commentum  neminem  ju- 
dicio  sedatum  post  se  traxerit :  quin  et  existimamus,  huic  phan- 
tastic®1  rerum  naturalium  phalangi  peritum  natur®  contempla- 
torem  vix  inter  somnia  sua  locum  daturum.  Y erum  illud  non 
incommode  accidit  ad  pr®cavendum,  quod  h®c  philosophia  (ut 
coepimus  dicere)  erroris  genere  veluti  antistropha  vulgari  phi- 


1  phantastico  in  MS. 


576 


REDARGUTIO  PHILOSOPIIIARUM. 


losophiae  sit ;  vulgaris  enim  philosophia  ad  materiam  inventionis 
parum  ex  multis,  haec  multum  e  paucis  decerpit.  Nos  tamen, 
filii,  libenter  Paracelsum  (hominem,  ut  conjicere  licet,  satis 
vocalem’)  nobis  preconem  exoptemus,  ut  illud  lumen  naturae, 
quod  toties  inculcat,  celebret  et  proclamet.  Atque  mentio 
Chimistarum  nos  admonet,  ut  aliquid  etiam  de  Magia  naturali, 
ea  quae  nunc  hoc  vocabulum  solenne  et  fere  sacrum  inquinavit, 
dicamus :  ea  enim  inter  pbilosophos  chimicos  in  bonore  esse 
consuevit.  Quas  nobis  in  hujusmodi  sermone  inferior  videtur 
quam  ut  condemnetur :  sed  levitate  ipsa  effugiat.  Quid  enim 
ilia  ad  nos,  cujus  dogmata  plane  phantasia  et  superstitio,  opera 
prestigite  et  impostura  ?  Nam  inter  innumera  falsa  si  quid  ad 
effectum  perducitur,  hujusmodi  semper  est,  ut  sit  ad  novitatem 
et  admirationem  conficta,  non  ad  usum  aut  accommodata  aut 
destinata.  Etenim  evenit  fere  semper  de  magicis  experimentis 
quod  poeta  lascivus  ludit,  Pars  minima  est  ipsa  puella  sui. 
Quemadmodum  autem  philosophia;  proprium  est,  efficere  ut 
omnia  minus  quam  sint  admiranda  videantur  propter  demon- 
strationes ;  ita  et  imposture  non  minus  proprium  est,  ut  omnia 
magis  quam  sunt  admiranda  videantur  propter  ostentationem 
et  falsum  apparatum.  Atque  ista  tamen  vanitas  nescio  quo- 
modo  contemnitur  et  recipitur;  unde  enim  satyrion  ad  venerem, 
pulmones  vulpis  ad  phthisim1 2,  nisi  ex  hac  officina?  Verum 
nimis  multa  de  nugis ;  nimis  sane,  si,  ut  ineptae,  ita  innoxiae 
essent.  Resumamus  orationis  filum,  et  philosophiam  quam  in 
manibus  babemus  ex  signis  excutiamus ;  ista  enim,  filii,  inseri 
oportuit  ad  intellectus  vestri  praeparationem,  quae  res  sola 
nunc  agitur.  Duplex  enim  est  animorum  preoccupatio  seu 
mala  inclinatio  ad  nova,  quando  ea  proponi  contigerit :  una  ab 
insita  opinione  de  placitis  receptis,  altera  ab  anticipatione  sive 
prefiguratione  erronea  de  re  ipsa  quae  affertur,  ac  si  pertineret 
ad  aliqua  ex  jampridem  damnatis  et  rejectis,  aut  saltern  ad  ea 
quae  animus  ob  levitatem  aut  absurditatem  fastidit.  Itaque  jam 
reversi  de  signis  dispiciamus.  Atque,  filii,  inter  signa  nullum 
est  magis  certum  aut  nobile  quam  ex  fructibus.  Quemadmo¬ 
dum  enim  in  religione  cavetur  ut  tides  ex  operibus  monstretur, 
idem  etiam  ad  philosophiam  optime  traducitur,  ut  vana  sit  quae 

1  There  are  no  marts  of  parenthesis  here  in  the  MS. ;  nor  even  a  comma  after 
either  Paracelsum  or  vocalem.  But  the  sense  seems  to  require  the  clause  to  be  taken 
parenthetically. 

2  Pulmones  vulpis  lienem  juvant,  non  autem  phthisin  ut  scriptum.  Vid.  Plin. 
xxviii.  57.  —  R.L.  E. 


REDARGUTIO  PHILOSOPHIARUM. 


577 


sterilis.  Atque  eo  magis,  si  loco  fructuum  uvae  vel  olivae,  pro- 
ducat  disputationum  et  contentionum  carduos  et  spinas.  De 
vestra  autem  philosopliia  vereor  ne  nimis  vere  cecinerit  poeta 
non  solum  illo  carmine, 

Infelix  lolium  et  steriles  dominantur  avens  1 : 

Sed  et  illo, 

Candida  succinctam  latrantibus  inguina  monstris.2 

Videtur  enim  ilia  ex  longinquo  visa  virgo,  specie  non  indecora, 
sed  partibus  superioribus :  habet  enim  generalia  quaedam  non 
ingrata,  et  tanquam  invitantia ;  cum  vero  ad  particularia  ven- 
tum  sit,  veluti  ad  uterum  et  partes  generationis,  atque  ad  id  ut 
aliquid  ex  se  edat,  turn  demum  loco  operum  et  actionum,  quae 
contemplationis  proles  est  digna  et  legitima,  monstra  ilia  inve- 
nias  resonantia  et  oblatrantia,  et  ingeniorum  naufragiis  famosa. 
Atque  liujus  mali  author  imprimis  Aristoteles,  altrix  ista  vestra 
philosopliia.  Illi  enim  vel  ludo  vel  gloriae  erat,  quaestiones  minus 
utiles  primo  subornare,  deinde  confodere  ;  ut  pro  assertore  ve- 
ritatis  contradictionum  artifex  sit.  Pessimo  enim  et  exemplo  et 
successu  scientia  traditur  per  quaestiones  subministratas  earum- 
que  solutiones.  Qui  enim  bene  affirmat  et  probat  et  constituit  et 
componit,  is  errores  et  objectiones  longe  summovet  et  veluti 
eminus  impedit  et  abigit ;  qui  autem  cum  singulis  colluctatur, 
is  exitum  rei  nullum  invenit  sed  disputationes  serit.  Quid  enim 
opus  sit  ei  qui  unum  luminis  et  veritatis  corpus  clarum  et 
radiosum  in  medio  statuit,  parva  quaedam  et  pallida  confutati- 
onum  ellychnia  ad  omnes  errorum  angulos  circumferre,  solventi 
alia  dubia,  alia  per  ipsam  illam  solutionem  excitanti  ac  veluti 
generanti?  Verum  id  curse,  ut  videtur,  praecipue  fuit  Aristo- 
teli,  ut  homines  haberent  parata  in  singulis  quae  pronunciarent, 
quae  responderent,  et  per  quae  se  expedirent,  potius  quam  quid 
penitus  crederent,  aut  liquido  cogitarent,  aut  vere  scirent. 
Philosophia  autem  vestra  tam  bene  authorem  refert,  ut  quae¬ 
stiones  quas  ille  movit  ilia  figat  et  faciat  aeternas ;  ut  quaeri 
videatur,  non  ut  veritas  eruatur,  sed  ut  disputatio  alatur :  adeo 
ut  Nasicae  sententia  illi  Catonis  praeponderet.3  Neque  enim 
illud  agitur  ut  temporis  progressu  sublatis  dubiis  tanquam  ho- 
stibus  a  tergo,  ad  ulteriores  provincias  penetretur;  sed  ut 


1  Georg,  i.  154. 

8  Plutarch  in  Catone,  352.  —  R.  L.E. 


2  .Eli.  vi.  75. 


578 


REDARGUTIO  PHILOSOPHIARUM. 


perpetu®  istae  quaestiones,  tanquam  Carthago,  militiam  istam 
disputandi  exerceant.  Quod  vero  ad  operum  fructum  et  pro- 
ventum  attinet ;  existimo  ex  ista  philosophia,  per  tot  anno- 
rum  spatia  laborata  et  culta,  ne  unum  quidem  experimentum 
adduci  posse,  quod  ad  hominum  statum  levandum  et  locuple- 
tandum  spectet,  et  philosophise  speculationibus  vere  acceptum 
referri  possit:  adeo  ut  brutorum  animalium  instinctus  plura 
inventa  pepererint,  quam  doctorum  hominum  sermones.  Sane 
Celsus  ingenue  et  prudenter  fatetur,  experimenta  medicinae 
primo  inventa  fuisse,  ac  postea  homines  circa  ea  philosophatos 
esse,  et  causas  explorasse  et  assignasse ;  non  ordine  inverso 
evenisse,  ut  ex  philosophia  et  causarum  cognitione  ipsa  experi¬ 
menta  deprompta  essent.  Neque  hie  finis.  Non  male  enim 
merita  esset  philosophia  ista  de  practica,  licet  earn  experimentis 
non  auxisset,  si  tamen  usum  ejus  castiorem  et  prudentiorem 
reddidisset  (quod  fortasse  facit),  atque  interim  ejus  incrementis 
et  progressibus  nihil  obfuisset.  Illud  autem  magis  damnosum  et 
perniciosum,  quod  inventa  non  soluip  non  edat,  sed  etiam  oppri- 
mat  et  extinguat.  Nam  affirmare  licet,  filii,  verissime,  Aristo- 
telis  de  quatuor  elementis  commentum,  rem  certe  obviam  et 
pinguem  (quia  hujusmodi  corpora  in  maxima  quantitate  et  mole 
cernuntur),  cui  tamen  ille  potius  authoritatem  quam  principium 
dedit  (cum  Empedoclis  esset 1 ;  a  quo  etiam  melius  erat  positum)  ; 
quod  postea  avide  a  medicis  arreptum,  quatuor  complexionum, 
quatuor  humorum,  quatuor  primarum  qualitatum  conjugationes 
post  se  traxit ;  tanquam  malignum  et  infaustum  sidus  infinitam 
et  medicinae  et  compluribus  rebus  mechanicis  sterilitatem  attu- 
lisse ;  dum  homines  per  hujusmodi  concinnitates  et  compendiosas 
ineptias  sibi  satisfieri  patientes,  nil  amplius  curant ;  et  vivas  et 
utiles  rerum  observationes  prorsus  omiserunt.  Itaque  si  illud 
verum,  ex  fructibus  eorum,  videtis  certe  quo  res  redierit.  Agite 
vero,  filii,  et  signa  ex  incrementis  capiamus.  Certe  si  ista 
doctrina  plane  instar  plant®  a  stirpibus  suis  revulsae  non  esset, 
sed  gremio  et  utero  naturae  adhaereret,  atque  ab  eadem  aleretur ; 
id  minime  eventurum  fuisset,  quod  per  annos  bis  mille  jam  fieri 
videmus,  ut  scientiae  in  eodem  fere  statu  maneant  et  haereant, 
neque  augmentum  aliquod  memorabile  sumpserint.  Poliuntur 
fortasse  nonnunquam  ab  aliquo,  et  illustrantur  et  accommo- 

1  That  Empedocles  was  the  first  is  said  by  Arist.  Met.  i.  3.  —  R.  L.  E.  The  words 
within  the  parenthesis  are  not  found  in  the  corresponding  passage  of  the  Cogitata 
et  Fisa. 


REDARGUTIO  PHII.OSOPHIARUM. 


579 


dantur  (dum  tamen  interim  ab  infinitis  lacerentur  et  deformen- 
tur  et  inquinentur),  sed  utcunque  non  dilatantur  aut  amplifi- 
cantur.  In  artibus  autem  mecbanicis  contra  evenire  videmus ; 
quae  ut  spiritu  quodam  replete  vegetant  et  crescunt ;  primo 
rudes,  deinde  commodae,  post  exculte,  sed  perpetuo  aucte. 
Philosopbia  autem  et  scie'ntiae  intellectus  statuarum  more  ado- 
rantur  et  celebrantur,  sed  non  moventur.  Quinetiam  in  primo 
nonnunquam  authore  maxime  florent,  et  deinceps  declinant 
et  exarescunt.  Neque  vero  mirum  est  ista  discrimina  inter 
mechanicam  et  philosophiam  conspici,  cum  in  ilia  singulorum 
ingenia  misceantur,  in  hac  corrumpantur  et  destruantur.  Quod 
si  quis  existimet,  scientiarum  ut  rerum  caeterarum  esse  quendam 
statum,  idque  fere  in  tempus  unius  authoris  incidere,  qui  bene- 
ficio  temporis  usus,  et  suae  aetatis  princeps,  inspectis  reliquis 
scriptoribus  et  judicatis,  scientias  ipsas  absolvat  et  perficiat ; 
quod  postquam  factum  sit,  juniores  rite  palmas  secundas  petere, 
ut  hujusmodi  authoris  opera  vel  explicent  vel  digerant,  vel  pro 
sui  saeculi  ratione  palato  accommodent  et  vertant :  nae  ille  ma- 
jorem  rebus  humanis  prudentiam  et  ordinem  et  felicitatem 
tribuit,  quam  experiri  fas  est ;  res  enim  casum  recipit,  nisi 
quod  vanitas  hominum  etiam  fortuita  in  deterius  detorquet. 
Nam  vere  sic  se  res  habet ;  postquam  scientia  aliqua  multorum 
observatione  et  diligentia,  dum  alius  alia  apprehendit,  per  partes 
tentata  serio  et  tractata  sit,  turn  exoriri  aliquem  mente  fiden- 
tem,  lingua  potentem,  methodo  celebrem,  qui  corpus  unum  ex 
singulis  pro  suo  arbitrio  efficiat  et  posteris  tradat :  plerisque 
corruptis  et  depravatis,  et  cum  certissima  omissione  omnium 
quae  altiores  et  digniores  contemplationes  exhibere  possint,  ut 
opinionum  immodicarum  et  extravagantium :  et  posteri  rursus 
facilitate  rei  et  compendio  gaudentes,  sibi  gratulantur  ac  nil 
ulterius  quaerunt,  sed  ad  ilia  ministeria  servilia  quae  diximus  se 
convertunt.  Verum  vobis,  filii,  pro  certo  sit,  quae  in  natura 
fundata  sunt,  ut  aquas  perennes,  perpetuo  novas  scaturigines  et 
emanationes  habere ;  quae  autem  in  opinione  versantur,  variari 
fortasse  sed  non  augeri.  Habemus  et  aliud  signum ;  si  modo 
signi  appellatio  in  hoc  competit,  cum  potius  testimonium  sit, 
imo  testimoniorum  omnium  validissimum ;  hoc  est  propriam 
authorum  quorum  fidei  vos  committitis  confessionem  et  judi¬ 
cium.  Nam  et  illi  ipsi  qui  dictaturam  quandam  in  scientiis 
invaserunt,  et  tanta  fiducia  de  rebus  pronuntiant,  tamen  per 
intervalla,  cum  ad  se  redeunt,  ad  querimonias  demum  de  na- 


38  Bacon  III 


580 


REDARGUT10  PHILOSOPHIARUM. 


turae  subtilitate,  rerum  obscuritate,  humani  ingenii  infirmi- 
tate,  et  similia  se  convertunt.  Neque  propterea,  filii,  hasc 
modestiae  aut  liumilitati,  virtutibus  in  rebus  intellectualibus 
omnium  felicissimis  deputetis :  non  tarn  faciles,  aut  boni  fue- 
ritis:  cum  contra,  ista  non  confessio,  sed  professio  sive  prae- 
dicatio,  ex  superbia,  invidia,  atque  id  genus  affectibus  ortum 
pro  certo  habeat ;  id  enim  prorsus  volunt,  quicquid  in  scientiis 
sibi  ipsis  aut  magistris  suis  incognitum  aut  intactum  fuerit,  id 
extra  terminos  possibilis  poni  et  removeri :  haec  est  ilia  modestia 
atque  humilitas.  Itaque  pessimo  fato  res  geritur.  Nil  enim  in  his 
rerum  humanarum  angustiis  aut  ad  prsesens  magis  deploratum 
aut  in  futurum  magis  ominosum  est,  quam  quod  homines  igno- 
rantiam  etiam  ignominise  (ut  nunc  fit)  eximant,  atque  artis  sure 
infirmitatem  in  naturae  calumniam  vertant ;  et  quicquid  ars  ilia 
sua  non  attingit,  id  ex  arte  scitu  aut  factu  impossibile  suppo- 
nant.  Neque  sane  damnari  potest  ars,  cum  ipsa  judicet.  Ex 
hoc  fonte  haud  paucas  opiniones  et  placita  in  philosophia  re- 
periatis,  quae  nihil  aliud  quam  quaesitam  istam  et  artificiosam 
et  in  cognoscendo  et  in  operando  desperationem,  ad  artis  decus 
et  gloriam  perditissimo  hoc  modo  tuendum,  sapiant  et  foveant. 
Hinc  schola  Academica,  quae  Acatalepsiam  ex  professo  tenuit, 
et  homines  ad  sempiternas  tenebras  damnavit.  Hinc  opinio, 
quod  formae  sive  verse  rerum  differentiae  inventu  impossibiles 
sunt ;  ut  homines  in  atriis  naturae  perpetuo  obambulent,  nec 
intra  palatium  aditum  sibi  muniant.  Hinc  positiones  illae  infir- 
missimae,  calorem  solis  et  ignis  toto  genere  differre,  atque  com- 
positionem  opus  hominis,  mistionem  opus  solius  naturae  esse ; 
ne  forte  ars  naturam,  ut  Yulcanus  Minervam',  sollicitare  aut 
expugnare  tentet  aut  speret ;  et  complura  hujusmodi,  quae  tarn 
ad  confessionem  tenuitatis  propriae,  quam  ad  repressionem 2 
industriae  alienae  pertinent.  Itaque  neutiquam  vobis,  filii,  pro 
amore  et  indulgentia  nostra  consuluero,  ut  cum  rebus  non  so¬ 
lum  desperatis  sed  et  desperationi  devotis  fortunas  vestras  mi- 
sceatis.  Yerum,  filii,  tempus  fugit,  dum  capti  amore  et  rerum 
et  vestrum  circumvectamur,  ac  omnia  movemus,  et  initiationem 
hanc  vestram,  instar  Aprilis  aut  veris  cujusdam  ad  congela- 
tionem  omnem  et  obstinationem  solvendam  et  aperiendam  esse 

*  Schol.  in  II.  B.  547.  —  R.  L.  E. 

2  The  words  tenuitatis  . . .  repressionem  are  inserted  between  the  lines  in  Bacon’s 
hand.  And  there  are  two  or  three  other  interlineations  in  the  latter  part  of  the  MS. 
of  the  same  kind,  where  it  is  evident  (as  it  is  here)  that  words  had  been  omitted  by 
the  carelessness  of  the  transcriber. 


REDARGUTIO  PHIEOSOPIIIARUM. 


581 


Cupimus.  Restat  signum  certissimum  de  modis.  Modi  enim 
faciendi  sunt  potentia  res  ipsa? ;  et  prout  bene  aut  prave  insti- 
tutae  fuerint,  ita  res  et  e {Tecta  se  habent.  Itaque  si  modi  hujus 
vestrae  pliilosophiae  condendae  nec  debiti  sint  nec  probabiles, 
non  videmus  quam  spem  foveatis,  nisi  credulam  et  levem.  At- 
que  certe,  filii,  si  obeliscus  aliquis  magnitudine  insignis  ad  trium- 
pbi  fortasse  aut  hujusmodi  magnificentiae  decus  transferendus 
esset,  atque  id  homines  nudis  manibus  tentarent ;  annon  eos 
helleboro  opus  habere  cogitaretis  ?  quod  si  numerum  operari- 
orum  augerent,  atque  hoc  modo  se  valere  posse  confiderent, 
annon  tanto  magis  ?  quod  si  etiam  delectum  adbiberent,  et  im- 
becilliores  separarent,  et  robustis  tantum  et  vigentibus  uti  vel- 
lent,  et  hinc  demum  se  voti  compotes  fore  prasumerent,  aut  ne  hoc 
quidem  contenti,  etiam  artem  athleticam  consulerent,  ac  omnes 
cum  manibus  et  lacertis  et  nervis  ex  arte  bene  unctis  et  medicatis 
adesse  juberent ;  annon  prorsus  eos  dare  operam  ut  cum  ra- 
tione  quadam  et  prudentia  insanirent,  clamaretis  ?  Et  tamen 
simili  homines  malesano  impetu  feruntur  in  intellectualibus, 
dum  intellectum  veluti  nudum  applicant,  et  ab  ingeniorum  vel 
multitudine  vel  excelientia  magna  sperant,  vel  etiam  dialecticis, 
quae  mentis  quaedam  athletica  censeri  possit,  ingeniorum  nervos 
roborant ;  neque  machinas  adhibent,  per  quas  vires  et  singulo- 
rum  intendantur  et  omnium  coeant.  Atque  ut  menti  debita 
auxilia  non  subministrant ;  ita  nec  naturam  rerum  debita  ob- 
servantia  prosequuntur.  Quid  enim  dicemus?  an  nihil  aliud 
est  philosophiam  condere,  quam  ex  paucis  vulgaribus  et  obviis 
experimentis  de  natura  judicium  facere,  ac  dein  tota  saecula  in 
meditationibus  volutare  ?  Atque,  filii,  nesciebam  nos  tarn  na¬ 
turae  fuisse  familiares,  ut  ex  tam  levi  et  perfunctoria  salutatione 
ea  nobis  aut  arcana  sua  patefacere,  aut  beneficia  impertire 
dignaretur.  Certe  nobis  perinde  facere  videntur  homines,  ac  si 
naturam  ex  longinqua  et  prse-alta  turri  despiciant  et  contem- 
plentur ;  quae  imaginem  ejus  quandam,  seu  nubem  potius  ima- 
gini  similem,  ob  oculos  ponat:  rerum  autem  differentias  (in 
quibus  res  hominum  et  fortune  sitae  sunt),  ob  earum  minutias 
et  distantiae  intervallum,  confundat  et  abscondat.  Et  tamen 
laborant  et  nituntur,  et  intellectum  tanquam  oculos  contrahunt, 
ejusdemque  aciem  meditatione  figunt,  agitatione  acuunt,  quin- 
etiam  artes  argumentandi  veluti  specula  artificiosa  comparant, 
ut  istiusmodi  differentias  et  subtilitates  naturae  mente  com- 
prehendere  et  vincere  possint.  Atque  ridicula  certe  esset  ct 


582 


REDARGUTIO  PHILOSOPHIARUM. 


prasfracta  sapientia  et  sedulitas,  si  quis  ut  perfectius  et  distin- 
ctius  cerneret,  vel  turrim  conscendat  vel  specula  applicet  vel 
palpebras  adducat,  cum  ei  liceat  absque  universa  ista  ope- 
rosa  et  strenua  inachinatione  et  industria  fieri  voti  compos 
per  rem  facilem,  et  tamen  ista  omnia  beneficio  et  usu  longe 
superantem :  hoc  est,  ut  descendat  et  ad  res  propius  accedat. 
Atque  certe  in  intellectus  usu  similis  nos  exercet  impru- 
dentia.  Neque,  filii,  postulare  debemus  ut  natura  nobis  obviam 
eat:  eed  satis  habemus,  si  accedentibus  nobis,  idque  cultu 
debito,  se  conspiciendam  det.  Quod  si  cui  in  mentem  veniat 
opinari  tale  quippiam :  etiam  antiquos  atque  ipsum  Aristo- 
telem  proculdubio  a  meditationum  suarum  principio  magnam 
vim  et  copiam  exemplorum  sive  particularium  paravisse,  atque 
eandem  viam,  quam  nos  veluti  novam  indicamus  et  signamus, 
revera  iniisse  et  confecisse,  adeo  ut  actum  agere  videri  possi- 
mus :  certe,  filii,  haec  de  illis  cogitare  non  est  integrum ;  formam 
enim  et  rationem  suam  inquirendi  et  ipsi  profitentur  et  scripta 
eorum  imaginem  expressam  prae  se  ferunt.  Uli  enim  statim  ab 
inductionibus  nullius  pretii  ad  conclusiones  maxime  generales, 
tanquam  disputationum  polos,  advolabant,  ad  quarum  con- 
stantem  et  immotam  veritatem  reliqua  expediebant.  Verum 
scientia  constituta,  turn  demum  siqua  controversia  de  aliquo 
exemplo  vel  instantia  mota  esset,  ut  positis  suis  refragante,  non 
id  agebant  ut  positum  illud  emendaretur ;  sed,  posito  salvo, 
bujusmodi  instantias  quae  negotium  faciebant,  aut  per  distincti- 
onem  aliquam  subtilem  et  sapientem  in  ordinem  redigebant,  aut 
per  exceptionem  plane  (homines  non  mali)  dimittebant.1  Quod 
si  instantiae  aut  particularis  rei,  non  contradictoriae  reconciliatio, 
sed  obscurae  ratio,  quaereretur,  earn  ad  speculationes  suas  quan- 
doque  ingeniose  accommodabant,  quandoque  misere  torquebant : 
quae  omnis  industria  et  contentio  res  sine  fundamento  nobis 
videtur.  Itaque  nolite  commoveri,  quod  frequens  alicubi  inter 
nonnulla  Aristotelis  scripta  inveniatur  exemplorum  et  particu¬ 
larium  mentio.  Noveritis  enim,  id  sero  et  postquam  decretum 
fuisset  factum  fuisse.  Illi  enim  mos  erat  non  liberam  experi- 
entiam  consulere,  sed  captivam  ostentare ;  nec  earn  ad  veritatis 
inquisitionem  promise  uam  et  aequam,  sed  ad  dictorum  suorum 
fidem  sollicitatam  et  electam  adducere.  Neque  rursus  tale 
aliquod  vobiscum  cogitate,  earn  quam  nos  tantopere  desidera- 
mus  differentiarum  subtilitatem  in  distinctionibus  philosopho- 


1  dmittebant  in  MS. 


REDARGUTIO  PHILOSOrniARUM. 


583 


rum  scholasticorum  haberi,  atque  adeo  elucescere :  neque  enim 
existimetis,  ab  bac  prsepostera  subtilitate  primae  negligentiae  et 
festinationi  et  temeritati  subventum  esse.  Longe  abest,  filii, 
ut  hoc  fieri  possit ;  quin  credite  mihi,  quod  de  fortuna  dici  solet 
id  de  natura  verispimum  est,  earn  a  fronte  capillatam,  ab  occi- 
pitio  calvam  esse.  Omnis  enim  ista  sera  subtilitas  et  diligentia, 
postquam  yerum  tempus  observationis  praeterierit,  naturam 
prensare  aut  captare  potest,  sed  nunquam  apprehendere  aut 
capere.  Equidem  satis  scio,  idque  vos  non  ita  multo  post  ex- 
periemini,  postquam  verae  et  nativae  rerum  subtilitati,  et  diffe- 
rentiis  in  experientia  signatis  et  expressis  et  sensui  subjectis 
aut  saltern  per  sensum  in  lucem  extractis,  paululum  insuevistis ; 
continuo  subtilitatem  illam  alteram  disputationum  etverborum, 
quae  cogitationes  vestras  non  sine  magna  admiratione  occupavit 
et  tenuit,  quasi  pro  re  ludicra  et  larva  quadam  et  incantation  e 
habituri  sitis.  Quare  missis  istis  philosophiis  abstractis,  vos  et 
ego,  filii,  rebus  ipsis  nos  adjungamus :  neque  ad  sectae  con- 
dendae  gloriam  animum  adjiciamus ;  sed  utilitatis  et  amplitu¬ 
des  humanae  curam  serio  suscipiamus ;  atque,  inter  mentem  et 
naturam  connubium  castum  et  legitimum  (pronuba  misericordia 
divina)  firmemus ;  precati  etiam  Deum,  cujus  numine  et  nutu 
haec  fiunt,  quique  ut  hominum  et  rerum,  ita  luminum  et  conso- 
lationum  pater  est,  ut  ex  illo  connubio  non  phantasiae  monstra, 
sed  stirps  heroum  quae  monstra  domet  et  extinguat,  hoc  est 
inventa  salutaria  et  utilia  ad  necessitates  humanas  (quantum 
fieri  datur)  debellandas  et  relevandas,  suscipiatur.  Hoc  epitha- 
lamii  votum  sit.  Certe,  filii,  facultates  artium  et  scientiarum 
omnium  consensu  aut  empiricae  aut  rationales  sunt.  Has 
autem  bene  commistas  et  copulatas  adhuc  videre  non  licuit. 
Empirici  enim,  formicae  more,  congerunt  tantum  et  utuntur. 
Rationales  autem,  aranearum  more,  telas  ex  se  conficiunt.  Apis 
ratio  media  est,  quae  materiam  ex  floribus  tarn  horti  quam  agri 
elicit,  sed  simul  etiam  earn  propria  facultate  vertit  et  digerit. 
Neque  absimile  verae  philosophise  opificium  est,  quae  ex  historia 
naturali  et  experimentis  mechanicis  praebitam  materiam,  non  in 
memoria  integram,  sed  in  intellectu  mutatam  et  subactam  re- 
ponit.  Itaque  hujusmodi  mellis  coelestia  dona  sperate:  neque 
dicite  cum  pigro,  Leo  est  in  via :  sed  vincla  quae  vos  premunt 
excutite,  et  vos  recipite.  Atque  sane,  post  virtutem  vestram 
propriam,  nihil  animos  vobis  magis  addiderit,  quam  si  indu- 
striam  et  felicitatem  et  facinora  aetatis  nostrae  cogitetis.  Isos 


584 


REDARGUTIO  PHILOSOPHJARUM. 


nostrum  plus  ultra  antiquorum  non  ultra  haud  vane  opposuimug. 
Nos  iidem,  contra  antiquorum  non  imitabile  fulmen  esse,  imi- 
tabile  fulmen  esse,  minime  dementes  sed  sobrii,  ex  novarum 
machinarum  experimento  et  demonstratione  pronuntiamus. 
Quin  et  coelum  ipsum  imitabile  fecimus.  Coeli  enim  est,  cir- 
cuireterram:  quod  et  nostras  navigationes  pervicerunt.  Turpe 
autem  nobis  sit,  si  globi  materiati  tractus,  terrarum  videlicet  et 
marium,  nostris  temporibus  in  immensum  aperti  et  illustrati 
sint :  globi  autem  intellectuals  fines,  inter  veterum  inventa  et 
angustias  steterint.  Neque  parvo  inter  se  nexu  devincta  et 
conjugata  sunt  ista  duo,  perlustratio  regionum  et  scientiarum. 
Plurima  enim  per  longinquas  navigationes  et  peregrinationes  in 
natura  patuerunt,  qu®  novam  sapienti®  et  scienti®  human® 
lucem  afFundere  possint,  et  antiquorum  opiniones  et  conjecturas 
experimento  regere.  Eadem  duo,  non  ratione  solum  sed  etiam 
vaticinio,  conjuncta  videntur.  Nam  eo  prophet®  oraculum 
haud  obscure  spectare  videtur,  ubi  de  novissimis  temporibus 
loquutus,  illud  subjungit.  Multi  per transibunt,  et  multiplex  erit 
scientia:  ac  si  orbis  terrarum  pertransitus  sive  peragratio,  et 
scientiarum  augmenta  sive  multiplicatio,  eidem  ®tati  et  s®culo 
destinarentur.  Pr®sto  etiam  est  Imprimendi  artificium  veteri- 
bus  incognitum,  cujus  beneficio  singulorum  inventa  fulguris 
modo  transcurrere  possint  et  subito  communicari,  ad  aliorum 
studia  excitanda  et  inventa  miscenda.  Quare  utendum  est 
®tatis  nostr®  pr®rogativa,  neque  committendum,  ut  cum  h®c 
tanta  vobis  adsint  vobis  ipsi  desitis.  Nos  autem,  filii,  ab  ani- 
morum  vestrorum  pr®paratione  auspicati,  in  reliquis  vobis 
non  deerimus.  Probe  enim  novimus  tabellas  mentis  a  tabellis 
communibus  differre.  In  his  non  alia  inscripseris  nisi  priora 
deleveris,  in  illis  priora  ®gre  deleveris  nisi  nova  inscripse¬ 
ris.  Itaque  rem  in  longum  non  differemus  :  illud  itidem  vos 
monentes,  ne  tanta  vobis  de  nostris  inventis  polliceamini,  quin 
meliora  a  vobis  ipsis  speretis.  Nos  enim  Alexandri  fortunam 
nobis  spondemus  (neque  vanitatis  nos  arguatis  antequam  rei 
exitum  audiatis) ;  illius  enim  res  gest®  recenti  memoria  ut 
portentum  accipiebantur ;  ita  enim  loquitur  unus  ex  ®mulis 
oratoribus.  Nos  certe  vitam  humanam  non  degimus ;  sed  in  id 
nati  sumus,  ut  posteri  de  nobis  portenta  prcedicent ;  sed  postquam 
deferbuisset  ista  admiratio  atque  homines  rem  attentius  intro- 
spexissent,  oper®  pretium  est  animadvertere,  quale  judicium  de 
eo  faciat  scriptor  Romanus,  Nil  aliud  quam  bene  ausus  est  vana 


REDARGUTIO  PHILOSOPHIARUM. 


585 


contemner e.  Ita  et  nos  simile  quiddam  a  posteris  audiemus; 
postquam  emancipati,  et  sui  jam  facti,  et  proprias  vires  experti, 
initia  nostra  magnis  intervallis  superaverint.  In  quo  sane  ju- 
dicio,  illud  recte,  nostra  nil  magni  esse :  illud  non  recte,  si 
ausis  tribuant  quae  humilitati  debentur  :  humilitati  (inquam)  et 
privationi  cuidam  istius  humanae  superbiae,  quae  universa  per- 
didit,  quaeque  volucres  quasdam  meditationes  loco  divinae  in 
rebus  signature  consecravit.  Hac  enim  ex  parte  revera  nobis 
gratulamur,  et  eo  nomine  felices  nos  et  bene  de  genere  humano 
meritos  esse  existimamus,  quod  ostendimus  quid  vera  et  legi- 
tima  spiritus  humani  humiliatio  possit.  Verum  quid  nobis 
ab  hominibus  debeatur,  ipsi  viderint.  Nos  certe  nos  nostraque 
vobis  debemus. 

Omnibus  qui  aderant  digna  magnitudine  generis  et  nominis 
humani  oratio  visa  est,  et  tamen  libertati  quam  arrogantiae 
propior.  Ita  autem  inter  se  colloquebantur :  se  instar  eorum 
esse,  qui  ex  locis  opacis  et  umbrosis  in  lucem  apei  tam  subito 
exierint,  cum  minus  videant  quam  priiis ;  sed  cum  certa  et  laeta 
spe  facultatis  melioris. 

Turn  ille  qui  haec  narrabat ;  tu  vero  quid  ad  ista  diets  ? 
inquit.  Grata  sunt  (inquam)  quae  narrasti.  Atque  (inquit)  si 
sunt  ut  dicis  grata,  si  tu  forte  de  his  rebus  aliquid  scripseris, 
locum  invenias  ubi  haec  inseras,  neque  peregrinationis  nostrae 
fructus  perire  patiaris.  JEquum  postulas,  inquam,  neque  obli- 
viscar. 


. 


FRANCISCI  BACON 

COGITATA  ET  VISA: 

DE 

INTERPRETATION  NATURE,  SIYE  DE 
SCIENTIA  OPERATIVE 


589 


PREFACE 


TO  THE 


COGITATA  ET  VISA. 


The  Cogitata  et  Visa  stands  first  in  Gruter’s  volume  of  1653, 
where  it  first  appeared.  That  a  work  with  that  title  was  com¬ 
posed  about  the  year  1607  may  be  inferred  from  the  date 
(1607)  of  a  letter  addressed  by  Bacon  to  Sir  Thomas  Bodley 
“after  he  had  imparted  to  him  a  writing  entitled  Cogitata  et 
Visa;"  from  a  letter  addressed  (19  Feb.  1607)  by  Sir  Thomas 
Bodley  to  Bacon,  giving  his  opinion  of  it ;  and  from  an  entry 
in  the  Commentarius  Solutus  (26  July,  1608)  “  Imparting  my 
Cogitata  et  Visa,  with  choice,  ut  videbitur.”  Whether  the 
writing  here  spoken  of  was  exactly  the  same  as  that  which 
Gruter  published  it  is  of  course  impossible  to  say.  The  follow¬ 
ing  allusion  in  Bacon’s  letter  to  Bodley  — “If  you  be  not  of 
the  lodgings  chalked  up,  whereof  I  speak  in  my  preface  ” — 
would  seem  rather  to  imply  that  it  was  not ;  there  being  no 
preface  to  the  Cogitata  as  printed  by  Gruter,  nor  any  allusion 
to  the  chalked  lodgings  anywhere  in  the  work.  And  it  is 
otherwise  probable  that  it  underwent  many  alterations  before 
it  attained  its  final  shape,  in  which  it  must  certainly  be 
reckoned  among  the  most  perfect  of  Bacon’s  productions. 
Allowance  being  made  however  for  this  uncertainty,  we  need 
not  scruple  to  place  it  here.  It  covers  most  of  the  ground 
occupied  by  the  first  book  of  the  Novum  Organum,  and  was 
intended  to  be  followed  by  an  example  of  a  true  inductive 
investigation,  with  all  its  apparatus  of  tables,  &c.,  as  applied 
to  one  or  two  particular  subjects;  which  would  have  covered 
the  same  ground  which  the  second  book  of  the  Novum  Organum 
was  meant  to  occupy. 


590 


PREFACE  TO  THE  COGITATA  ET  VISA. 


For  the  text,  there  are  only  two  authorities  that  I  know  of ; 
namely  the  copy  printed  by  Gruter,  and  a  manuscript  in  the 
library  of  Queen’s  College,  Oxford  1 ;  a  very  beautiful  manu¬ 
script,  carefully  corrected  throughout  in  Bacon’s  own  hand, 
and  perfect  but  for  the  loss  of  a  leaf  in  the  middle.  The 
differences  between  the  two,  though  not  otherwise  material, 
are  sufficient  to  prove  that  neither  can  have  been  taken  from 
the  other ;  and  as  the  manuscript  is  fuller  in  some  places, 
and  the  printed  copy  in  others,  it  is  difficult  to  say  which  was 
the  later.  The  manuscript  however  is  certainly  the  more  ac¬ 
curate;  and  has  certainly  been  revised  by  Bacon  himself, — a 
fact  which  we  cannot  be  so  sure  of  with  regard  to  the  other. 
I  have  therefore,  by  permission  of  the  Provost  of  Queen’s 
College,  printed  the  text  from  it;  giving  in  the  notes  the 
readings  of  Gruter’s  copy,  where  there  is  any  difference 
between  them. 

The  notes  which  do  not  relate  to  these  variations  are 
Mr.  Ellis’s. 


J.  s. 


1  CCLXXX.  fo.  205. 


591 


FRANCISCI  BACON 

COGITATA  ET  VISA: 

DE 

INTERPRETATIONS  NATURE,  SIVE  DE  SCIENTIA  OPERATIYA.' 


Franciscos  Bacon  sic  cogitavit;  Scientiam  in  cujus  posses- 
sione  genus  humanum  adhuc  versatur,  ad  certitudinem  et  magni- 
tudinem  operum  non  accedere.  Medicos  siquidera  morbos 
complures  insanabiles  pronuntiare,  et  in  reliquorum  cura  saepius 
errare  et  deficere :  Alchimistas  in  spei  suae  amplexibus  senescere 
et  immori :  Magorum  opera  fluxa,  nec  fructuosa :  Mechanicas 
artes  non  multum  lucis  a  philosophia  petere,  sed  experientiae 
telas,  lentas  sane  ac  humiles,  paulatim  continuare :  Casum, 
authorem  rerum  proculdubio  utilem ;  sed  qui  per  longas 
ambages  et  circuitus  donaria  sua  in  homines  spargat.  Itaque 
visum  est  ei,  Inventa  hominum  quibus  utimur  admodum  imper¬ 
fecta  et  immatura  censeri :  Nova  vero,  hoc  scientiarum  statu, 
nonnisi  per  saeculorum  spatia  expectari ;  eaque  ipsa  quae  hactenus 
humana  exhibuit  industria.  Philosophise  haud  attribui. 

Cogitavit  et  illud  ;  in  his1 2  rerum  humanarum  angustiis,  id 
maxime  et  ad  praesens  deploratum  et  in  futurum  ominosum 
esse ;  quod  homines,  contra  bonum  suum,  cupiunt  ignorantiam 
ignominiae  eximere,  et  sibi  per  inopiam  istam  satisfied.  Medi- 
cus  enim  praeter  cautelas  practicae3  sua)  (in  quibus  ad  existima- 
tionem  Artis  tuendam  haud  parum  prassidii  est),  hanc  generalem 
veluti  totius  Artis  cautelam  advocat;  quod  Artis  suae  infirmitatem 
in  Naturae  calumniam  vertit,  et  quod  Ars  non  attingit,  id  ex  arte 
impossibile  in  Natura  supponit.  Neque  certe  damnari  potest  Ars, 
cum  ipsajudicet.  Etiam  Philosophia  ex  qua  medicina  ista  (quam 


1  The  title  in  Gruter’s  copy  is :  Francisci  Baconi  De  Verulamio,  Coyitata  et  Visa 
de  Interpretations  Natures,  sive  de  Inventione  Rt  rujn  et  Operum. 

2  iis.  —  G. 


*  artis.  —  G. 


592 


COGITATA  ET  VISA. 


in  manibus  habemus)  cxcisa  est,  habet  et  ilia  et  in  sinu  nutrit 
quEcdam  posita  aut  placita,  in  qute  si  severius  inquiratur,  hoc 
omnino  persuaderi  volunt,  Nil  arduum  aut  in  natura  imperiosum 
ab  arte  vel  ope  bumana  expectari  debere.  Ab  hoc  fonte  illud : 
Calorera  Astri  sive  Solis  et  calorem  Ignis  toto  genere  differre  : 
et  illud,  Compositionem  opus  hominis,  at  Mistionem  opus  solius 
naturae  esse,  et  similia :  quae  si  diligentius  notentur,  omnino 
pertinent  ad  humanae  potestatis  circumscriptionem  malitiosam, 
et  ad  quaesitam  et  artificiosam  desperationem,  quae  non  solum 
spei  auguria  sed  etiam  experiendi  aleas  abjiciat,  et  omnis1 
industriae  stimulos  et  nervos  incidat 2 ;  dum  de  hoc  tantum  soliciti 
sunt,  ut  Ars  perfecta  censeatur,  et  gloriae  vanissimae  et  perditis- 
simae  dant  operam,  scilicet  ut  quicquid  inventum  non  sit,  id 
nec  inveniri  posse  credatur.  Alchimista  vero,  ad  Artis  suae 
sublevationem,  errores  proprios  reos  substituit;  secum  accusatorie 
reputando,  se  aut  Artis  et  Authorum  vocabula  non  satis  intel- 
lexisse,  unde  ad  traditionum  et  ore  tenus  eloquiorum  susurros 
animum  applicat.;  aut  in  practicae  scrupulis,  proportionibus  et 
momentis  aliquid  titubatum  esse,  unde  experimenta  feelieioribus 
(ut  putat)  auspiciis  in  infinitum  repetit :  ac  interim,  cum  inter 
experimentorum  vertiginosas  ambages3  in  Inventa  quaedam  aut 
ipsa  facie  nova,  aut  utilitate  non  contemnenda  impingat,  hujus- 
modi  pignoribus  animum  pascit,  eaque  in  majus  ostentat  et 
celebrat,  reliqua  spe  sustentat.  Magus,  cum  nonnulla  supra 
naturam  (pro  suo  nimirum  captu)  prorsus  effici  videat;  post- 
quam  vim  semel  naturce  factam  intelligit,  imagination!  alas 
addit,  remque  magis  et  minus  recipere  vix  putat;  quare 
maximarum  rerum  sibi  adeptionem  spondet;  non  videns  esse 
subjecta  certi  cujusdam  et  fere  definiti  generis,  in  quibus  Magia 
et  superstitio  per  omnes  nationes  et  states  potuerit  et  luserit. 
Mechanicus  autem,  si  ei  contigerit  jam  pridem  inventa  subtilius 
polire,  vel  ornare  elegantius ;  aut  quae  separatim  observaverit 
componere  et  simul  repraesentare ;  aut  res  cum  usu  rerum  com- 
modius  et  feelieius  copulare  ;  aut  opus  majore  aut  etiam  minore 
quam  fieri  consuevit  mole  et  volumine  exhibere  ;  se  demum  inter 
rerum  Inventores  numerat.  Itaque  satis  constabat  ei,  homi- 

1  omnes.  —  G. 

2  Compare  this  with  what  is  said  of  Galen  in  the  Temporis  Partus  Masculus 
[supra,  p.  531.]. 

3  This  remarkable  phrase  occurs  also  in  the  Temporis  Partus  Masculus  [see  p.  539.] ; 
a  coincidence  which,  with  other  points  of  resemblance,  seems  to  indicate  that  the 
Cogitata  et  Visa  and  the  Temporis  Partus  were  written  about  the  same  time. 


COGITATA  et  visa. 


593 


nes  rerum  Inventionem  ut  conatum  irritum  fastidire1;  vel 
credere,  extare  quidem  Inventa  nobilia,  sed  inter  paucos  sum- 
mo  silentio  et  religioue  quadam  cohiberi ;  vel  hue  descendere, 
ut  minores  istas  industrias  et  Inventorum  additamenta  pro  novis 
Tnventis  ®stiment ;  qua;  omnia  eo  redeunt,  ut  animos  homiuum 
a  legitimo  et  constanti  labore,  et  a  nobilibus  et  genere  humano 
dignis  Inventorum  pensis  avertant. 

Cogitavit  et  illud ;  homines  cum  operum  varietatem  et  pul- 
cherrimum  apparatum,  quae  per  artes  Mechanicas  ad  cultum 
humanum  congesta  sit2,  oculis  subjiciant3 ;  eo  inclinare,  ut  potius 
ad  opulenti®  human®  admirationem  quam  ad  inopi®  sensum 
accedant ;  minime  videntes,  primitivas  hominis  observationes  et 
Natur®  operationes  qu®  anim®  aut  primi  motus  instar  ad 
omnem  illam  varietatem  sint,  nec  multas  nec  alte  petitas  esse : 
c®tera  ad  patientiam  hominum,  et  subtilem  et  ordinatum  manus 
vel  instrumentorum  motum  tantum4  pertinere:  atque  in  hac 
parte  officinam  cum  Bibliotheca  mire  congruere,  qu®  et  ipsa 
tantam  librorum  varietatem  ostentet,  in  quibus  si  diligentius 
introspicias,  nil  aliud  quam  ejusdem  rei  infinitas  repetitiones 
reperias,  tractatu5  novas,  inventione  pr®occupatas.  Itaque  vi¬ 
sum  est  ei,  opinionem  copi®  inter  causas  inopi®  poni :  et  turn 
opera  turn  doctrinas  ad  intuitum  numerosa,  ad  examen  pauca 
esse. 

Cogitavit  et  illud ;  eas  quas  habemus  doctrinas  ea  ambitione 
et  affectatione  proponi,  atque  in  eummodum  efformatas  acveluti 
personatas  in  conspectum  venire,  ac  si  singul®  artes  omni  ex 
parte  perfect®  essent  et  ad  exitum  perduct®.  Hujusmodi 
enim  methodis  et  iis  partitionibus  tradi,  qu®  omnia  prorsus 
qu®  in  illud  subjectum  cadere  possunt  tractatu6  complecti 
et  concludere  videantur.  Atque  licet  membra  ilia  male  im- 
pleta  et  quod  ad  vividum  aliquem  rerum  succum  attinet 
destituta  sint,  Totius  tamen  cujusdam  formam  et  rationem 
pr®  se  ferre:  eoque  rem  perduci,  ut  pauca  qu®dam,  neque 
ilia  ex  optimo  delectu  recepta  Authorum  scripta,  pro  integris 
ipsis  et  propriis  Artibus  habeantur.  Cum  tamen  primi  et  an- 
tiquissimi  veritatis  inquisitores,  meliore  fide  ac  eventu,  Scien- 
tiarn  quam  ex  rerum  contemplatione  decerpere  et  in  usum 
condere  statuebant,  in  Aphorismos  fortasse  sive  breves  eas- 

1  Itaque  visum  est  ei ,  homines  rerum  et  artium  novarum  inventionem ,  ut  conatum 
tnanem  et  suspectum ,  fastidire. — G. 

2  sunt. _ G.  3  suhjiciunt.  —  G.  4  tantum  om,  G. 

8  tractandi  modis  et  structura  quadam. — G.  6  tractata. — G. 


594 


COGITATA  ET  VISA. 


demque  sparsas  nec  methodis  revinctas  sententias,  conjicere 
solerent :  qu®  cum  et  rerum  inventarum  nuda  simulachra,  et 
rerum  non  inventarum  manifesta  spatia  et  vacua  indicarent, 
minus  fallebant;  .atque  hominum  ingenia  et  meditationes  ad 
judicandum  et  ad  inveniendum  simul  excitabant.  At  nunc  scien- 
tias  iis  modis  exhiberi  quae  fidem  usurpent,  non  judicium  solici- 
tent,  et  authoritate  tristi  laetis  Inventionum  conatibus  intercedant : 
Adeo  ut  omnis  successio  et  devolutio  disciplinarum  personas 
Magistri  et  auditoris  complectatur,  non  Inventoris  et  ejus  qui 
Inventis  addat :  unde  necessario  evenire,  ut  Scienti®  suis  hasreant 
vestigiis,  nec  loco  omnino  moveantur ;  quod  et  per  multa  jam 
saecula  usuvenit ;  eousque,  ut  non  solum  assertio  maneat  as- 
sertio,  sed  etiam  quasstio  maneat  qu®stio,  et  eodem  plane  statu 
alatur.  Quare  visum  est  ei,  Columnas  non  ultra  progrediendi 
magnopere  fixas  esse1;  et  mirum  minime  esse  id  haud  obtineri, 
cujus  adipiscendi  homines  nec  spe  nec  desiderio  teneantur. 

Cogitavit  et  illud ;  qu®  de  hominum  turn  desperatione  turn 
fastu  dicta  sunt,  quod  ad  plerosque  scientiarum  sectatores  at- 
tinet,  nimis  alte  petita  esse.  Turbam  enim  longe  maximam 
prorsus  aliud  agere:  Doctrinam  siquidem  vel  animi  et  de- 
lectationis  causa  petere,  vel  ad  usum  et  emolumentum  pro- 
fessorium,  vel  etiam  ad  ornamentum  et  existimationis  su® 
adminiculum :  Qu®  si  ut  fines2  scientiarum  proponantur,  tan- 
tum  abest  ut  homines  id  velint,  ut  ipsa  doctrinarum  massa 
augmentum  sumat ;  ut  ex  ea  qu®  pr®sto  est  massa,  nil  am- 
plius  qu®rant  quam  quantum  ad  usum  destinatum  vertere  et 
decoquere  possint.  Si  quis  autem  in  tanta  multitudine  scien- 
tiam  affectu  ingenuo  et  propter  se  expetat ;  invenietur  tamen 
rerum  potius  varietatem3  quam  veritatem  aucupari :  Quod  si 
et  veritatis  sit  inquisitor  severior,  ilia  ipsa  tamen  veritas  erit 
hujusmodi,  qu®  res  jam  in  lucem  proditas  subtilius  explicet; 
non  qu®  novam  lucem  excitet.  Sin  adhuc  studium  cujuspiam 
in  tantum  expandatur,  ut  et  novam  lucem  ambiat ;  earn  scilicet 
lucem  adamabit,  qu®  ex  longinquo  contemplationes  speciosas 
ostentet,  non  qu®  ex  propinquo  opera  et  Inventa  nobilia 
demonstret.  Quare  visum  est  ei,  eodem  rursus  referri ;  scilicet 
mirum  non  utique  esse  curriculum  non  confici,  cum  homines 
ad  hujusmodi  minora  deflectant:  multo  magis,  cum  nec  ipsa 

1  fixas  esse  et  quasi  fatales. — G.  2  finis. — G. 

8  There  is  here  perhaps  an  allusion  to  the  title  of  one  of  Cardan’s  works,  De 
Rerum  V zrietate ;  of  which  Bacon  made  use  in  writing  the  Sylva  Sylvarum. 


COGITATA  ET  VISA. 


595 


meta  adhuc  ulli  quod  sciat  mortalium  posita  sit  et  defixa : 
Metam  autem  non  aliam  esse,  quam  ut  genus  humanum  novis 
operibus  et  potestatibus  continuo  dotetur. 

Cogitavit  et  illud;  inter  ista  Scientiarum  detrimenta,  Na- 
turalis  philosophise  sortem  prse  omnibus  minus  aequam  esse : 
ut  quae  a  laboribus  hominum  leviter  occupata,  facile  deserta, 
nec  majorem  in  modum  culta  et  subacta  sit.  Postquam  enim 
fides  Christiana  adoleverit  et  recepta  sit1,  longe  maximam  in- 
geniorum  partem  ad  Theologiam  se  contulisse,  hominumque 
ex  hac  parte  studio  et  amplissima  pracmia  proposita  et  omnis 
generis  adjumenta  copiosissime  subministrata  esse :  quin  et  aevo 
superiore  potissimas  Philosophorum  commentationes  in  Morali 
Philosophia  (quae  Ethnicis2  vice  Theologies  erat)  consumptas 
esse:  utrisque  autem  temporibus  summa  ingenia  haud  infre- 
quenti  numero  ad  res  civiles  se  applicasse,  praesertim  durante 
magnitudine  Itomana,  quae  ob  imperii  amplitudinem  pluri- 
morum  operis  indigebat.  Earn  ipsam  vero  aetatem  qua  Na- 
turalis  Philosophia  apud  Graecos  maxime  florere  visa  est, 
fuisse  particulam  temporis  minime  diuturnam :  ac  subinde  con- 
tradictionibus  ac  novorum  placitorum  ambitione  corruptam 
et  inutilem  redditam.  Ab  illis  autem  usque  temporibus,  ne- 
minem  prorsus  nominari,  qui  Naturalem  Philosophiam  ex 
professo  colat,  nec  ejus  inquisitioni  immoriatur ;  adeo  ut  virum 
vacuum  et  integrum  haec  Scientia  jamdiu  non  occupaverit;  nisi 
forte  quis3  monachi  alicujus  in  cellula  aut  nobilis  in  villula 
lucubrantis  exemplum  adduxerit,  quod  et  rarissimum  reperietur. 
Sed  factam4  deinceps  instar  transitus  cujusdam  et  pontisternii 
ad  alia,  magnamque  istam  Scientiarum  matrem  in  ancillam 
mutatam  esse ;  quae  Medicinae  aut  Mathematicis  operibus  mi- 
nistret,  aut  adolescentium  immatura  ingenia  lavet  et  imbuat 
veluti  tinctura  quadam  prima,  ut  aliam  rursus  foelicius  et 
commodius  excipiant.  Itaque  visum  est  ei  Naturalem  Philo¬ 
sophiam,  incumbentium  et  paucitate,  et  festinatione,  et  tyro- 
cinio,  destitutam  jacere.  Nec  ita  multo  post  visum  est  ei, 
hoc  ad  universum  doctrinarum  statum  summopere  pertinere. 
Omnes  enim  artes  et  scientias  ab  hac  stirpe  revulsas  poliri 
lortassis,  aut  in  usum  effingi,  sed  nil  admodum  crescere. 

Cogitavit  et  illud ;  quam  molestum  ac  in  omni  genere 
difficilem  adversarium  nacta  sit  Philosophia  naturalis,  Supersti- 

1  adolevit  et  recepta  est. — G.  2  Ethnicis,  magna  ex  parte.—  G. 

3  quis  forte. — G.  4  factum. — G. 


39  Bacon  III 


596 


COGITATA  ET  VISA. 


tionem  nimirum  et  zelum  religionis  caecum  et  immoderatum. 
Comperit  enim  ex  Graecis  nonnullos,  qui  primum  causas  natura- 
les  fulminis  et  tempestatum  insuetis  adhuc  hominum  auribus 
proposuerunt,  impietatis  eo  nomine  damnatos;  nec  multo  me¬ 
lius  exceptos,  sed  in  idem  judicium  adductos,  non  capitis  sane 
sed  famse,  Cosmographos,  qui  ex  certissimis  demonstrationibus, 
quibus  nemo  hodie  sanus  contradixerit,  formam  terrae  rotundam 
tribuerunt,  et  ex  consequenti  Antipodas  asseruerunt,  accusanti- 
bus  quibusdam  ex  antiquis  Patribus  fidei  Christiana;.1  Quin  et 
duriorem  (ut  nunc  sunt  res)  conditionem  sermonum  de  Natura 
effectam  ex  temeritate  Theologorum  Scholasticorum  et  eorum 
clientelis,  qui  cum  Theologiam  (satis  pro  potestate)  in  ordinem 
redegerint  et  in  artis  fabricam  effinxerint,  hoc  insuper  ausi  sunt, 
ut  contentiosam  et  tumultuariam  Aristotelis  Philosophiam  cor- 
pori  religionis  inseruerint.2  Eodem  spectare  etiam,  quod  hoc 
saeculo  haud  alias  opiniones 3  magis  secundis  ventis  ferri  reperies, 
quam  eorum  qui  Theologiae  et  Philosophise,  (id  est)  fidei4  et 
sensus,  conjugium  veluti  legitimum  multa  pompa  et  solennitate 
celebrant,  et  grata  rerum  varietate  animos  hominum  permulcen- 
tes,  interim  divina  et  humana  inauspicato  permiscent.  Revera 
autem  si  quis  diligentius  animum  advertat,  non  minus  periculi 
Naturali  Philosophise  ex  istiusmodi  fallaci  et  iniquo  foedere, 
quam  ex  apertis  inimicitiis  imminere.  Tali  enim  foedere  et 
societate,  recepta  in  Philosophia  tantum  comprehendi :  aucta 
autem,  vel  addita,  vel  in  melius  mutata,  etiam  severius  et  perti- 
nacius  excludi.  Denique  versus  incrementa,  et  novas  veluti 
oras  et  regiones  philosophise,  omnia  ex  parte  religionis  prava- 
rum  suspicionum  et  impotentis  fastidii  plena  esse.  Alios 
siquidem  simplicius  subvereri,  ne  forte  altior  in  Natura5  inqui- 
sitio  ultra  datum  et  concessum  sobrietatis  terminum  penetret ; 
traducentes  non  recte  ea  qute  de  divinis  mysteriis  dicuntur, 
quorum  multa  sub  sigillo  divino  clausa  manent,  ad  occulta 
Naturse,  quae  nullo  interdicto  separantur:  Alios  callidius  conji- 
cere,  si  media  ignorentur,  singula  ad  manum  et  virgulam  divinam 
(quod  Religionis  ut  putant  maxime  intersit)  facilius  referri; 
quod  nil  aliud  est,  quam  Deo  per  mendacium  gratificari  velle: 
Alios  ab  exemplo  metuere,  ne  motus  et  mutationes  Philosophise 


1  See  Lactantius,  Div.  Inst.  iit.  24. ;  and  for  a  defence  of  the  conduct  of  S.  Boniface 
to  Virgilius  Bishop  of  Salzburg,  who  maintained  among  other  positions  of  doubtful 
orthodoxy  the  existence  of  the  antipodes,  see  Fromondus  “  De  orbe  terra;  immobili.” 

2  immiscuerint. —  G.  *  opiniones  et  disputationes, — G. 

—  a  naturam. — G. 


COGITATA  ET  VISA. 


597 


in  religionem  incurrant  et  desinant:  Alios  denique  solicitos 
videri,  ne  in  Naturae  inquisitione  aliquid  inveniri  possit  quod 
Religionem  labefactet ;  quae  duo  cogitata  incredulitatem  quan- 
dam  sapiunt,  et  sapientiam  animalem :  posterius  autem  absque 
impietate  ne  in  dubitationem  aut  suspicionem  venire  potest. 
Quare  satis  constabat  ei1,  in  hujusmodi  opinionibus  multum  infir- 
mitatis,  quin  et  invidiae  et  fermenti  non  parum  subesse.  Natura- 
lem  enim  Philosophiam  post  verbum  Dei  certissimam  supersti- 
tionis  medicinam,  eandem  probatissimum  fidei  alimentum  esse. 
Itaque  merito  religioni  tanquam  fidissimam  et  acceptissimam 
ancillam  atribui :  cum  altera  voluntatem  Dei,  altera  potestatem 
manifestet:  Neque  errasse  eum  qui  dixerit,  erratis  nescientes 
scripturas  et  potestatem  Dei2;  informationem  de  voluntate,  et 
meditationem  de  potestate,  nexu  individuo  copulantem.  Qua) 
licet  verissima  sint,  nihilominus  illud  manet ;  in  potentissimis 
Naturalis  Philosophise  impedimentis,  ea  quae  de  zelo  imperito  et 
superstitione  dicta  sunt,  citra  controversiam  numerari. 

Cogitavit  et  illud ;  in  moribus  et  institutis  Academiarum, 
Collegiorum,  et  similium  conventuum,  quae  ad  doctorum  homi- 
num  sedes  et  operas  mutuas  destinata  sunt,  omnia  progressui 
Scientiarum  in  ulterius  adversa  inveniri.  Frequentiam  enim 
multo  maximam  professoriain  primo,  ac  subinde  meritoriam  esse : 
Lectiones  autem  et  exercitia  ita  disposita,  ut  aliud  a  consuetis 
ne  facile  cuiquam  in  mentem  veniat  cogitare.  Sin  autem  alicui 
inquisitionis  et  judicii  libertate  uti  contigerit,  is  se  in  mngna 
solitudine  versari  statim  sentiet :  Sin  et  hoc  toleraverit,  tamen 
in  capessenda  fortuna  industriam  hanc  et  magnanimitatem  sibi 
non  levi  impedimento  fore  experietur.  Studia  enim  hominum 
in  ejusmodi  locis  in  quorundam  authorum  scripta  veluti  relegata 
esse;  a  quibus  si  quis  dissentiat,  aut  controversiam  moveat, 
continuo  ut  homo  turbidus  et  rerum  no  varum  cupidus  corripi- 
tur  ;  cum  tamen  (si  quis  rerum 3  verus  sestimator  sit)  magnum 
discrimen  inter  rerum  civilium  ac  artium  administrationem 
reperiet4 :  non  enim  idem  periculum  a  nova  luce  ac  a  novo 
motu  instare ;  verum  in  rebus  civilibus,  motum  etiam  in  melius 
suspectum  esse  ob  perturbation  em ;  cum  civilia  authoritate, 
consensu,  fama,  opinione,  non  demonstratione  et  veritate  con- 
stent  :  in  artibus  autem  et  scientiis,  tanquam  in  metalli  fodi- 
nis,  omnia  novis  operibus  et  ulterioribus  progressibus  strepere 


1  ei  om.  G. 

8  rerum  om.  G. 


*  St.  Matth.  xxii.  29. 
reperialur. — G. 


598 


C0G1TATA  ET  VISA. 


debere.  Atque  recta  ratione  rem  se  ita  habere.  Invitaautem, 
■visum  est  ei  doctrinarum  politiam  et  administrationem  quae  in 
usu  est,  scientiarum  augmenta  et  propaginem  durissime  premere 
et  cobibere. 

Cogitavit  et  illud ;  etiam  in  opinione  hominum  et  sensu 
communi,  multa  ubique  occurrere  quae  novas  scientiarum  acces- 
siones  libero  aditu  prohibeant :  maximam  enim  partem  homi¬ 
num,  pnesentibus  non  aequam,  in  antiquitatem  propendere ;  ac 
credere  si  nobis  qui  nunc  vivimus  ea  sors  obvenisset,  ut  quae 
ab  antiquis  quaesita  et  inventa  sunt  primi  tentaremus,  nos 
eorum  pensa  longo  intervallo  non  fuisse  aequaturos.  Credere 
similiter,  si  quis  etiam  nunc,  ingenio  suo  confisus,  inquisitionem 
de  integro  suscipere  affectet,  hunc  hujusce  rei  eventum  fore ; 
ut  aut  in  ea1  ipsa  incidat  quae  ab  antiquitate  probata  sunt;  aut 
sane  in  alia,  quae  ab  antiquitate  jampridem  judicata  et  rejecta, 
in  oblivionem  merito  cessere.  Alios,  spreta  omnino  gente  et 
facilitate  humana  utriusque  temporis,  sive  antiqui  sive  novi, 
in  opinionem  labi  curiosam  et  superstitiosam ;  existimantes 
scientiarum  primordia  a  spiritibus  manasse,  et  ab  eorum  digna- 
tione  et  consortio  similiter  nova  inventa  authoramentum  habere 
posse.2  Alios  opinione  magis  sobria  et  severa,  sed  diffidentia 
graviore,  de  auctiore  scientiarum  statu  plane  desperare,  Naturae 
obscuritatem,  brevitatem  vitae,  sensuum  fallacias,  judicii  infirmi- 
tatem,  et  experimentorum  difficultates  et  immensas  varietates 
reputando;  itaque  hujusmodi  spei  excessus,  quae  majora  quam 
quae  habemus  spondeant3,  esse  impotentis  animi  et  immaturi; 
atque  beta  scilicet  principia,  media  ardua,  extrema  confusa 
habere.  Nec  minorem  desperationem  praemii  quam  facti  esse. 
Scientias  siquidem  in  magnis  ingeniis  proculdubio  innasci  et 
augeri ;  pretia  autem  et  asstimat.iones  Scientiarum,  penes  popu- 
lum  aut  principes  viros,  aut  alios  mediocriter  doctos  esse :  unde 
fieri4  ut  ea  tantum  inventa  vigeant,  qu;e  populari  judicio  et 
sensui  communi  accommodata  sunt ;  ut  in  Democriti  opinione 
de  Atomis  usuvenit,  quae  quia  paulo  remotior  erat,  lusu  excipi- 
ebatur.  Itaque  altiores  contemplationes  Naturae,  quas  fere 
religionis  instar  duras  sensibus  hominum  accedere  necesse  est, 

1  ea  om.  G. 

2  Bacon  here  alludes  to  the  opinions  of  the  cabalists,  and  perhaps  in  particular  to 
those  of  Robert  Fludd. 

3  spondeat. — G.  The  reading  of  the  MS.  is  incorrect ;  but  it  may  be  doubted 
whether  the  error  be  not  in  the  qua,  which  ought  perhaps  to  be  qui. 

4  Itaque  non  eorundem  propositionem  scientiarum  et  judicium  esse :  unde  fieri,  &c. 
— G. 


COGITATA  ET  VISA. 


599 


oriri  aliquando  posse ;  sed  fere  non  multo  post  (nisi  evidenti 
et  excellenti  utilitate  demonstrentur  et  commendentur,  quod 
hucusque  factum  non  est)  opinionum  vulgariuin  ventis  agitari 
et  extingui ;  adeo  ut  tempus  tanquam  fluvius,  levia  et  inflata 
veliere,  gravia  et  solida  mergere  consueverit.  Yisum  est  ei 
itaque,  impedimenta  melioris  scientiarum  status  non  tantum 
externa  et  adventitia,  sed  et  innata  et  ex  ipsis  sensibus  hausta 
esse. 

Cogitavit  et  illud ;  etiam  verborum  naturam  vagam  et  male 
terminatam  Intellectui  hominum  illudere,  et  fere  vim  facere. 
Yerba  enim  certe  tanquam  numismata  esse,  quae  vulgi  imaginem 
et  principatum  repi'aesentent :  ilia  siquidem  secundum  populares 
notiones  et  rerum  acceptiones  (quae  maxima  ex  parte  erroneae 
sunt  et  confusissimse)  omnia  componere  et  dividere  ;  ut  etiam 
infantes  cum  loqui  discant  *,  infcelicem  errorum  cabalam  haurire 
et  imbibere  cogantur:  Ac  licet  sapientiores  et  doctiores  se 
variis  artibus  ab  hac  servitute  vindicare  conentur ;  nova  voca- 
bula  fingendo,  quod  durum,  et  definitiones  interponendo,  quod 
molestum  est ;  nullis  tamen  viribus  jugum  excutere  posse,  quin 
infinitae  etiam  in  acutissimis  disputationibus  controversial  de 
verbis  moveantur,  et  quod  multo  deterius  est,  iste  ipsae  pravae 
verborum  signaturae  etiam  in  mentem  radios  suos  et  impressiones 
reflectant ;  nec  tantum  in  sermone  molestae,  sed  etiam  J udicio 
et  Intellectui  infestae  sunt.  Itaque  visum  est  ei,  inter  internas 
causas  errorum,  hanc  ipsam  ut  gravem  sane  et  non 2  innoxiam 
ponere. 

Cogitavit  et  illud ;  praeter  communes  scientiarum  et  doctn- 
narum  difficultates,  philosophiam  naturalem,  pnesertim  activam 
et  operativam,  etiam  alia  propria  habere  praejudicia  et  impedi¬ 
menta.  Non  parvam  enim  existimationis  jacturam  et  fidei 
fecisse,  per  quosdam  procuratores  suos  leves  et  vanos ;  qui  par- 
tim  ex  credulitate  partim  ex  impostura,  humanum  genus  pro- 
missis  onerarunt;  vitae  prolongationem,  senectutis  retardatio- 
nem,  dolorum  levationem,  naturalium  defectuum  reparationem, 
sensuum  deceptiones,  affectuum  ligationes  et  incitationes,  mtel- 
lectualium  facultatum  illuminationes,  exaltationes,  substantia- 
rum  transmutationes,  motuum  ad  libitum  multiplicationes,  aiins 
impressiones  et  alterationes,  rerum  futurarum  _  divinationes, 
remotarum  repnesentationes,  occultarum  revelationes,  et  -alia 


1  dis  cunt. — G. 


2  non  ora.  G, 


600 


COG1TATA  ET  VISA. 


complura  pollicitando :  verum  de  istis  largitoribus,  opinari,  non 
multum  aberraturum  qui  istiusmodi  judicium  fecerit:  Tantum 
nimirum  interesse  inter  horum  vanitates  et  veras  artes,  in 
philosophia,  quantum  intersit  inter  res  gestas1  Jul.  Caesaris  aut 
Alexandri,  et  rursus  Amadisii  ex  Gallia  aut  Arthuri  ex  Bri¬ 
tannia,  in  historia ;  constat  enim  clarissimos  illos  Imperatores 
majora  revera  praestitisse  quam  umbratiles  isti  heroes  fecisse 
fingantur ;  sed  modis  et  viis  actionum  minime  fabulosis  et 
prodigiosis.  Itaque  aequum  non  esse  fidem  verse  memoriae 
derogare,  quia  ilia  a  fabulis  quandoque  laesa  et  violata  sit :  nam 
Ixionem  e  nube  Centauros;  nec  ideo  minus,  Jovem  e  vera 
Junone  Heben  et  Vulcanum,  virtutes  scilicet  admirandas  et 
divinas  Naturae  et  Artis  genuisse.  Quae  licet  vera  comperiantur, 
et  homines  absque  rerum  discrimine  incredulos  esse  summae  sit 
imperitiae;  visum  tamen  est  ei,  veri+atis  aditum  per  hujusmodi 
commenta  interclusum  aut  certe  arctatum  jampridem  esse ;  et 
vanitatis  excessus  etiam  nuncomnem  magnanimitatem  destruere. 

Cogitavit  et  illud ;  reperiri  in  animo  humano  inclinationem 
quandam  a  Natura  insitam,  et  hominum  opinione  et  disciplina 
nonnulla  corroboratam,  quae  naturalis  philosophise,  activae  nimi¬ 
rum  et  operatives,  progressus  remorata  sit  et  averterit.  Earn 
esse  opinionem  sive  aestimationem  tumidam  et  damnosam  ;  Minui 
nernpe  Majestatem  mentis  humanae,  si  in  experimentis  et  rebus 
particularibus,  sensui  subjectis  et  in  materia  terminatis,  diu  ac 
multum  versetur  :  prsesertim  cum  hujusmodi  res  ad  inquirendum 
laboriosae,  ad  meditandum  ignobiles,  ad  dicendum  asperae,  ad  pra- 
cticam  illiberales,  numero  infinitae,  et  subtilitate  pusillae,  videri 
soleant,  et  ob  hujusmodi  conditiones  glorias  Artium  minus  sint 
accommodate.  Quam  opinionem  sive  animi  dispositionem,  vires 
maximas  sumpsisse  ex  ilia  altera  opinione  elata  et  commentitia, 
qua  veritas  humanae  mentis  veluti  indigena,  nec  aliunde  commi- 
grans ;  et  sensus  intellectum  magis  excitare  quam  informare 
asserebatur.  Neque  tamen  errorem  hunc,  et  mentis  (si  verum 
nomen  quaeratur)  alienationem,  ab  iis  ulla  ex  parte  correctam,  qui 
sensui  debitas,  id  est  primas  partes  tribuerunt.  Quin  et  hos  quo- 
que  exemplo  et  facto  suo,  relicta  prorsus  Naturali  historia  et 


1  So  in  MS.  Gruter’s  copy  has  inter  stas  Julii,  &c.  ;  the  stas  commencing  a  new 
lire.  Blackhourn  silently  substituted  pugnas,  which  is  the  common  reading  and 
followed  by  M.  Bouillet.  Montagu  silently  substituted  iatas,  which  could  not  possibly 
be  right.  I  had  myself  substituted  res  gestas,  before  I  knew  of  the  MS. ;  and  it  must 
oi  course  be  accepted  as  the  true  reading. 


COGITATA  ET  VISA. 


601 


mundana  perambulatione,  omnia  in  Ingenii  agitatione  posuisse, 
et  inter  opacissima  mentis  Idola,  sub  specioso  contemplationis  1 
nomine,  perpetuo  volutasse.  Quare  visum  est  ei,  istud  rerum 
particularium  repudium  et  divortium  omnia  in  familia  human  a. 
turbasse. 

Cogitavit  et  illud ;  non  tantum  ex  iis  quae  obstant  conjecturam 
capiendam ;  fieri  enim  posse  ut  humani  generis  fortuna  istas 
difficultates  et  vincula  perfregerit  et  superaverit:  Itaque  illud 
videndum  ac  penitus  introspiciendum,  quails  sit  ea  philosophia 
quae  recepta  sit,  aut  alia  quaepiam  ex  antiquis,  quae  instar  tabulae 
naufragii  ad  litora  nostra  impulsa  sit.  Atque  invenit,  Philoso- 
phiam  Naturalem,  quam  a  Grajcis  accepimus,  pueritiam  quan- 
dam  Scientiae  censeri ;  atque  habere  id  quod  proprium  puerorum 
est,  ut  ad  garriendum  prompta,  ad  generandum  inhabilis  et 
immatura  sit.  Hujus  autem  philosophise  jam  consensu  prinei- 
pem  Aristotelem,  intacta  fere  ac  illibata  Natura,  in  communibus 
notionibus,  atque  earum  inter  se  comparatione,  collisione,  et 
reductione  inutiliter  versatum  esse.  Neque  sane  quicquam 
solidi  ab  eo  sperari,  qui  etiam  mundum  e  categoriis  effecerit: 
Parum  enim  interesse,  utrum  quis  materiam  formam  et  priva- 
tionem,  an  substantiam  qualitatem  et  relationem,  principia  rerum 
posuerit.  Verum  istis  sermonibus  supersederi  oportere.  Nam 
et  justam  confutationem  instituere  (cum  neque  de  principiis, 
nec  de  demonstrationum  modis  conveniat)  immemoris  esse ;  et 
rursus  hominem  tantam  authoritatem  et  fere  Dictaturam  in 
philosophia  adeptum  per  satyram  perstringere,  levius  pro  digni- 
tate  sermonis  instituti,  et  tamen  superbum  fore.  Ilium  sane, 
Dialecticis  rationibus,  utpote  a  se  (quod  ipse  licentius  gloriatur) 
oriundis,  Naturalem  philosophiam  corrupisse.  Yerum  ut  ilium 
mittamus,  Platonem  virum  sine  dubio  altioris  ingenii  fuisse  ;  ut 
qui  et  formarum  cognitionem  ambiret,  et  inductione  per  om¬ 
nia  (non  ad  principia  tantum)  uteretur :  sed  inutili  utrobique 
ratione,  cum  Inductiones  vagas,  formas  abstractas,  prensaret  et 
reciperet.  Atque  hujus  philosophi  si  quis  attentius  et.scripta 
et  mores  consideret,  eum  de  Philosophia  Naturali  non  admodum 
solicitum  fuisse  reperiet,  nisi  quatenus  ad  Philosophi  nomen  et 
celebritatem  tuendam,  vel  ad  majestatem  quandam  moralibus  et 
civilibus  doctrinis  addendam  et  aspergendam  sufficeret.  Eundem 
Naturam  non  minus  Theologia,  quam  Aristotelem  Dialectica 


contemplationis  el  rationa'ium.—G. 


602 


COGITATA  ET  VISA. 


inficere :  et  si  verum  dicendum  est,  tam  prope  ad  poet®,  quam 
ilium  1  ad  sophists;  partes  accedere.  Atque  horum  placita  ex 
ipsis  fontibus  haurire  licere,  cum  opera  eorum  extent.  Reli- 
quorum  vero,  Pythagoras,  Empedoclis,  Heracliti,  Anaxagoras, 
Democriti,  Parmenidis,  Xenophanis,  et  aliorum,  diversam  ratio- 
nem  esse  ;  quod  illorum  opiniones  per  internuntios  quosdam  et 
famas  et  fragmenta  solummodo  habemus2;  atque  idcirco  majore 
inquisitione,  ac  majore  etiam  judicii  integritate  (quae  sortis 
iniquitatem  levet)  opus  esse.  Se  tamen  cum  summa  diligentia 
et3  cura,  omnem  de  illis  opinionibus  auram  captasse;  et4  quid- 
quid  de  illis,  vel  dum  ab  Aristotele  confutantur,  vel  dum  a 
Cicerone5  citantur;  vel  in  Plutarchi  fasciculo,  vel  in  Laertii 
vitis,  vel  in  Lucretii  poemate,  vel  alicubi  in  quavis  alia  sparsa 
memoria  et  mentione  inveniri  possit,  evolvisse  ,  et  cum  fide  et 
judicio  librato  examinasse.  Ac  primo  sane  dubium  non  esse, 
quin  si  opiniones  eorum  in  propriis  extarent  operibus,  majorem 
firmitudinem  habiturse  fuissent ;  cum  Theoriarum  vires  in  apta 
et  se  mutuo  sustinente  partium  harmonia,  et  quadam  in  orbem 
demonstratione  consistant,  ideoque  per  partes  traditas  infirmse 
sint :  quare  non  contemptim  de  illis  judicium  fecisse.  Repe- 
risse  etiam  inter  placita  tam  varia,  haud  pauca  in  observatione 
naturas  et  causarum  assignatione  non  indiligenter  notata ;  alios 
autem  in  aliis  (ut  fere  fieri  solet)  foeliciores  fuisse.  Tantum- 
modo  Pythagor®  inventa  et  placita  (licet  numeri  ejus  quiddam 
physicum  innuant)  talia  majore  ex  parte  fuisse,  quas  ad  ordinem 
potius  quendam  religiosorum  fundandum,  quam  ad  scholam  in 
philosophia  aperiendam  pertinerent ;  quod  et  eventus  compro- 
bavit ;  nam  eandem  disciplinam  plus  in  haeresi  Manichaeorum,  et 
superstitione  Mahumeti,  quam  apud  Philosophos  valuisse.  Re- 
liquos  vero,  physicos  certe  fuisse ;  atque  ex  iis  nonnullos,  qui 
Aristotele  longe  et  altius  et  acutius  in  naturam  penetraverint. 
Atque  ilium  scilicet  Ottomanorum  more  in  fratribus  trucidan- 
dis  occupatum  fuisse ;  quod  et  ei  ex  voto  successit ;  verum  et 
de  Aristotele,  et  reliquis  istis  Graecis  non  dissimile  judicium 
fecit;  Esse  nimirum  hujusmodi  placita  ac  theorias  veluti  di- 
versa  diversarum  fabularum  in  Theatro  argumenta,  in  quan- 
dam  veri  similitudinem,  alia  elegantius  alia  negligentius  aut 
crassius  conficta ;  atque  habere  quod  fabularum  proprium  est, 
ut  veris  narrationibus  concinniora  et  commodiora  videantur. 


1  Me. — G. 
4  ut.— G. 


2  habeamus. — G. 

8  a  Platone  vel  Cicerone. — G. 


8  ac.— G. 


COGITATA  ET  VISA. 


603 


Neque  in  istis  tantum  exhibitis  et  publicatis  theoriis,  hu- 
mani  ingenii  peregrination  es  et  errores  se  sistere  aut  finire1 
potuisse.  Nisi  enim  mores  hominum  et  affectus  et  rerum 
civilium  inclinationes  hujusmodi  novitatibus  (etiam  in  contem- 
plativis)  adversse  et  infensae  extitissent ;  dubium  minime  esse, 
quin  et  alise  multae  in  naturali  philosophia  sectae  introductae 
fuissent.  Quemadmodum  enim  in  Astronomicis,  et  iis  quibus 
terram  rotari  placet,  et  iis  qui  per  eccentricos  et  epicyclos  motus 
expediunt,  eorum  quae  in  coelis  sub  sensu  apparent  patrocinia 
et  advocationes  aequae  et  ancipites  sunt;  quin  et  tabularum 
calculi  utrisque  respondent ;  eodem  modo  et  multo  etiam  facilius 
esse  in  Naturali  Philosophia  complures  theorias  excogitare, 
longe  inter  se  ad  invicem  differentes,  sed  tamen  singulas  sibi 
constantes,  et  instantiarum  vulgarium  (quae  in  ejusmodi  quae- 
stionibus  judicia  exercere  solent)  suffragatione  abutentes,  atque 
in  di versa  trahentes.  Neque  enim  defuisse,  qui  nostra  et  patrum 
aetate  novas  Philosophise  Naturalis  fabricas  meditati  sunt :  Nam 
Telesium  nostra  memoria  scenam  conscendisse,  et  novam  fabu- 
lam  egisse,  magis  argumento  probabilem  quam  plausu  cele- 
brem 2 :  et  F racastorium,  non  ita  pridem,  licet  novam  sectam 
non  elegerit,  tamen  libertate  judicii  et  inquisitionis  honestissime 
usum  esse.  Cardanum  etiam  non  minus  ausum  ;  sed  leviorem. 
Quin  et  nuper  Gilbertum  nostratem,  cum  naturam  Magnetis 
laboriosissime  et  magna  judicii  firmitudine  et  constantia,  necnon 
experimentorum  magno  comitatu  et  fere  agmine  perscrutatus 
esset,  statim  novae  in  Philosophia  Naturali  sectae  imminere 
ccepisse3;  nec  Xenophanis  nomen  in  ludibrium  versum  expavisse, 
in  cujus  sententiam  inclinabat.4  Hos  itaque,  et  si  qui  sunt  aut 
erunt  horum  similes,  antiquorum  turbae  aggregandos;  unam 
enim  eandemque  omnium  rationem  haberi.  Esse  nimirum 
homines  secundum  pauca  pronuntiantes,  et  naturam  leviter 
attingentes,  nec  ita  se  illi  immiscentes  ut  aut  contemplationum 
veritatem  aut  operum  utilitatem  assequi  possint.  Credere 
enim  ex  tot  Philosophiis  per  tot  annorum  spatia  laboratis5  et 


1  finiri. — G.  The  last  letter  has  been  corrected  in  the  MS. ;  but  whether  from  e 
into  i  or  from  i  into  e  I  cannot  confidently  say 

2  Telesius  is  here  spoken  of  more  favourably  than  in  the  Temporis  Partus  Masculus. 
The  phrase piausu  celebrem  occurs  in  both  passages. 

8  It  seems  from  this  that  Gilbert’s  posthumous  work,  Physiologia  Nova,  published  in 
1653  by  Gruter,  but  which  Bacon  had  certainly  seen  in  manuscript,  was  written  aftef 
the  treatise  De  Magnete,  published  in  1600. 

4  See  Vol.  II.  p.  136.  note  1. 

5  elaboratis. — G. 


604 


COGITATA  ET  VISA. 


cultis,  ne  unum  quidem  experimentum  adduci  posse,  quod  ad 
hominum  statum  levandum  aut  locupletandum  spectet,  ethujus- 
modi  speculationibus  vere  acceptum  referri  possit.  Quin  contra 
Aristotelis  de  quatuor  elementis  commentum,  cui  ipse  potius 
authoritatem  quam  principium  dedit  (quod  avide  a  Medicis  ac¬ 
ceptum,  quatuor  complexionum,  quatuor  humorum,  et  quatuor 
primarum  qualitatum  conjugationes  post  se  iraxit)  tanquam 
malignum  aliquod  et  infaustum  sidus,  infinitam  et  Medicinae 
necnon  compluribus  Mechanicis  rebus  sterilitatem  attulisse  ;  dura 
homines  per  hujusmodi  concinnitates  et  compendiosas  ineptias 
sibi  satisfieri  patientes,  nil  amplius  curant.  Quaestionum  interim 
et  controversiarum  turbas  circa  hujusmodi  Philosopliias  undique 
sonare  et  volitare  ;  adeo  ut  fabula  ilia  de  Scylla  in  eas  ad  vivum 
competere  videatur ;  quae  virginis  os  et  vultum  extulit ;  ad 
uterum  vero  monstra  latrantia  succingebantur  et  adhaerebant : 
ita  habere  et  istas  doctrinas  quasdam  primo  aspect u  speciosa,  sed 
cum  ad  partes  generationis  ventum  sit1,  ut  fructum  ex  se  edant, 
turn  nil  praeter  lites  et  inquietas  disputationes  inveniri,  quae  partus 
vicem  obtineant.  Atque  illud  interim  notandum,  quae  de  placi- 
torum  rejectione  dicta  sunt,  opinionibus  tantum,  non  ingeniis 
authorum  aut  laboribus  derogare.  Quanto  enim  quis  ingenio  et 
studio  maxime  valeat,  eundem,  si  naturae  lucem  et  historiam  et 
rerum  particularium  evidentiam  deserat,  tanto  magis  in  obscu- 
riores  et  magis  perplexos  phantasiarum  et  Idolorum  recessus  et 
quasi  specus  se  detrudere  et  involvei-e.  Neque  insuper,  gene- 
rales  philosophiarum  theorias  ita2  argui,  ut  particulares  et 
inferiorum  causarum  assignationes,  quae  in  hujusmodi  philoso- 
phorum  operibus  reddi  et  qua;ri  solent,  probentur :  verum  et 
has  nihilo  illis  meliores  esse;  non  tantum  quod  ab  illis  pen- 
deant,  sed  quod  et  ipsse  nullam  inquisitionis  severitatem3  prae 
se  ferant;  ad  paulo  notiora  et  fere  obvia  deducentes,  in  quibus 
mens  humana  leviter  acquiescat  et  sibi  complaceat ;  verum  ad 
interiora  Naturae  minime  penetrantes ;  atque  hoc  vitii  (quod 
omnium  instar  est)  semper  habentes ;  ut  experimenta  et  effecta 
jam  nota,  cohserentia  quadam  et  veluti  reticulo  connectant,  ad 
eorum  quae  nota  sunt  justam  mensuram  facto :  sed  neutiquam 
causam  aliquam  aut  regulam  demonstrent,  quae  nova  nec  prius 
cognita  effecta  aut  experimenta  designet.  Atque  post  has 
philosophiarum  oras  peragratas,  se  undique  circumspicientem 


1  ventum  est _ G. 


*  ita  om.  G. 


severitatem  inquisitionis. — G. 


COGITATA  ET  VISA. 


605 


etlam  ad  antiquitatis  penetralia  oculos  conjecisse,  veluti  versus 
tractum  quendam  nubilosum  et  obscurum.  Atque  scire  se,  si 
minus  sincera  fide  agere  vellet,  non  difficile  esse  hominibus 
persuadere,  apud  antiquos  sapientes,  diu  ante  Grascorum  tem- 
pora,  Scientiam  de  Natura  majore  virtute,  sed  majore  etiam 
fortasse  silentio  floruisse  :  atque  ideo  solennius  fore  ea  quae  jam 
afferuntur  ad  ilia  referre ;  ut  novi  homines  solent,  qui  nobilita- 
tem  antiquae  alicujus  prosapiae  per  Genealogiarum  rumores  et 
conjecturas  sibi  affingunt :  sed  se,  rerum  evidentia  fretum, 
omnis  impOsturae  conditionem  recusasse ;  et  qualemcunque  ipse 
opinionem  de  illis  sasculis  habeat,  tamen  ad  id  quod  agitur  non 
plus  interesse  putare,  utruin  quae  jam  invenientur  antiquis  co- 
gnita  et  per  rerum  vicissitudines  occidentia  et  orientia  sint, 
quam  hominibus  cur®  esse  debere,  utrum  Novus  Orbis  fuerit 
Insula  ilia  Atlantis  et  veteri  mundo  cognita,  an  nunc  primum 
reperta.  Kerum  enim  Inventionem  a  Naturae  luce  petendam, 
non  ab  antiquitatis  tenebris  repetendam  esse.  Interea  venire 
alicui  in  mentem  posse,  de  Chimistarum  arte  sive  philosophia 
taceri :  quod  se  honoris  causa  fecisse ;  quia  earn1  cum  illis  philoso¬ 
phic  quae  prorsus  operum  effoetae  sint  conjungere  noluerit;  cum 
ipsa  inventa  utilia 2  non  pauca  exhibuerit  et  donarit.  Verum 
fabulam  illam  in  hanc  artem  non  male  congruere,  de  sene  qui 
filiis  aurum  in  vinea  defossum  (nec  satis  scire  quo  loco)  lega- 
verit ;  unde  illos  ad  vineam  diligenter  fodiendam  versos  esse,  et 
aurum  quidem  nullum  repertum,  sed  vindemiam  ea  cultura 
factam  uberiorem.  Simili  modo  et  Chimiae  filios,  dum  aurum 
(sive  vere  sive  secus)  defossum  invenire  satagunt,  movendo  et 
experiendo  baud  parvo  proventui  hominibus  et  utilitati  fuisse. 
Sed  illorum  inventa  non  alio  modo,  nec  ratione  aliqua  meliore, 
quam  artium  Mechanicarum,  principia  et  incrementa  cepisse3 ; 
id  est,  per  experientiam  meram.  Nam  philosophiam  et  specula- 
tivam  eorum  rem  minus  sanam  esse ;  et  illis  de  quibus  locuti 
jam  sumus  philosophiarum  fabulis  durioretn.  Utcunque  enim 
Principiorum  Trias  inventum  non  inutile  fuerit,  sed  rebus,  aliqua 
ex  parte  finitimum ;  tamen  maxima  ex  parte,  eos  paucis  distilla- 
tionum  experimentis  assuetos,  omnia  in  Philosophia  ad  separa- 
tiones  et  liberationes  retulisse,  verarum  alterationum  oblitos. 
Illam  autem  opinionis  fabricam,  qua  veluti  basi  philosophia 


1  earn  om.  G. 

3  ccepisse  in  MS.  and  also  in  Gruter. 


2  nobilia.  G. 


606 


COGITATA  ET  VISA. 


eorum 1  nititur ;  nempe  esse  quatuor  rerum  matrices  sive  ele- 
menta,  in  quibus  semina  et  species  rerum  foetus  suos  absolvant, 
atque  h®c  quadriformia  2  esse,  pro  differentia  nimirum  cujus- 
que  elementi ;  adeo  ut  in  coelo,  aere,  aqua,  terra,  nil 3  inveniatur, 
quod  non  habeat  in  tribus  reliquis  conjugatum  aliquod  et  quasi4 
parallelum5:  huic  certe  phantastic®  rerum  naturalium  phalangi 
peritum  N aturse  contemplatorem  vix  inter  somnia  sua  locum 
daturum.  Neque  dissimiles  esse  rerum  harmonias,  quae  Natu¬ 
ral  is  Magi®  cultoribus  placuerunt;  qui  et  ipsi  per  rerum 
Sympathias  et  Antipathias  omnia  expediunt ;  et  ex  otiosis  et 
supinissimis  conjecturis,  rebus  virtutes  et  operationes  admira- 
biles  affingunt.6  Yerum  et  his7  se  parcere ;  quod  inter  tot 
fabulas,  tamen  opera  aliquando  exhibent 8 :  licet  ea  fere  hujus- 
modi  sint,  ut  ad  admirationem  et  novitatem,  non  ad  fructum  et 
utilitatem  accommodata  sint.  Sed  tamen  et  novitatis  hunc  usum 
plerumque  esse ;  ut  sinus  naturae  nonnihil  excutiat,  et  luce 
potius  quam9  actu  juvet.  Quare  visum  est  ei,  neque  in  Grae¬ 
corum,  neque  in  novorum  hominum  placitis,  neque  in  Alchi- 
miae  aut  Naturalis  Magi®  traditionibus  aliquid  inveniri,  quod 
ad  opes  humanas  majorem  in  modum  augendas  spectet.  Ita- 
que  haec  omnia  vel  oblivioni  devovenda  esse,  vel  popularibus 
studiis  permittenda,  dum  veri  Scientiarum  filii  alio  cursum 
diriganf. 

Cogitavit  et  illud ;  etiam  de  demonstrationum  modis  viden- 
dum.  Demonstrationes  enim  potentia  quadam  Philosophiam 
esse  :  atque  prout  ill®  aut  rect®  aut  prav®  sint,  inde  doctrinas 
perfectas  aut  imperfectas  6equi  probabile  esse.  Comperit 
autem,  Demonstrationes  qu®  in  usu  sunt,  nec  plenas  nec  fidas 
esse.  Neque  tamen  sensibus  derogandum,  quod  quidam  fece- 
runt.  Sensuum  enim  errores  in  singulis,  ad  summam  Scienti¬ 
arum  non  multum  facere ;  quin  et  ab  intellectu  fidelius  infor- 
mato  corrigi  posse.  Sed  Intellectum  ipsum  Natura  sola  fretum, 
sine  arte  et  disciplina  rebus  imparem  et  minorem,  sine  cun- 
ctatione  pronuntiandum.  Neque  enim  aut  ita  capacem  esse,  ut 
omnigenam  particularium  supellectilem  ad  informationem  ne- 
cessariam  recipiat  et  disponat ;  neque  ita  vacuum  et  purum,  ut 

1  eorum  p/iilosophia. — G. 

2  quadriforma  in  MS.  :  a  transcriber’s  error  no  doubt,  which  Bacon  had  overlooked. 

3  nihil.  G.  4  qUasi  ora< 

8  See  the  note  3.  p.532. 

6  See  the  first  book  of  Porta’s  Natural  Magic. 

7  ***• — G.  8  exhibeant. — G. 


9  luce  saltern ,  si  minus  actu . — G. 


COGITATA  ET  VISA. 


607 


rerum  imagines  veras  et  nativas,  absque  phantasia  et  tinctura, 
admittat.  Quin  certissimum  esse,  turn  generaliter  mentem 
humanam  instar  speculi  inaequalis  esse,  qua;  rerum  radios  se¬ 
cundum  propriae  sectionis  angulos,  et  non  in  superficie  plana 
suscipiat  et  reflectat :  turn  etiam  cuique  ex  educatione,  studiis, 
et  natura  sua,  vim  quandam  seductoriam  et  quasi  daemonem 
familiarem  adesse,  qui  mentem  variis  et  vanis  spectris  ludat  et 
turbet.  Neque  propterea  ad  opinionem  Acatalepsiae  devenien- 
dum.  Cuilibet  enim  manifestum  esse,  nulla  manus  constantia, 
nec  oculorum  judicio  maxime  exquisito,  lineam  rectam  vel 
circulum  perfectum  describi  posse.  Attamen  admota  regula, 
aut  circino  circumducto,  rem  praesto  esse.  Atque  in  Mecha¬ 
nic^,  manus  hominum  nudas  ad  quantula  opera  sufficere  ?  eas- 
dem  vi  et  ope  instrumentorum,  vastissima  quseque  ac  rursus 
subtilissima  vincere.  Sequi  igitur,  ut  ad  artem  confugiendum, 
et  de  demonstratione,  quae  per  artem  regitur,  videndum  sit. 
Atque  de  Syllogismo,  qui 1  Aristoteli  oraculi  loco  est,  paucis 
sententiam  claudendam.  Rem  esse  nimirum,  in  doctrinis 
quae  in  opinionibus  hominum  positae  sunt,  veluti  moralibus 
et  politicis,  utilem  et  intellectui  manum  quandam  auxiliarem ; 
rerum  vero  naturalium  subtilitati  et  obscuritati  imparem  et 
plane 2  incompetentem.  Nam  Syllogismum  certe  ex  proposi- 
tionibus  constare,  propositiones  ex  verbis,  verba  notionum  sive 
animi  conceptuum  tesseras3  et  signacula  esse.  Quamobrem  no- 
tiones  ipsae,  qua;  verborum  animae  sunt,  si  vagae,  nesciae,  nec 
satis  definitae  fuerint  (quod  in  naturalibus  longe  maxima  ex 
parte  fieri  consuevit),  omnia  ruere.  Restare  Inductionem,  tan- 
quam  ultimum  et  unicum  rebus  subsidium  et  perfugium :  neque 
immerito  in  ea  spes  sitas  esse,  ut  quae  opera  laboriosa  et 
fida  rerum  suffragia  colligere  et  ad  intellectum  perferre  possit. 
Yerum  et  hujus  nomen  tantummodo  notum  esse;  vim  et  usum 
homines  hactenus  latuisse.  De  Inductione  enim  ita  decer- 
nendum.  In  usu  ejus  atque  etiam  forma  homines  dupliciter 
peccasse.  Primo  quod  morse  impatientes,  et  compendia  viarum 
undique  lustrantes,  et  quaedam  in  certo  ponere,  circa  quae 
tanquam  circa  polos  disputationes  verterentur,  properantes ; 
earn  tantum  ad  generalia  Scientiarum  principia  adhibuerunt, 
media  per  Syllogismorum  derivationes  expedire  temere  spe- 
rantes.  Rursus,  quod  de  Syllogismo  accurate,  de  hac  autem 


So  Gruter  ;  quod  in  MS. 


2  plane  om.  G. 


8  testes. — G. 


608 


COGITATA  ET  VISA. 


demonstratione  cursim  et  negligenter  inquirentes,  formam  ejus- 
dem  meditati  sunt  admodum  simplicem  et  plane  puerilem ;  quie 
per  enumerationem  tantum  procedat,  atque  propterea  precario, 
non  necessario  concludat.  Itaque  cum  circa  demonstrationes 
talia  cogitet,  mirum  nemini  videri  posse,  si  in  philosophia  natu- 
rali  sibi  cum  aliis,  sive  veteribus  sive  novis,  non  conveniat.  Neque 
enim  fieri  posse  (quod  ille1  per  jocum  dixit)  ut  idem  sentiant,  qui 
aquam  et  qui  vinum  bibunt.  Illos  enim  liquorem  imbibere 
crudum,  et  ex  intellectu  vel  sponte  manantem  vel  industria 
quadam  haustum :  se  autem  liquorem  parare  et  propinarc  ex 
infinitis  uvis,  iisque  maturis  et  tempestivis,  et  per  racemos 
decerptis  et  collectis,  et  subinde  in  torculari  pressis,  et  in  vase 
repurgatis  et  clarificatis,  constantem ;  qui  tamen  ab  omni  inebri- 
andi  qualitate  rectificetur,  cum  nil  prorsus  phantasiarum  vapo- 
ribus  tribuat  aut  relinquat.  Quare  visum  est  ei,  Philosophias 
illas  quas  jamdudum  diximus,  non  tantum  propter  operum 
sterilitatem,  sed  etiam  propter  demonstrationum  infirmitatem  et 
fallacias  rejici,  cum  non  solum  a  rebus  desert®,  sed  et  ab  auxiliis 
qu®  sibi  pai'averunt  destitute  ac  prodit®  sint. 

Cogitavit  et  illud ;  etiam  de  inveniendi  modis  qui  in  usu 
sunt,  separatim  videndum,  si  modo  aliqui  sint.  In  hac  enim 
parte  non  tarn  errores  et  devia,  quam  solitudinem  et  vacua 
inveniri;  quod  stupore  quodam  animum  perculserit.2  Non  ulli 
mortalium  cordi  aut  cur®  fuisse,  ut  ingenii  et  intellectus  humani 
vires  ad  artes  et  scientias  inveniendas  et  jpromovendas  dirigeret, 
eoque  viam  muniret ;  sed  omnia  vel  traditionum  caligini,  vel 
argumentorum  vertigini3  et  turbini,  vel  casus  et  experienti® 
undis  et  ambagibus,  permissa  esse  et  permitti.  Itaque  non  sine 
causa  fuisse,  quod  apud  .fEgyptios  (qui  rerum  inventores  more 
apud  antiquitatem  recepto  consecrare  solebant)  tot  brutorum 
effigies  in  templis  reperirentur  ;  cum  animalia  rationis  expertia 
ex  ®quo  fere  cum  hominibus  Natur®  operationum  Inventores 
fuerint.  Neque  ad  hoc  homines  sua  pr®rogativa  bactenus4  admo¬ 
dum  usi  sint5:  sed  tamen  de  iis  qu®  fiunt,  videndum.  Et  primo 
de  Inveniendi  modo  simplici  et  inartificioso,  quod  hominibus 
familiare  est ;  id  non  aliud  esse,  quam  ut  is  qui  se  ad  invenien¬ 
dum  aliquid  comparat  et  accingitur,  primo  qu®  ab  aliis  circa 
illud  dicta  sint  inquirat  et  evolvat ;  deinde  meditationem  pro- 


’  Philocrates  of  himself  and  Demosthenes. 
2  percnlerit . — G. 

4  hactenus  om.  G. 


8  vcstigiis. — G 
5  sunt. — G. 


COGITATA  ET  VISA. 


609 


priam  addat.  Verum  ut  quis  vel  aliorum  fidei  se  committat,  vel 
spiritum  suum  solicitet  et  fere  invocet  ut  sibi  oracula  pandat, 
rem  prorsus  sine  fundamento  esse.  Sequi  inventionem  quae 
apud  Dialecticos  recepta  sit.  Earn  solummodo  nomine  tenus 
ad  id  quod  agitur  pertinere.  Non  enim  principiorum  et  axio- 
matum  esse,  ex  quibus  artes  constant,  sed  tantum  eorum  quae 
illis  consentanea  videntur.  Dialecticam  enim  magis  curiosos 
et  importunos  et  sibi  negotium  facessentes,  ad  fidem  et  veluti 
sacramentum  cuilibet  arti  praestandum  notissimo  responso  reji- 
cere.  Restare  experientiam  meram  ;  quae,  si  occurrit,  casus,  si 
quaesita  sit,  Experimentum  nominatin’.  Atque  hanc  non  aliud 
quam  (quod  aiunt)  scopas  dissolutas  esse.  Quin  et  eos  qui  in 
aliqua  natura  vel  operatione  per  multam  et  erraticam  quandam 
experimentorum  variationem  revelanda  et  in  lucem  educenda 
sedulo  occupati  sunt,  aut  attonitos  stare,  aut  vertiginosos  cir- 
cumire,  aliquando  gestientes,  aliquando  confusos,  atque  semper 
invenire  quod  ulterius  quaerant.  Neque  prorsus  aliter  fieri 
posse.  Insciam  enim  et  imperitam  valde  cogitationem  esse, 
alicujus  rei  naturam  in  seipsa  perscrutandi.  Eandem  enim 
naturam  in  aliis  latentem,  in  aliis  manifestam  et  quasi  palpa- 
bilem  esse ;  atque  in  illis  admirationem,  in  his  ne  attentionem 
quidem  movere :  veluti  earn  corporum  naturam  quae  separationi 
resistit,  in  aquarum  bullis  rem  sane  subtilem  et  fere  ingeniosam 
videri,  quae  liujus  rei  gratia  in  pelliculas  quasdam  in  haemi- 
sphaerii  formam  effictas  se  conjiciunt ;  eandem  in  ligno  vel  lapide 
non  magnopere  notari,  sed  solidi  appellatione  transmitti.  Quare 
visum  est  ei,  hominibus  non  tarn  ignorantiam  quam  infoelicitatem 
quandam  imputari,  cum  a  curriculo  et  via  per  infortunium  aut 
blandimenta  deflexerint,  non  in  ejusdem  spatiis  minus  se  stre- 
nuos  praestiterint. 

Cogitavit  et  illud ;  finem  aliquando  desperationi,  aut  saltern 
querimoniis  imponendum  :  ac  illud  potius  videndum,  an  omnino 
cessandum  et  his  1  quae  habemus  utendum  sit,  an  aliquid  ut  in 2 
melius  res  procedant  tentandum  et  moliendum.  Ac  primum, 
finis  ipsius  et  propositi  meritum  et  pretium  intueri  par  esse ;  ut 
in  materia  dura  et  opere  arduo  major  fiat  industriae  accensio. 
Veniebat  autem  ei  in  mentem,  antiquis  saeculis,  Rerum  Inven 
toribus  (modum  excedente  hominum  affectu  et  impetu)  divi- 
nos  honores  attributos  esse.  Iis  autem,  qui  in  rebus  Civilibus 


iis. — G. 


2  in  om.  G. 


610 


COGITATA  ET  VISA. 


merebantur,  quales  erant  Urbium  et  Imperiorum  Conditores, 
Legislators,  Patriarum  a  diutinis  malis  liberatores,  Tyrannidura 
debellatores,  et  his  similes,  infra  heroum  modum  honores  ste- 
tisse,  Nec  immerito  hanc  distinctionem  priscis  illis  temporibus 
invaluisse,  cum  illorum  beneficia  ad  universum  genus  humanum, 
horum  ad  certas  regiones  et  definitas  hominum  sedes  perti- 
nerent :  ilia  insuper  sine  vi  aut  perturbatione  humanam  vitam 
bearent ;  haec  vero  non  absque  tumultu  et  violentia  fere  intro- 
ducta  sint.  Quod  si  particularis  alicujus  inventi  utilitas  ita 
homines  affecerit,  ut  eum  qui  universum  genus  humanum  unico 
aliquo  beneficio  complecti  posset.,  homine  majorem  putarent ;  at 
multo  Celsius  inventum  esse,  quod  alia  omnia  inventa  particu¬ 
lars  potentia  quadam  in  se  contineat,  ac  animae  humanae  vias 
aperiat1,  ut  ad  nova  et  ulteriora  quaeque  ductu  certo  et  recto 
penetrare  possit.  Quemadmodum  enim  saeculis  prioribus,  cum 
homines  in  navigando  per  stellarum  tantum  observationes  cur- 
sum  dirigebant,  eos  veteris  sane  continentis  oras  legisse,  aut 
maria  aliqua  minora  et  mediterranea  trajecisse ;  necesse  autem 
fuisse  usum  acus  nauticae,  ut  ducem  viae  magis  fidum,  inno- 
tuisse,  antequam  Oceanus  trajiceretur,  et  Novi  Orbis  regiones 
detegerentur :  simili  prorsus  ratione,  quae  hucusque  in  artibus 
et  scientiis  hominum  inventa  sunt,  potuisse  instinctu,  usu,  ob¬ 
servation,  meditatione,  aperiri,  utpote  sensui  propiora  ;  ante¬ 
quam  vero  ad  remotiora  et  occultiora  naturae  appellere  liceat, 
necessario  praecedere,  ut  melior  et  perfectior  mentis  humanae 
usus  et  adoperatio  inveniatur.  Quare  hujuscemodi  Inventum 
proculdubio  Temporis  partum  nobilissimum,  et  vere  masculum 
esse.  Rursus  in  Scripturis  Sacris  notabat,  Salomonem  Regem, 
cum  imperio, auro,  magnificentia  operum,satellitio,  famulitio,  ser- 
vorum  et  ministrorum2  pulcherrima  descriptione  et  ordine,  classe 
insuper,  nominis  claritudine,  et  summa  hominum  admiratione 
floreret;  nil  horum  tamen  sibi  gloriae  duxisse ;  verum  ita  pronun- 
tiasse :  Gloriam  Dei  esse  rem  celare,  gloriam  Regis  autem  rem 
invenire:  non  aliter  ac  si  divina  natura  innocenti  et  benevolo 
puerorum  ludo  delectaretur,  qui  ideo  se  abscondunt  ut  inveni- 
antur ;  ac  animam  humanam  sibi  collusorem  in  hoc  ludo,  pro 
sua  in  homines  indulgentia  et  bonitate  optaverit.  Atque  hanc 
inveniendi  gloriam  earn  esse,  quae  humanam  naturam  nobilitet, 

1  animam  humanam  carceribus  liberet ,  eique  vias  aperiat. — O. 

2  famulorum. — G. 


COGITATA  ET  VISA. 


611 


nec  interim  cuiquam  mortalium  molesta  sit  (ut  Civilia  esse 
solent),  nec  conscientiam  in  aliquo  remoretur  aut  mordeat,  sed 
omnino  meritum  et  beneficium  sine  alicujus  pernicie,  injuria, 
aut  tristitia  deferat :  Lucis  enim  naturam  puram  et  absque 
maleficio  esse ;  usum  ejus  perverti ;  ipsam  non  pollui.  Rursus 
etiam  hominum  studia  et  ambitiones  reputans,  tria  ambitionis 
genera  reperiebat,  si  modo  uni  ex  iis  id  nomen  imponere  fas 
sit ;  Primam  eorum  qui  ad  propriam  potentiam  in  patriis  suis 
amplificandam  magna  contentione  feruntur ;  atqiie  hanc  vul¬ 
gar  em  esse  et  degenerem :  Secundam  eorum  qui  patriae  suse 
potentiam  inter  humanum  genus  provehere  nituntur ;  quae  sane 
plus  habet  dignitatis,  cupiditatis  minus  1  :  Tertiam  eorum  qui 
hominis  ipsius  sive  humani  generis  potentiam  et  imperium  in 
rerum  universitatem  instaurare  et  attollere  conantur ;  quae 
reliquis  proculdubio  et  sanior  est  et  augustior :  Hominis  autem. 
imperium  sola  scientia  constare :  tantum  enim  potest  quantum 
scit :  neque  ullas  vires  naturalium  causarum  catenam  perfrin- 
gere  posse  ;  Naturam  enim  non  aliter  quam  parendo  vinci. 
Cogitabat  etiam  et  animo  volvebat,  qualia  sint,  quae  tarn  de  vi 
simplici  et  mera  inventorum  quam  de  ea  2  quae  cum  merito  et 
beneficio  conjuncta  sit,  cogitationem  subire  possunt.  Ac  illam 
quidem  non  in  aliis  manifestius  occurrere,  quam  in  tribus  illis 
Inventis,  quae  et  ipsa  antiquis  incognita,  et  quorum  primordia 
etiam  nobis  obscura  et  ingloria  sunt ;  Artis  nimirum  Impri- 
mendi,  Pulveris  Tormentarii,  et  Acus  Nauticae.  Haec  enim  tria, 
numero  scilicet  pauca  ac  inventu  non  multum  devia,  rerum 
faciem  et  statum  in  orbe  terrarum  mutasse:  primum  in  re 
literaria,  secundum  in  re  bellica,  tertium  in  re  navali ;  unde 
infinitas  rerum  mutationes  secutas  esse,  attentius  intuentibus 
conspicuas ;  ut  non  3  imperium  aliquod,  non  secta,  non  stella 
majorem  efficaciam  et  quasi  influxum  in  res  humanas  habuisse 
videatur,  quam  ista  mechanica  habuerunt.  Quod  autem  ad 
merita  attinet,  id  optime  percipi,  si  quis  consideret  quantum 
intersit  inter  hominum  vitam  in  excultissima  aliqua  Europse 
provincia,  et  in  regione  aliqua  novae  Indise  maxime  fera  et  bar- 
bara ;  tantum  sane  ut  merito  hominem  homini  Deum  esse, 
non  solum  ex  auxilio  et  beneficio,  sed  ex  status  comparatione 
dici  possit.  Atque  hoc  non  solum,  non  coclum,  non  corpora, 

1  haud  minus. — G. 

2  qua  de  virtute  ac  vi  inventorum ,  tarn  simplici  et  mera ,  tarn,  ea, — G. 

8  Here  a  leaf  of  the  MS.  has  been  lost. 


40  Bacon  III 


612 


COGITATA  ET  VISA. 


sed  Artes  pr®stare.  At  non  novum  orbem  sclentiarum  et 
novum  orbem  terrarum  in  eo  conventuros,  ut  vetera  novis  sint 
longe  cultiora.  Quin  contra  necesse  esse,  accessiones  artium 
iis  quae  jam  habeinus  multo  se  ostendere  praestantiores,  ut  quae 
naturam  non  leviter  inflectere,  sed  vincere  et  subigere  et  in 
imis  fundamentis  concutere  possint ;  fere  enim  perpetuo  fieri, 
ut  quod  inventu  sit  obvium,  id  opere  sit  infirmum ;  cum  radices 
demum  rerum  virtute  valid®,  e®dem  situ  abdit®  sint.  Si  quis 
autem  sit,  cui  in  contemplationis  amorem  et  venerationem  effuso, 
ista  operum  frequens  et  cum  tanto  honore  mentio  quiddam 
asperum  et  ingratum  sonet,  is  pro  certo  sciat,  se  propriis  desi- 
deriis  adversari;  etenim  in  natura,  opera  non  tantum  vitae 
beneficia,  sed  et  veritatis  pignora  esse.  Et  quod  in  religione 
verissime  requiritur,  ut  fidem  quis  ex  operibus  monstret ;  idem 
in  naturali  philosophia  competere,  ut  scientia  similiter  ex  ope¬ 
ribus  monstretur.  Yeritatem  enim  per  operum  indicationem, 
magis  quam  ex  argumentatione  aut  etiam  ex  sensu,  et  patefieri 
et  probari.  Quare  unam  eandemque  rationem  et  conditionis 
human®  et  mentis  dotand®  esse.  Itaque  visum  est  ei,  qu®  de 
finis  quem  animo  metimur  et  destinamus  dignitate  dicta  sunt, 
ea  non  verbis  in  majus  aucta,  sed  vero  minora  esse. 

Cogitavit  et  illud ;  qu®  de  finis  excellentia  dicta  sunt,  posse 
votis  similia  videri.  Itaque  videndum  sedulo,  quid  spei  afful- 
geat,  et  ex  qua  parte  se  ostendat :  ac  curandum,  ne  rei  optim® 
ac  pulcherrim®  amore  capti,  severitatem  judicii  amittamus  aut 
minuamus.  Consentaneum  enim  esse,  prudentiam  civilem  in 
hac  parte  adhibere,  qu®  ex  pr®scripto  diffidit,  et  de  humanis  in 
deterius  conjicit.  Leviores  igitur  spei  auras  rejiciendas :  eas 
autem  qu®  aliquid  firmitudinis  habere  videntur  discutiendas. 
Atque  auguria  rite  capienti,  primo  illud  occurrebat,  hoc  quod 
agitur,  ob  boni  naturam  eminentem,  manifeste  a  Deo  esse  ;  atque 
in  operibus  divinis  tenuissima  qu®que 1  principia  eventum  trahere. 
Etiam  ex  natura  temporis  bene  ominabatur :  omnium  enim  con¬ 
sensu  veritatem  Temporis  filiam  esse.  Summ®  igitur  infirmi- 
tatis2  esse,  authoribus  infinita  tribuere,  authori  autem  autho- 
rum,  atque  omnis  authoritatis,  Tempori,  jus  suum  denegare. 
Neque  solum  de  Temporis  communi  jure,  sed  et  de  nostr® 
®tatis  pr®rogativa  bene  sperabat.  Opinionem  enim  quam  homi¬ 
nes  de  Antiquitate  fovent  negligentem  esse,  ac  vix  verbo  ipsi 


1  Here  we  recover  the  MS.  again. 


2  infirmitatis  et  pusiUanimitatU.  —  G. 


COGITATA  ET  VISA. 


613 


congruam.  Antiquitatem  enim  proprie  dici,  Mundi  ipsius  se¬ 
nium,  aut  astatem  provectiorem.  Atque  revera  consentaneum 
esse,  quemadmodum  majorem  rerum  humanarum  notitiam  et 
maturius  judicium  ab  homine  sene  expetamus  quam  a  juvene, 
ob  experientiam,  et  eorum  quae  vidit  et  audivit  et  cogitavit 
multitudinem  :  eodem  modo,  et  a  nostra  aetate  (si  vires  suas 
nosset,  et  experiri  et  intendere  vellet)  majora  quam  a  priscis 
temporibus  sperari  par  esse ;  utpote  aetate  mundi  grandiore,  et 
infinitis  experimentis  et  observationibus  cumulata  et  aucta. 
Neque  pro  nihilo  aestimandum,  quod  per  longinquas  illas  navi- 
gationes  et  peregrinationes  quae  nostra  aetate  increbuerunt, 
plurima  in  natura  patuerunt  quae  novam  philosophise  lucem 
afFundere  possint.  Quin  et  turpe  hominibus  esse,  si  Globi 
Materialis  tractus,  terrarum  videlicet,  marium,  astrorum,  nostris 
temporibus  in  immensum  aperti  et  illustrati  sint ;  Globi  autem 
Intellectualis  fines  intra  veterum  inventa  et  angustias  steterint. 
Etiam  Temporum  conditionem  in  Europa,  civilium  rerum 
respectu  non  alienam  esse  ;  aucta  Anglia,  pacata  Gallia,  lassata 
ITispania1,  immota  Italia  et  Germania:  Itaque  libratis  regum 
maximorum  potentiis,  et  inconcusso 2  nationum  nobilissimarum 
statu,  res  ad  pacem,  quae  Scientiis  instar  tempestatis  serense 
et  benignae  est,  inclinare.  Neque  ipsum  rei  literariae  statum 
hisce  temporibus  incommodum  esse :  sed  et  quandam  oppor- 
tunitatem  prae  se  ferre  ;  turn  ob  Imprimendi  artem,  antiquis 
incognitam,  cujus  beneficio  singulorum  inventa  et  cogitata  ful- 
guris  modo  transcurrere  queant ;  turn  ob  religionis  controversias, 
quarum  taedio  fortasse  homines  ad  Dei  potestatera,  sapientiam, 
et  bonitatem  in  operibus  suis  contemplandum  facilius  animum 
adjicere  possint.  Si  quis  autem  sit,  qui  consensu  et  temporis 
diuturnitate  in  veterum  placitis  moveatur,  is  si  in  res  acutius 
introspiciat,  ductores  admodum  paucos,  reliquos  sectatores  tan- 
tum  et  plane3  numerum  esse  reperiet;  homines  nimirum,  qui 
ab  ignorantia  ad  praejudicium  transierunt,  neque  in  verum  con- 
sensum  (qui  interposito  judicio  fit)  unquam  coierunt.  Atque 
ipsam  temporis  diuturnitatem  recte  consideranti  in  angustias 
parvas  redigi.  Nam  ex  viginti  quinque  annorum  centuriis,  in 
quibus  memoria  hominum  fere  versatur,  vix  quinque  centurias 

1  The  Cogitata  et  Visa  was  written  in  1 607,  only  two  year9  before  the  struggle 
between  Spain  and  the  United  Provinces  was  terminated  by  the  Great  Truce.  It  is 
to  this  contest  that  the  epithet  lassata  apparently  refers. 

2  incusso. — G. 


plane  om.  G. 


614 


COGITATA  ET  VISA. 


seponi,  qua;  scientiarum  proventui  utiles  et  feraces  fuerint; 
easque  ipsas  longe  maxima  ex  parte  aliis  scientiis,  non  ilia  de 
natura,  satas  et  cultas  fuisse.  Tres  enim  doctrinarum  revo- 
lutiones  et  periodos  numerari :  unam  apud  Graecos ;  alteram 
apud  Romanos ;  ultimam  apud  occidentales  Europae  nationes : 
reliqua  mundi  tempora  bellis  et  aliis  studiis  occupata,  et  quoad 
scientiarum  segetem  sterilia  et  vasta  inveniri.  Atque  de  tem¬ 
pore  sic  cogitabat.  Etiam  ex  casus  vi  et  natura  hujusmodi 
divinationem  sumpsit.  Casum  nimirum  proculdubio  multis  In¬ 
vents  principium  dedisse,  sumpta  ex  natura  rerum  occasione. 
Nam  1  ideo  in  ignis  invento  Prometheum  novae  Indite  ab  Euro- 
paeo  dissensisse,  quod  apud  eos  silicis  non  est  copia.  Itaque  in 
his  quae  praesto  sunt,  casum  largius  inventa  exbibere ;  in  iis  quae 
ab  usu  quotidiano  semota  sunt,  parcius;  sed  utcunque,  omni¬ 
bus  saeculis  parturire  et  parere.  Neque  enim  causam  videri, 
cur  casus  consenuisse  putetur,  aut  effoetus  jam  factus.  Igitur 
ita  cogitabat,  si  hominibus  non  quaerentibus  et  aliud  agentibus 
multa  inventa  occurrant,  nemini  sane  dubium  esse  posse,  quin 
eisdem  quaerentibus,  idque  via  et  ordine,  non  impetu  et  desul- 
torie,  longe  plura  detegi  necesse  sit.  Licet  enim  semel  aut 
iterum  accidere  possit,  ut  quispiam  in  id  forte  fortuna  incidat 
quod  magno  conatu  scrutantem  antea  fugit,  tamen  in  summa 
rerum  proculdubio  contrarium  inveniri.  Casum  enim  operari 
raro,  et  sero,  et  sparsim  ;  Artem  contra  constantcr,  et  com- 
pendio,  et  turmatim.  Etiam  ex  inventis  ipsis  quae  jam  in 
lucem  prodita  sunt,  de  iis  qua;  adhuc  latent  conjecturam  re- 
ctissime  capi  putabat.  Eorum  autem  nonnulla  ejus  esse  generis, 
ut  antequam  invenirentur  baud  facile  cuiquam  in  mentem 
venisset  de  iis  aliquid  suspicari.  Solere  enim  homines  de  novis 
rebus  ad  exemplum  veterum,  et  ad  phantasiam  ex  iis  prceceptam 
hariolari :  quod  opinandi  genus  fallacissimum  est;  quandoqui- 
dem  ea  qua;  ex  rerum  fontibus  petuntur,  per  rivulos  consuetos 
non  utique  fluunt.  Veluti  si  quis,  ante  tormentorum  igneorum 
inventionem,  rem  per  effectus  descripsisset,  atque  ita  dixisset, 
Inventum  quoddam  detectum  esse,  per  quod  muri  et  munitiones 
quteque  maximse  ex  longo  intervallo  quaterentur  et  dejicerentur ; 
homines  sane  de  viribus  tormentorum  et  machinarum  per  pon- 
dera  et  rotas  et  similia  multiplicandis,  multa  et  varia  commen- 

1  Num. — G.  This  was  no  doubt  a  mere  misprint ;  but  modem  editors  have 
turned  it  into  a  false  reading,  by  inserting  after  enpia  a  note  of  Interrogation,  which 
is  not  found  in  Gruter. 


C0G1TATA  ET  VISA. 


615 


taturos  fulsse ;  de  vento  autem  igneo  vix  unquam  imaginationem 
aliquam  occursuram  fuisse  ;  ut  cujus  exemplum  non  vidissent, 
nisi  forte  in  terrm  motu  aut  fulmine,  quae  ut  non  imitabilia  re- 
jecissent.  Eodem  modo  si  ante  fili  bombycini  inventionem 
quispiam  hujusmodi  sermonem  injecisset:  Esse  quoddatn  fili 
genus  ad  vestium  et  supellectilis  usum,  quod  filum  lineum  aut 
laneum  longe  tenuitate  ac  nihilominus  tenacitate  ac  etiam  splen- 
dore  et  mollitie  excelleret,  homines  statim  aut  de  serico  aliquo 
vegetabili,  aut  de  alicujus  animalis  pilis  delicatioribus,  aut  de 
avium  plumis  et  lanugine,  aliquid  opinaturos  fuisse :  de  vermis 
autem  alicujus  textura,  eaque  tarn  copiosa  et  anniversaria,  nil 
cogitaturos :  quod  si  quis  etiam  de  vermi  verbum  aliquod  emi- 
sisset,  ludibrio  certe  futurum  fuisse ;  ut  qui  novas  aranearum 
operas  somniaret.  Quare  eandem  et  eorum  quae  in  sinu  naturae 
adhuc  recondita  sunt  magna  ex  parte  rationem  esse,  ut  hominum 
imaginationes  et  commentationes  fugiant  et  fallant.  Itaque  sic 
cogitabat;  si  cujus  spem  de  novis  inventis  cohibeat,  quod 
sumpta  ex  his  quae  praesto  sunt  conjectura,  ea  aut  impossibilia 
aut  minus  verisimilia  putet ;  eum  scire  debere  se  non  satis  do- 
ctum  ne  ad  optandum  quidem  commode  et  apposite  esse.  Sed 
rursus  cogitabat,  esse  ex  jam  inventis  alia  diversae  et  fere  con- 
trariae  naturae,  quae  fidem  faciant,  posse  genus  humanum  nobilia 
inventa  etiam  ante  pedes  posita  praeterire  et  transmittere.  Ut- 
cunque  enim  pulveris  tormentarii,  vel  fili  bombycini,  vel  acus 
nauticae,  vel  sacchari,  vel  vitri  *,  vel  similium  inventa  occultis 
(ut  existimantur)  rerum  proprietatibus  2  niti  videantur;  Irnpri- 
mendi  certe  artem  nihil  habere,  quod  non  sit  apertum  et  fere 
obvium,  et  ex  antea  notis  conflatum.  Solere  autem  mentem 
humanam,  in  hoc  inventionis  curriculo,  tam  hevam  et  male 
compositam  esse,  ut  in  nonnullis  primo  diffidat,  et  non  multo 
post  se  contemnat  :  atque  primo  incredibile  videri,  aliquid 
tale  inveniri  posse ;  postquam  autem  inventum  sit,  rursus  in¬ 
credibile  videri,  id  homines  tam  diu  fugere  potuisse.  Atque 
hoc  ipsum  quoque  ad  spem  trahebat,  superesse  nimirum  ad¬ 
huc  magnum  inventorum  cumulum,  qui  non  solum  ex  opera- 
tionibus  incognitis  eruendis,  sed  et  ex  jam  cognitis  transfe- 
rendis  et  applicandis  deduci  possit.  Etiam  ilia  auspicia  ut 
bona  et  beta  accepit,  quae  in  artibus  Mechanicis  observavif, 
atque  eorum  successu,  praesertim  ad  philosophiam  comparato. 

1  vel  vitri  om.  G. 

*  vel  similia  inventa  quibusdam  rerum  et  naturae  proprietatibus. — G. 


616 


COGITATA  ET  VISA. 


Artes  enim  Mechanicas,  ut  aurae  cujusdam  vitalis  participes, 
quotidie  crescere  et  perfici;  Philosopbiam  vero  statute  more 
adorari  et  celebrari-  nec  moveri.  Atque  illas  in  primis  au- 
tboribus  rudes  et  fere  informes  ac  onerosas  se  ostendere : 
postea  novas  vires  et  commoditates  adipisci.  Hanc  autem 
in  primo  quoque  authore  maxime  vigere,  ac  deinceps  declinare. 
Neque  aliam  bujus  contrarii  successus  causam  veriorem  esse, 
quam  quod  in  Mechanicis  multorum  ingenia  in  unum  coe- 
unt ;  in  Pbilosopbia  autem,  singulorum  ingenia  ab  uno  quopiam 
destruuntur.  Nam  postquam  dedititii  facti  sunt,  amplitudi- 
nem  non  addere ;  sed  in  uno  ornando  aut  stipando  servili  of¬ 
ficio  occupari.  Quare  omnem  pbilosophiam  ab  experientite 
radicibus  ex  quibus  primum  pullulavit  et  incrementum  cepit 
avulsam,  rem  mortuam  esse.  Atque  hae  cogitatione  arrectus, 
etiam  iilud  notavit ;  facultates  Artium  et  Scientiarum  aut  Em- 
piricas,  aut  Rationales  sive  Philosophicas,  omnium  consensu 
esse :  bas  autem  geminas  1  se  non  bene  adhuc  commistas 3  et 
copulatas  videre.  Empiricos  enim  formicae  more  congerere 
tantum  et  uti ;  Rationales  autem  aranearum  more  telas  ex  se 
conficere.  Apis  vero  rationem  mediam  esse,  quae  materiam  ex 
floribus  tam  borti  quam  agri  eliciat,  sed  earn  etiam  propria 
facultate  vertat  et  digerat.  Neque  absimile  verae  Philosopbiae 
opificium  esse ;  quae  ex  Historia  naturali  et  mechanicis  experi- 
mentis  pradntam  materiam,  non  in  memoria  integram,  sed  in 
intellectu  mutatam  et  subactam  reponit.  Neque  se  nescire, 
esse  ex  Empiricorum  numero,  qui  se  non  mere  Empiricos 
haberi  volunt ;  et  ex  Dogmaticis,  qui  se  in  experientia  indu¬ 
stries  et  perspicaces  videri  ambiunt :  verum  haec  fuisse  et  esse 
quorundam  hominum  artificia,  existimationem  quandam,  ut 
alteruter  in  sua  secta  excellere  videatur,  captantium.  Revera 
autem  barum  facultatum  divortia  et  fere  odia,  semper  valuisse. 
Quare  ex  arctiore  earum  et  sanctiore  feedere  omnia  fausta  et 
feelieia  portendi  putabat.  Etiam  iilud  libenter  vidit :  Intue- 
batur  nempe  infinitas  ingenii,  temporis,  facultatum  expensas, 
quas  homines  in  rebus  et  studiis  (si  quis  vere  judicet)  inutilibus 
collocant ;  quarum  pars  quota  si  ad  sana  et  solida  verteretur, 
null  am  non  difficultatem  superare  posset.  Neque  esse  quod 
homines  particularium  multitudinem  reformident,  cum  Artium 
pbaenomena  manipuli  instar  sint,  ad  ingenii  commenta  semel  ab 

'  geminas  om.  G.  Nor  was  this  word  in  the  MS.  originally :  it  is  inserted  be- 
tween  the  lines  in  Bacon’s  hand. 

2  commits sas. — G. 


COGITATA  ET  VISA. 


617 


evidentia  rerum  disjuncta  et  distracta.  Atque  haec  quae  dicta 
sunt  singula,  impulsum  quendam  ad  spem  faciendam  habere. 
Ante  omnia  autem  certissimam  spem  esse,  ex  praeteriti  temporis 
erroribus  ;  atque  (quod  1  quispiam  de  civili  statu  non  prudenter 
administrate  dixit)  quod  ad  praeterita  spectando  pessimum,  id 2  ad 
futura  optimum  esse.  Cessantibus  enim  hujusmodi  erroribus  (ad 
quod  ipsa  monita  primum  gradum  praestant)  maximam  rerum 
conversionem  fore.  Quod  si  homines  per  tanta  annorum  spatia 
viam  tenuissent,  nec  tamen  ulterius  progredi  potuissent,  ne  spem 
quidem  ullam  subesse  potuisse.  Tunc  enim  manifestum  fuisse, 
difficultatem  in  materia  et  subjecto  (quae  nostras  potestatis  non 
sunt),  non  instrumento  (quod  penes  nos  est) ;  hoc  est,  in  rebus 
ipsis  earumque  obscuritate,  non  in  animo  humano  et  ejus  adope- 
ratione  esse.  Nunc  autem  apparere,  viam  non  aliqua  mole  aut 
strue  imperviam,  sed  ab  humanis  vestigiis  deviam  esse  :  itaque 
solitudinis  metum  paulisper  offundere,  nec  ultra  minari.  Pos- 
tremo  et  illud  statuit,  si  spei  multo  imbecillior  et  obscurior  aura 
ab  isto  novo  continente  spiraverit,  tamen  experiundum  fuisse. 
Non  enim  pari  periculo  rem  non  tentari,  et  non  succedere :  cum 
in  illo  ingentis  boni,  in  hoc  pusillae  humans®  operas  jactura  ver- 
tatur.  Yerum  ex3  dictis  et  non  dictis  visum  est  ei,  spei  abunde 
esse,  non  tantum  homini  industrio  ad  experiendum,  sed  etiam 
prudenti  et  sobrio  ad  credendum. 

Cogitavit  et  illud ;  studio  accenso  et  spe  facta,  de  modis  peril- 
ciendi  videndum  esse.  Haec  itaque  sunt,  quae  ei  circa  hoc 
generaliter  visa  sunt ;  quae  etiam  nudis  et  apertis  sententiis 
claudere  et  complecti  consentaneum  putavit.  Yisum  est  ei, 
plane  ab  iis  quae  jam  facta  sunt  diversa  facienda;  itaque 
rerum  prasteritarum  redargutionem  ad  futura  vice  oraculi 
fungi.  Yisum  est  ei,  theorias  et  opiniones  et  notiones  com¬ 
munes,  quantum  rigore  mentis  et  constantia  obtineri  potest, 
penitus  aboleri;  et  Intellectum  planum  et  aequum  ad  parti- 
cularia  de  integro  accedere:  ut  fere  non  alius  ad  regnum 
naturae,  quam  ad  regnum  coelorum,  pateat  aditus ;  ad  quod 
nemini  nisi  sub  persona  Infantis  ingredi  liceat.  Yisum  est  ei, 
particularium  sylvam  et  materiem,  et  numero  et  genere  et 
certitudine  aut  subtilitate  ad  informationem  sufficientem,  col- 
ligi  et  congeri,  turn  ex  naturali  historia,  turn  ex  experimentis 
mechanicis ;  atque  ex  his 4  potissimum,  quia  natura  plenius  se 
prodit  cum  ab  arte  tenetur  et  urgetur,  quam  in  libertate  pro- 


quod  etiam. — G. 


2  id  ipsum. — G. 


*  et. — G. 


4  its. — G. 


618 


COGITATA  ET  VISA. 


pria.  Visum  est  ei,  eandem  materiam  ea  ratione  in  Tabnlas 
atque  in  ordinem  redigi  et  digeri,  ut  Intellectus  in  earn  agere, 
atque  opus  suum  exequi  possit ;  cum  nec  verbum  divinum  in 
rerum  massam  absque  ordine  operatum  sit.  Visum  est  ei1,  a 
particularibus  in  Tabulas  relatis,  ad  novorum  particularium 
inquisitionem  minime  confestim  transeundum  (quod  tamen  et 
ipsum  res  utilis  sit,  et  instar  experienti®  cujusdam  literat®), 
sed  ad  generales  et  communes  comprehensiones  prius  ascen- 
dendum.2  Visum  est  ei,  Intellectus  motum  et  impetum  na- 
turalem,  sed  pravum,  a  particularibus  ad  comprehensiones 
supremas  et  generalissimas3  (qualia  sunt  principia  qu®  vocant4) 
saliendi 5,  omnino  cohibendum  :  sed  comprehensiones  proximas 
primo,  ac  deinceps  medias,  eliciendas  et  inveniendas,  atque  per 
gradus  continuos  et  scalam  veram  procedendum.6  Visum  est 
ei,  talem  inductionis  formam  inveniendam7,  qu®  ex  aliquibus 
generaliter  concludat ;  ita  ut  instantiam  contradictoriam  inve- 
niri  non  posse  demonstretur.8  Visum  est  ei,  earn  tantum 
comprehensionem  probari  et  recipi,  qu®  non  ad  inensuram  facta 
sit  et  aptata  particularium  ex  quibus  elicitur,  sed  amplior 
aut  latior  sit ;  eamque  amplitudinem  sive  latitudinem  suam  ex 
novorum  particularium  designatione,  quasi  fidejussione  quadam, 
firmet.9  Visum  est  ei,  multa  pr®ter  b®c  inveniri,  qu®  non 
tarn  ad  perfectionem  rei,  quam  ad  operis  compendium,  ac  etiam 
ad  messem  humanam  inde  accelerandam,  insigniter  faciant. 
Qu®  omnia  utrum  recte  cogitata  sint  an  secus,  ab  opinionibus 
(si  opus  sit)  provocandum,  et  effectis  standum. 

Cogitavit  et  illud ;  rem  quam  agit,  non  opinionem,  sed  opus 
esse ;  eamque  non  sect®  alicujus  aut  placiti,  sed  utilitatis  et 
amplitudinis  immens®  fundamenta  jacere.  Itaque  de  re  non 
modo  perficienda,  sed  et  communicanda  et  tradenda  (qua  par 

1  ei  om.  G. 

2  procedendum ,  et  naturali  sane  intellectus  processui  eatenus  indulgendum.  Sed  simul 
visum  est ,  &c. — G. 

8  super i ores  et  magis  generates.— G. 

4  principia  quce  vocant  artium  et  rerum. — G. 

5  saliendi ,  et  reliqua  descendendo  per  media  expediendi. — G. 

6  adscendendum  :  Jere  enim  contemplationum  et  intellectus  vias  in  Bivium  illud  mo- 
rulium ,  antiquis  decantation ,  coincidere  :  Alteram  enim  viam  primo  ingressu  planum  ad 
avia  ducere ,  alteram  a  principia  arduam  et  snspensam  in  plana  desinere. — G. 

7  introduci. — G. 

s  ns  forte  secundum  pauciora  quam  par  est ,  et  ex  iis  quce  preesto  sunt  provuntiemus , 
et  (qvnd  vnus  ex  antiquis  dixit )  scientiam  in  mundis  propriis  et  non  in  mundu  communi 
qveernmns , —  G. 

9  ve  vel  in  jam  votis  ha-reamus,  vel  laxiore  fortasse  complex u  umbras  et  formas  abs - 
tractas  prevsemus. — G. 


COGITATA  ET  VISA. 


619 


est  cura)  cogltationem  suspiciendam  esse.  Repent  autem  ho¬ 
mines  in  rerum  scientia  quam  sibi  videntur  adepti,  interdum 
proferenda,  interdum  occultanda,  famae  et  ostentationi  servire : 
quin  et  eos  potissimum  qui  minus  solida  proponunt,  solere  ea 
qua?  afferunt  obscura  et  ambigua  luce  venditare,  ut  facilius 
vanitati  suae  velificare  possint.  Putare  autem,  se  id  tractare 
quod  ambitione  aliqua  aut  affectatione  polluere  minime  dignum 
sit :  sed  tamen  necessario  eo  decurrendum  esse  (nisi  forte  rerum 
et  animorum  valde  imperitus  esset,  et  non  explorato1  viam 
inire  vellet)  ut  satis  meminerit,  inveteratos  semper  errores, 
tanquam  phreneticorum  deliramenta,  arte  et  ingenio  subverti, 
vi  et  contentione  efferari.  Itaque  prudentia  ac  morigeratione 
quadam  utendum  (quanta  cum  simplicitate  et  candore  conjungi 
potest),  ut  contradictiones  ante  extinguantur  quam  excitentur. 
Ad  hunc  finem  parare  se  de  natune  interpretatione  atque  de 
natura  ipsa  opus 2,  quod  errores  minima  asperitate  destruere,  et 
ad  hominum  sensus  non  turbide  accedere  possit ;  quod  et  faci¬ 
lius  fore,  quod  se  non  pro  duce  gesturus,  sed  ex  natura  ipsa 
lucem  praebiturus  et  sparsurus  sit,  ut  duce  postea  non  sit  opus. 
Sed  cum  tempus  interea  fugiat,  et  ipse  rebus  civilibus  plus 
quam  vellet  immistus  esset,  id  longum  videri :  praesertim  cum 
incerta  vitae  cogitaret,  et  aliquid  in  tuto  collocare  festinaret. 
Venit  ei  itaque  in  mentem,  posse  aliquid  simplicius  proponi, 
quod  in  vulgus  non  editum,  saltern  tamen  ad  rei  tarn  salutaris 
abortum  arcendum  satis3  esse  possit.  Atque  diu  et  acriter  rem 
cogitanti  et  perpendenti,  ante  omnia  visum  est  ei,  Tabulas  In- 
veniendi,  sive  legitimae  Inquisitionis  formulas4  in  aliquibus  sub¬ 
jects,  proponi  tanquam  ad  exemplum,  et  operis  descriptionem 
fere  visibilem.  Neque  enim  aliud  quicquam  reperiri,  quod  aut 
vera  viae  aut  errorum  devia  in  clariore  luce  ponere,  aut  ea  quae 
afferuntur  nihil  minus  quam  verba  esse  evidentius  demonstrare 
possit :  neque  etiam  quod  magis  fugiendum  esset  ab  homine  qui 
aut  rei  diffideret  aut  earn  in  magis  accipi  aut  celebrari  cuperet.5 
Tabulis  autem  propositis  et  visis,  non  ambigere  quin  timidiora 
ingenia  subitura  eit  quaedam  baesitatio  et  fere  desperatio  de 


1  prorsus  inexplorato. — G.  2  parare  se  de  natura  opus . — G. 

8  satis  fortasse. — G. 

4  hoc  est  materiem  particularium  ad  opus  intellectus  ordinatam . — G. 

5  The  passage  which  follows,  down  to  edatur ,  is  not  in  Grutcr’s  copy;  and  the 
next  sentence  runs  thus  :  Fieri  autem  posse  ut  si  destinata  perficere  non  detur ,  ut  siint 
humana  tamen  ingenia  Jirmiora  et  sublimiora ,  etiam  absque  majoribus  auxiliis,  ab 
oblatis  monita ,  reliqua  ex  se  et  sperarc  et  potiri  possint. 


620 


COGITATA  ET  VISA. 


similibus  Tabulis  in  aliis  materiis  sive  subjectis  conficiendis ; 
atque  ita  sibi  in  exemplo  gratulaturos  ut  etiam  praecepta  deside- 
rent.  Plnrimorum  autem  studia  ad  usum  Tabularum  supremum 
et  ultimum,  et  clavcm  ipsara  interpretationis  poscendam  arrecta 
fore :  ac  multo  ardentius  ad  novam  faciem  naturae  saltern  aliqua 
ex  parte  visendam,  quae  per  hujusmodi  clavem  resignata  sit  et 
in  conspectum  data.  Yerum  sibi  in  animo  esse,  nec  proprio 
nec  aliorum  desiderio  servienti,  sed  rei  conceptae  consulenti, 
Tabulis  cum  aliquibus  communicatis,  reliqua  cohibere,  donee 
tractntus  qui  ad  populum  pertinet  edatur.  Et  tamen  animo 
providere,  ingenia  firmiora  et  sublimiora,  etiam  absque  majori- 
bus  auxiliis,  ab  oblatis  monitos1,  reliqua  ex  se  et  speraturos  et 
potituros  esse.  Fere  enim  se  in  ea  esse  opinione,  nempe  (quod 
quispiam  dixit)  prudentibus  base  satis  fore,  imprudentibus-  autem 
ne  plura  quidem.  Se  nihilominus  de  cogitatis  nil  intermis- 
surum.  Quod  autem  ad  tabulas  ipsas  attinet,  visum  est 2  nimis 
abruptum  esse  ut  ab  ipsis  docendi  initium  sumatur.  Itaque 
idonea  quaedam  praefari  oportuisse ;  quod  et  jam  se  fecisse  ar¬ 
bitrator,  nec  universa  quae  hucusque  dicta  sunt  alio  tendere.3 
Hoc  insuper  velle  homines  non  latere,  nullis  inveniendi  formuli3 
(more  nunc  apud  homines  et  artes  recepto)  necessitatem  impo- 
nere ;  sed  certe  omnibus  pertentatis,  ex  multo  usu  et  nonnullo 
ut  putat  judicio,  earn  quam  probavit  et  exhibuit  inquirendi 
formulam  verissimam  atque  ulilissimam  esse.  Nec  tamen  se 
officere  quominus  ii  qui  otio  magis  abundant,  aut  a  difficulta- 
tibus  quas  primo  experientem  sequi  necesse  est  liberi  jam  erunt, 
aut  majoris  etiam  et  altioris  sunt  ingenii,  rem  in  potius  perdu- 
cant  ;  nam  et  ipsum  statuere,  artem  inveniendi  proculdubio 
cum  inventis  adolescere.  Ad  extremum  autem  visum  est  ei, 
si  quid  in  bis  quae  dicta  sunt  aut  dicentur  boni  inveniatur,  id 
tanquam  adipem  sacrificii  Deo  dicari,  et  hominibus,  ad  Dei 
similitudinem,  sano  affectu  et  charitate  hominum  bonum  pro- 
curantibus. 

1  So  MS. 

2  visum  est  autem. — G.  The  words  from  Se  nihilominus  to  attinet  being  omitted. 

“  The  passage  which  follows,  down  to  adolescere,  is  not  in  Grater’s  copy  ;  and  the 
last  sentence  begins  Postremo  visum  est  ei. 


FILUM  LABYRINTHI; 

8IVE 


INQUISITIO  LEGITIMA  DE  MOTU. 


623 


PEEEACE 


TO  THE 

INQUISITIO  LEGITIMA  DE  MOTU. 


Bt  the  last  paragraph  of  the  Cogitata  et  Visa  we  learn  that 
that  work  was  intended  for  a  preface  to  certain  “  Tables  of 
Discovery,  or  Formula  of  Legitimate  Investigation,”  which 
were  to  be  set  forth  in  a  few  subjects  as  a  specimen  of  the 
work  in  hand.  Ante  omnia  visum  est  ei  Tabulas  Inveniendi 
sive  legitimes  inguisitionis  formulas,  hoc  est  materiem  particu- 
larium  ad  opus  intellectus  ordinatam,  in  aliguibus  subjectis  pro - 
poni,  tanguam  ad  exemplum  et  operis  descriptionem  fere  visibilem. 

In  the  Commentarius  Solutus  (July  26.  1608),  among  other 
memoranda  relating  to  the  progress  of  the  work,  I  find  the 
following :  “  The  finishing  the  3  Tables,  De  Motu,  De  Calore 
et  Frigore,  De  Sono.” 

Now  in  Gruter’s  volume,  among  the  Impetus  Philosophici, 
I  find  a  Latin  fragment  entitled  Filum  Labgrinthi,  sive  Ingui- 
sitio  legitima  de  Motu;  in  .Stephens’s  second  collection,  I  find 
an  English  piece  entitled  Seguela  chartarum,  sive  Inguisitio 
legitima  de  Calore  et  Frigore ;  in  Hawley’s  Opuscula  I  find  a 
Latin  fragment  entitled  Historia  et  Inguisitio  prima,  de  Sono 
et  auditu,  et  de  forma  Soni,  et  latente  processu  Soni ;  sive  Sglva 
Soni  et  auditu s. 

Of  these,  the  first  is  merely  a  skeleton  of  an  enquiry,  the 
titles  of  the  several  chartce  being  given  in  order,  but  the  titles 
only ;  the  second  is  a  rough  collection  of  materials  for  that 
enquiry  de  forma  Calidi,  which  was  afterwards  selected  as  the 
example  to  illustrate  the  method  by,  in  the  second  book  of 
the  Novum  Organum ;  both  have  evidently  been  intended  as 
specimens  of  the  materies  particularium  ad  opus  intellectus 
ordinata,  and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  they  belong  pro¬ 
perly  to  this  period  and  place.  The  third  is  a  collection  of  the 
materies  particularium,  set  out  without  any  indication  of  a 


624 


PREFACE  TO  THE 


tabular  arrangement,  and  may  perhaps  have  been  drawn  up 
in  its  present  shape  about  the  same  time  with  those  portions 
of  the  natural  history  which  belong  to  the  third  part  of  the 
Instauration,  and.  to  which  in  form  it  bears  a  greater  resem¬ 
blance.  But  in  the  absence  of  all  evidence  from  which  the 
date  of  composition  can  be  inferred,  the  reference  in  the  Com- 
mentarius  Solutus  induces  me  to  place  it  here. 

The  preface,  entitled  Franciscus  Bacon  Lectori,  stands  in 
Gruter’s  volume  immediately  before  the  Filum  Labyrinthi,  and 
probably  belongs  to  it. 

The  selection  of  Motion  as  the  first  subject  to  which  the  new 
method  was  to  be  applied  and  the  example  by  which  it  was  to 
be  illustrated,  strikes  me  as  very  characteristic  both  of  the 
aspiring  genius  of  Bacon’s  philosophy  and  of  the  error  of 
judgment  which  lay  at  the  bottom  of  it.  He  saw  that  all  the 
active  operations  of  nature  were  modes  of  motion,  and  con¬ 
cluded  that  if  we  could  thoroughly  understand  the  nature  of 
motion,  we  should  at  once  have  the  key  to  her  secret  processes, 
and  therewithal  the  command  over  her  powers ;  which  was  the 
true  end  and  aim  of  knowledge.  The  subtlety  and  intricacy  of 
the  phenomena  did  not  daunt  him ;  for  the  true  method  was  as 
the  clue  of  the  Labyrinth,  which  patiently  and  faithfully  fol¬ 
lowed  out  must  inevitably  lead  at  last  to  the  central  principle 
which  explains  and  reconciles  them  all.  How  far  he  pro¬ 
ceeded  in  the  enterprise,  we  may  partly  learn  from  the  Com- 
mentarius  Solutus,  which  contains  the  commencement  of  an 
elaborate  and  methodical  investigation  into  the  nature  of  mo¬ 
tion  ;  with  what  success,  we  may  partly  infer  from  the  second 
book  of  the  Novum  Organum ,  in  which  the  description  of  the 
different  kinds  of  motion  is  introduced  merely  as  a  part  of  the 
doctrine  of  the  prerogatives  of  instances:  the  fact  probably 
being  that  he  had  despaired  of  arriving  by  the  Filum  Labyrinthi 
at  any  tangible  result  within  any  assignable  time. 

The  investigation,  as  set  down  in  the  Commenlarius  on  the 
26th  and  27th  of  July,  1608,  is  carried  out  a  little  further  than 
in  this  fragment ;  and  as  it  belongs  naturally  to  this  place,  and 
will  throw  some  additional  light  upon  the  nature  of  the  process 
as  Bacon  at  this  time  conceived  it,  as  well  as  upon  the  names 
by  which  some  of  its  stages  are  distinguished,  I  cannot  better 
conclude  this  preface  than  by  quoting  it  in  cxfenso. 


J.  S. 


INQUISITIO  LEGITIMA  DE  MOTU. 


625 


Inquisitio  Legitima. 

1.  Carta  electionis  et  prseoptionis. 

2.  Sylva,  sive  Carta  Mater. 

3.  Meta  posita,  sive  Carta  terminans. 

4.  Loci,  sive  Carta  Articulorum. 

5.  Vena  exterior,  sive  Carta  divisionis 
primte. 

6.  Carta  assignationis  vel  collocationis. 

1.  Carta  Historic  ordinat®  ad  divisiones 
primas  et  reliquos  articulos. 

2.  Carta  Amanuensis,  sive  super  Instantias. 

1.  Carta  Analysis  motus  compositi,  vel  de 
spelling. 

2.  Vena  interior,  sive  Carta  divisionis  se- 
cundae. 

3.  Carta  observationis,  sive  axiomatis. 

4.  Carta  humana  optativa. 

5.  Carta  humana  activa,  sive  practica. 

6.  Carta  Anticipationis,  sive  interpreta- 
tionis  sylvestris. 

7.  Carta  Indicationis,  sive  ad  cartas  no¬ 
vellas. 

Nota  Interpretationem  legitimam  non  fieri,  nec  clavem  Inter- 
pretationis  adoperari  usque  ad  reordinationes  et  cartas  novellas 
finitas,  ut  duse  sint  machine  Intellectus,  una  Inferior  quam 
descripsimus,  altera  Superior  quae  est  novellarum.2 

Inquisitio  Legitima  de  Motu. 

Cart,  electionis. 

Quieta  rerum  principia  sermones  spectant;  moventia  aufem 
et  motus  ipse,  opera. 

Motuum  genera  bene  discreta  et  descripta,  Protei  vincula 

1  Probably  apparently  secundce. 

2  This  is  the  last  of  many  memoranda  which  appear  to  have  been  transferred  from 
an  old  note-book  (transportata  ex  commentario  vetere)  on  the  26th  of  July,  1608. 
The  next  page  is  headed  Transports.  Jul.  27.  1608, — the  beginning  of  the  next 
morning’s  work. 


Sectio  Nov. 

ordinis.  op. 


Ap.  s®.1 

Sectio  "1 

7. 

rerum.  J 

8. 

Sectio  ) 

9. 

lucis.  ) 

10. 

11. 

12. 

13. 

14. 

15. 

626 


PREFACE  TO  THE 


Meta  posita. 

Quod  animo  metimur ;  Motus ;  exacte  inspicienti  non  alius 
quam  localis ;  sensibilis  scilicet  et  minutus. 

Etiam  quies  comprehendatur ;  ex  natura  propria  aut  per 
accidens,  ex  libratione  vel  cohibitione  motus.1 

Tria  motuum  genera  imperceptibilia,  ob  tarditatem,  ut  in 
digito  horologii ;  ob  minutias,  ut  liquor  seu  aqua  corrumpitur 
aut  congelatur  &c. ;  ob  tenuitatem,  ut  omnifaria  aeris,  venti, 
spiritus,  quae  non  cernuntur  ac  subtiliores  eorum  motus  nullo 
sensu  comprehenduntur,  sed  tantum  per  pensa  et  effectus. 

Motus  et  naturas  per  globos  non  distinguimus  ut  alia  sit 
ratio  coelestium,  alia  sublunarium :  popularis  ratio  ista  videtur 
et  infirma ;  nam  etiam  coelestia  mutantur  in  magnis,  ut  patet 
in  cometis  coordinatis  situ  suo  cum  stellis  fixis :  In  parvis  si 
mutantur  tamen  sensum  nostrum  latent ;  Nam  quae  etiam  in 
superficie  terras  fiunt  mutationes  de  circulo  Lunae,  si  oculus  ibi 
positus  esset,  discerni  nequirent ;  Eursus  eadem  aeternitas  et 
motus  regularitas  terras  competit ;  Nam  in  profunditate  terras 
par  aeternitas  ac  in  coelo,  et  videntur  variationes  et  mutationes 
et  turbae  tantum  in  confiniis  regnorum  istorum  fieri ;  scilicet  in 
superficie  et  crusta  terras,  et  superficie  et  confiniis  casli,  et  aeris 
regione  media  quam  vocant;  Etiam  fluxus  maris  tarn  regularis 
est  quam  motus  lunae. 

De  motu  autem  animali,  et  de  eo  motu  qui  ad  sensum  pera- 
gendum  requiritur,  non  inquirimus,  sed  eum  sui  juris  facimus 
et  emancipamus  ut  seorsim  et  principaliter  inquiratur. 

Motus  autem  animates  quatenus  ad  cohibitionem  ct  partici- 
pationem  manifestam  motuum  caeterorum  comprehendimus,  ut 
saltum,  sanguinis  per  venas  ascensionem,  etc. 

Motus  autem  impressionis  sive  signaturas  quae  incorporete 
sunt  tamen  ob  spatiorum  sive  locorum  Mutationes  comprehen¬ 
dimus,  ut  in  sonis,  visibilibus,  attractionibus  sive  coitionibus  ; 
calorem  tamen  et  frigus  omnino  emancipamus  ob  dignitatem  et 
multiplicem  usum,  et  de  illis  seorsim  et  principaliter  inquiri 
volumus. 

_  Nec  motum  generationis  vitalis  expedimus,  sive  assimila- 
tionem  magnam,  sed  et  hunc  emancipamus. 


qu. 


1  Opposite  this  paragraph  is  written 


INQUISITIO  LEGITIM  A  DE  MOTU. 


627 


Carta  Articulorum. 

First  to  enquire  the  several  kinds  or  diversities  of  motion. 

Then  what  bodies  or  subjects  are  susceptible  of  every  kind 
and  what  not,  and  what  have  them  in  strength  and  what 
more  obscurely,  and  what  have  them  more  familiarly  and 
what  more  rarely. 

Then  the  comparisons  of  the  forces  of  every  motion,  and 
which  is  predominant  one  over  the  other,  and  which  is 
absolute  and  never  falsified,  if  any  such  be;  and  how 
they  evade  and  shift  each  nature  of  motion  to  do  his 
part.1 

Nodi  et  globi  motuum,  and  how  they  concur  and  how  they 
succeed  and  interchange  in  things  most  frequent. 

The  times  and  moments  wherein  motions  work,  and  which 
is  the  more  swift  and  which  the  more  slow,  and  where 
they  take  their  beginnings  and  where  they  leave. 

The  convenience  or  disconvenience  which  motion  hath  with 
heat  and  tenuity,  and  how  these  three  meet,  sever,  and 
vary. 

The  power  in  motions  corporal  of  agitation,  fire,  time.2 

The  effects  of  motion,  and  what  qualities  it  induceth  respective 
to  every  motion. 

The  force  of  union  in  motions,  and  the  analogy  thereof.3 * * * * 8 


Carta  divisionis  primes,  sive  ad  apparentiam  primam. 

Agitatio,  sive  Motus  absque  termino,  sive  Motus  se  exercens. 
Latio,  sive  Motus  ad  terminum,  sive  Motus  itinerans. 

Agitationis  species  duse:  Agitatio  placida;  Agitatio  in- 
quieta. 

Agitatio  placida,  sive  Motus  conversionis,  sive  Curulis. 
Agitatio  inquieta  duplex :  Agitatio  relevationis  et  tenta- 
tionis ;  Agitatio  trepidationis. 


1  The  last  clause  added  in  the  margin. 

2  In  the  margin  of  the  MS.,  opposite  the  last  four  paragraphs,  are  the  following 

notes  ;  written  apparently  at  another  time,  and  without  any  special  reference  to  the 

particular  paragraphs  against  which  they  happen  to  stand.  They  are  written  consecu¬ 

tively,  one  under  the  other,  with  strokes  of  the  pen  between  to  separate  them.  “  The 

instruments  and  efficients. —  Subjectum  quasi  efficiens  generale,  efficiens  tanquam 

subjectum  proximum.  —  Periodi  et  processus  motuum.  —  Spatia  orbis  virtutis.” 

8  This  last  article  appears  to  have  been  added  at  another  time . 


41  Bacon  III 


628 


PREFACE  TO  THE 


Lationis  species  duae :  Latio  manifesta,  sive  Motus  local  is ; 

Latio  occulta  sive  Motus  corporalis. 

Motus localis  tres  sunt  species:  Motus  respectu  spatiorum; 

Motus  respectu  situs  partium ;  Motus  respectu  alterius. 

Motus  respectu  spatiorum  habet  4  species. 

Motus  nexus,  sive  ne  detur  Vacuum. 

Motus  plagae,  sive  mechanicus,  sive  ne  fiat  penetratio 
dimensionum. 

Motus  libertatis,  sive  ad  sphaeram  veterem,  sive  ad 
convenientiam ;  qui  est  duplex :  Motus  a  violenta 
condensatione  ad  convenientiam  raritatis ;  et  Motus  a 
violenta  rarefactione  ad  convenientiam  densitatis. 

Motus  hyles  migrantis,  sive  ad  sphasram  novam ;  qui 
etiam  est  duplex:  Motus  hyles  migrantis  ad  sphaeram 
novam  majorem ;  Motus  hyles  migrantis  ad  sphaeram 
novam  minorem. 

Motus  respectu  situs  partium  est  simplex,  et  est  motus 

congruitatis  sive  disponens. 

Motus  respectu  alterius  habet  4  species. 

Motus  ad  massam,  sive  congregationis  major,  sive  Pane- 
gyricus  sive  foederis  generalis. 

Motus  Amicitiae,  sive  congregationis  minor;  sive  sym¬ 
pathise,  sive  foederis  sanctions. 

Motus  disgregationis  major,  sive  fugae. 

Motus  disgregationis  minor,  sive  Antipathiae. 

Motus  corporalis  habet  species  sequentes,  numero  17. 

Motus  subsistentiae,  sive  ne  detur  nihilum. 

Motus  integritatis,  sive  ne  admittatur  corpus  externum ; 
sive  amplexus  veteris. 

Motus  cohibitionis,  sive  regius,  sive  ne  admittatur  nova 
forma. 

[Isti  3  motus  pertinent  ad  conservationem  in  statu.1] 

Motus  maturationis ;  sive  exaltationis  et  perfectionis 
naturae  suae,  sive  in  potius. 

[Iste  motus  tendit  ad  perfection  em.1] 


1  Added  In  margin. 


ISfQUISITIO  LEGITIMA.  DE  MOTU. 


629 


Motus  contractionis,  sive  hyles  xninorans  interius,  sive 
restrictionis. 

Motus  relaxationis  sive  hyles  majorans  exterius,  sive 
fusionis. 

Motus  separations  in  se,  sive  faction  is,  sive  congregans 
homogenea  et  disgregans  heterogenea,  sive  unionis  per 
partes. 

[Isti  4  motus  praes  pponunt  manentiam  corporis  in  toto, 
absque  jactura  et  emissione,  licet  mistura  et  ordinatio 
partium  mutetur.1] 

Motus  separationis  in  aliud,  sive  exilii,  sive  exiturae  aut 
emissionis. 

Motus  separationis  altae  et  magnae,  sive  anarchiae,  sive 
putrefactionis,  sive  separationis  in  partes 2,  sive  radicalis. 

[Isti  3 3  motus  pertinent  ad  separationem.] 

Motus  applicationis  et  resistentiae  secundum  fibras,  sive 
texturam  et  ordinem  earum. 

Motus  tenacitatis,  sive  adhaerentiae,  sive  primi  tactus  aut 
amplexus  novi. 

Motus  receptionis  in  se,  sive  mistionis,  sive  incorporatio¬ 
ns,  sive  indentatus,  sive  unionis  per  totum. 

[Isti  tres  motus  pertinent  ad  corporum  applications.] 

Motus  generationis  Jovialis,  sive  assimilationis,  sive  gene¬ 
ration^  similis  sui  fixae  et  manentis. 

Motus  generationis  Saturniae,  sive  signaturae  aut  impres- 
sionis,  sive  generationis  similis  sui  momentaneae  vel 
transeuntis. 

Motus  generationis  fictae,  sive  excitationis  et  imitationis. 

[Isti  3  motus  pertinent  ad  propagationem  speciei.] 

Motus  metamorphoseos  placidae,  sive  novae  formae  proce- 
dentis  absque  dissolutione. 

Motus  metamorphoseos  destruentis,  sive  novae  formae  a 
corruption,  sive  reordinationis  et  ^riumviratus,  sive 
rudimenta  generationis  vitalis. 

[Isti  2  motus  sunt  mutationis  majoris.] 


1  Added  in  margin. 


*  I  am  sure  that  I  read  this  word  right. 


•SIC. 


630 


PREFACE  TO  THE 


Carta  assignations. 

Fractionem  corporum,  give  resistentiam  contra  fractionem  et 
separationem,  assignamus  sub  motu  Integritatis. 

Modum  tamen  fractionis  in  nonnullis  aut  prohibitionis  fra- 
ctionis  in  quo  situs  partium  valet,  assignamus  sub  motu 
application^  primo. 

Reductionem  ad  statum  quo,  as  when  urine  or  blood  is  broken 
and  by  fire  reduced,  assignamus  sub  motu  cohibitionis  vel 
regio. 

Conservationem,  mansionem  in  statu,  non  exituram  spiritus 
in  corporibus  porosis  sive  terra  fixis  (?)  assignamus  sub 
motu  regio. 

All  ripenings,  coction,  assation,  the  gathering  perfection  of 
wines,  beers,  cyders,  &c.  by  age  and  time,  assignamus 
sub  motu  maturationis.1 

Etiam  multiplicationem  virtutis  per  unionem  quantitatis,  vel 
conservationem  status  per  unionem  quantitatis,  assigna¬ 
mus  sub  motu  maturationis  vel  exaltationis. 

Liquefactionem,  Mollificationem,  Liquiditatem,  consistentiam, 
duritiem,  indurationem,  or  closeness  of  parts,  Ampliatio- 
nem,  congelationem,  constipationem,  assignamus  sub  motu 
hyles  interiore. 

Residence,  flowering,  working  out  a  skin,  defecation,  refining, 
clearing  and  lees,  dissolving  or  breaking  as  in  blood  or 
urine,  coagulation  or  turning  to  curds  or  whey,  haec 
assignamus  sub  motu  separationis  in  se. 

[Etiam  disordinationem  partium,  as  when  pears  rolled  get  a 
sweetness,  when  roses  crushed  alter  their  smell,  haec  as¬ 
signamus  motui  separationis  in  se.] 

Evaporationem,  exhalationem,  emissionem,  consumptionem,  di- 
minutionem,  arefactionem,  assignamus  sub  motu  separa¬ 
tionis  in  aliud. 

Corruptionem,  rust,  mould,  assignamus  motui  separationis 
altae. 

Motus  soliditatis  sive  expulsionis  corporis  dissimilis,  et  at- 
tractionem  similis,  assignamus  sub  motu  mistionis. 

1  The  reference  is  to  the  three  kinds  of  pepsis  spoken  of  by  Aristotle :  pepansis, 

epsesis,  and  optesis.  Meteorol.  iv.  — it.  L.  E. 


INQUISITIO  LEGIT1MA  DE  MOTU. 


631 


Exuctionem,  depastionem,  depraedationem,  intumescentiam, 
intenerationem,  augmentationem,  sive  vegetatione  seu  ac- 
cretione,  assignamus  motui  generationis  Jovis. 

Fermentationem  et  infectionem  assignamus  generationi  fictae. 

Destillationem,  sublimationem,  assignamus  motui  metamor- 
phoseos  placidse. 

Turning  into  worms,  flies,  &c.,  assignamus  motui  triumvi- 
ratus.1 

1  Here  a  line  is  drawn  across  the  page,  and  a  different  subject  is  entered  upon,  with 
a  new  pen  and  fresh  fingers.  The  next  page  is  headed  Transportata  Jut  28.  1608. 
It  would  seem  therefore  that  this  concluded  the  day’s  work  of  Wednesday  the  27  th  of 
July. 


632 


FRANCISCUS  BACON  LECTORI. 


Si  qui  fuerint  qui  in  veterum  placitis  sibi  acquiescendum  non 
putarunt,  quod  aliquando  ab  animi  constantia,  saepius  ab  in¬ 
genii  levitate  fieri  vidimus ;  ii  qualescunque  fuerint,  hac  fere 
defensione  communi  usi  sunt ;  se,  licet  ab  antiquitate  de- 
sciverint,  tamen  ea  afferre  quae  cum  sensu  optime  conveniant; 
atque  homines,  si  hoc  sibi  in  animum  inducere  possint  ut  au- 
thoritate  non  perstringantur  sed  sibi  ipsi  et  sensibus  credant, 
facile  in  eorum  partes  transituros.  Nos  vero  sensum  nec  con- 
tradictione  violavimus  nec  abstractione  destruimus,  et  ma- 
teriam  ei  longe  uberiorem  quam  alii  praebuimus,  et  multo 
ministerio  errores  ejus  restituimus,  potestates  auximus,  atque 
judicium  ejus,  damnatis  phantasiis  atque  in  ordinem  redacta 
ratione,  munivimus  et  firmavimus ;  ut  alii  professione  quadam, 
nos  reipsa  sensum  tueri  videamur,  atque  philosophia  nostra  una 
fere  atque  eadem  res  sit  cum  sensu  restituto  et  liberato.  Ne- 
que  propterea  tamen  nobis  de  hominunp  fide  et  assensu  large 
pollicemur,  cum  nostra  ratio  cum  nulla  priorum  consentiat, 
sed  plane  in  diversum  trahat.  Nam  qui  hucusque,  pertaesi 
eorum  quae  veteres  afferent,  ad  experientiam  et  sensum  tan- 
quam  de  integro  se  contulerunt,  in  hunc  modum  fere  se 
gesserunt;  ut  nonnulla  primo  secundum  sensum  acriter  et 
strenue  inquisiverint,  ea  potissimum  sumentes  quae  illis  maxi- 
me  rationem  totius  habere  visa  sunt;  atque  ex  his  confestim 
experientiae  manipulis,  et  tanquam  factionibus,  placita  con- 
finxerint;  anguste  et  inaequaliter  philosophati,  et  omnia  pau- 
cis  condonantes.  Atque  iste  .tamen  modus  philosophandi  ad 
fidern  faciendam  saepenumero  validus  et  felix  est,  ob  angustias 
pectoris  humani,  quod  illis  quae  una  et  subito  mentem  subire 
possunt  maxime  movetur,  et  acquiescendi  cupidum  eastern  vel 
negligit,  vel  modo  quodam  non  perceptibili  ita  se  habere  putat 
ut  ilia  pauca  quibus  phantasia  impleri  aut  inflari  consuevit. 
At  contra,  nos  non  manipulares,  sed  justum  divinorum  operum 


LECTORI. 


633 


exercitum  post  nos  trahentes,  et  ex  aequo  et  secundum  summas 
rerum  pronunciantes,  non  habemus  fere  quo  nos  vertamus, 
aut  ex  qua  parte  aditum  ad  humanam  fidem  reperiamus ;  cum 
ea  quae  adducimus  altius  quam  notiones,  latius  quam  hujus- 
modi  experimenta,  se  extendant.  Itaque  necesse  est  ut  ex  illis 
pleraque  praeproperis  et  propensis  sensuum  prehensionibus  non 
eatisfaciant,  nonnulla  autem  dura  et  instar  religionis  incredibilia 
ad  sensus  accedant.  Sensus  enim  bumani  fallunt  utique,  sed 
tamen  etiam  se  indicant ;  verum  errores  prsesto,  indicia  accer- 
sita  sunt.  Itaque  et  novam  prorsus  tradendi  viam  ingressi 
sumus,  rei  ipsi  convenientem :  non  disputando,  aut  exempla 
rara  et  sparsa  adducendo ;  cum  uterque  fidei  faciendae  modus 
fortasse  adversus  nobis  futurus  fuisset,  quorum  decreta  nec  in 
cura1  notionum,  nec  in  angustiis  experientise  abscissae  et  trun¬ 
cates,  fundata  sint :  sed  experientiam  coacervatam  et  continuam 
adhibuimus,  atque  homines  ad  fontes  rerum  adduximus,  ac  uni- 
versum  intellectus  processum  et  derivationes  sub  oculos  po- 
suimus.  Quare  quicunque  eo  animo  sunt,  ut  aut  argumentis 
nitantur,  aut  paucis  exemplis  cedant,  aut  authoritatibus  im- 
pediantur,  aut  opus  hoc  nostrum  evolvere  et  introspicere  propter 
aut  animi  aut  temporis  angustias  non  possint ;  cum  illis  nos 
profecto  de  hac  re  nec  serio  colloqui  possumus.  Satis  fuerit 
si  illud  Philocratis  de  Demostbene  dictum  hue  transferimus : 
Atque  nolite  mirari,  Athenienses,  si  milii  cum  Demosthene  non 
ennveniat.  Hie  enim  aquam,  ego  vinum  bibo.  Illi  enim  certe 
liquorem  bibunt  crudum,  ex  intellectu  vel  sponte  manantem 
vel  industria  quadam  haustum.  Nos  autem  liquorem  paramus 
et  propinamus  ex  infinitis  uvis  confectum,  iisque  maturis  et 
tempestivis,  et  per  racemos  decerptis  et  collectis,  et  subinde 
torculari  pressis,  et  rursus  in  vase  se  separantibus  et  clarifica- 
tis.  Ne  enim  hoc  Deus  siverit,  ut  phantasiae  nostras  somnium 
pro  exemplari  mundi  edamus ;  sed  potius  benigne  faveat,  ut 
apocalypsin  et  visionem  vestigiorum  et  viarum  Creatoris  in 
Natura  et  Creaturis  conscribamus. 


1  So  in  the  original :  a  misprint,  I  suspect,  for  aura, 


634 


FILUM  LABYBINTHI, 


SIVE 


INQUISITIO  LEGITIMA  DE  MOTU. 


Machina  Intellectus  inferior :  seu  sequela  chartarum  ad  ap- 
parentiam  primam. 

Racemi  sive  Charta  Historic  ordinaty  ad  Articulum  Primum  : 

De  Formis  et  Differentiis  Motus. 

Motus  Applicationis  Exterioris,  sive  motus  adherently. 

Motus  Applicationis  Interior  is,  sive  motus  mixture. 

Motus  Applicationis  ad  Fibras,  sive  motus  identitatis. 

Motus  Assimilationis,  seu  motus  generationis  Jovis. 

Motus  Signature,  sive  motus  generationis  Saturni. 

Motus  Excitationis,  sive  motus  generationis  fictse. 

Racemi  sive  Charta  Historic  ordinaty  ad  Articulum  Se¬ 
cundum  : 

De  Subjectis  sive  Continentibus  Motum. 

Racemi  sive  Charta  Historiy  ordinaty  ad  Articulum  Ter- 
tium : 

De  Yehiculis  sive  Deferentibus  Motum. 

Racemi  sive  Charta  Historiy  ordinaty  ad  Articulum  Quar- 
tum : 

De  Operationibus  et  Consequents  Motus. 

Racemi  sive  Charta  Historiy  ordinaty  ad  Articulum  Quin- 
tum : 

De  Curriculis  sive  Clepsydris  Motus. 

Racemi  sive  Charta  Historiy  ordinaty  ad  Articulum  Sex- 
tum : 

De  Orbe  Yirtutis  Motus. 

Racemi  sive  Charta  Historiy  ordinaty  ad  Articulum  Septi- 
mum : 

De  Hierarchia  Motus. 


INQU1SITI0  LEGITIMA  DE  MOTU.  635 

Racemi  sive  Charta  Historic  ordinate  ad  Articulum  Octa- 
vum : 

De  Societatibus  Motus. 

Racemi  sive  Charta  II  is  tori*  ordinat*  ad  Articulum  Nonum  : 

De  AIBnitatibus  Motus. 

Racemi  sive  Charta  His  tori*  ordinate  ad  Articulum  Deci- 
mum : 

De  viribus  Unionis  in  Motu. 

Racemi  sive  Charta  Histori*  ordinate  ad  Articulum  Un- 
decimum : 

De  viribus  Consuetudinis  et  Novitatis  in  Motu. 

Racemi  sive  Charta  Historiae  ordinate  ad  Articulum  Duode- 
cimum : 

De  aliis  omnibus  Motus.1 

Syllabae,  sive  Charta  Anatomiae. 

Vena  relicta,  seu  Charta  Divisionis  Secundae. 

Axioma  Exterius,  sive  Charta  Observation*. 

Column*,  sive  Charta  Impossibilis  Apparentis,  sive  Humana 
Optativa. 

Focnus,  sive  Charta  Usus  Intervenientis  sive  Humana  Ac- 
tiva. 

Anticipatio,  sive  Charta  Interpretationis  Sylvestris. 

Pons,  sive  Charta  ad  Chartas  Novellas. 

Machina  Intellectus  Superior ;  sive  sequela  Chartarum  ad 
Apparentiam  Secundam. 

Chart*  Novell*. 

Atque  exemplum  Inquisitionis  de  Natura  (ut  videre  est)  ab- 
solvimus,  idque  in  subjecto  omnium  maxime  capaci  et  diffuso ; 
eaque  forma,  quam  judicamus  cum  veritate  et  intellectu  sum- 
mum  consensum  habere.  Neque  tamen  more  apud  homines  re- 
cepto  formul*  alicui  necessitatem  imponimus,  tanquam  unica 
esset,  et  instar  artis  ipsius.  Sed  certe  omnibus  pertentatis,  ex 
longo  usu  et  nonnullo,  ut  putamus,  judicio,  hanc  ipsam  formam 
sive  rationem  disponendi  materiam  rerum  ad  opus  intellectus,  ut 
probatam  et  electam  exhibemus.  Nihil  autem  officit,  quominus 
ii  qui  otio  magis  abundant,  aut  a  difficultatibus  quas  primo  ex- 
perientem  sequi  necesse  est  liberi  jam  erunt,  aut  majoris  etiam 
et  altioris  sunt  ingenii,  rem  in  potius  perducant.  Nam  et  ipsi 
statuimus,  artem  inveniendi  adolescere  cum  invent*;  neque  ad 


So  in  the  original. 


636 


FILDM  LABYRINTH!,  SIVE 


aliquid  immotum  et  inviolabile  inveniendi  artificium  hominum 
industriam  et  felicitatem  astringendam.  Artis  enim  perfecti- 
onera  artis  usuin  remorari,  nihil  est  necesse.  Quod  autem 
viam  novam  scientiam  docendi  et  tradendi  ingressi  sumus,  quod 
doctrinam  et  praecepta  quasi  prsetereuntes  et  aliud  agentes  dis- 
tulimus,  atque  in  exemplo  prascipue  elaboravimus ;  hoc  summa 
ratione  nos  fecisse  arbitramur.  Neque  sane  homines  latere  vo- 
lumus,  quid  in  hac  re  secuti  simus :  nam  obtinere  in  homi- 
num  aequitate  positum  est,  yel  potius  in  fortuna  communi :  res 
enim  humani  generis  agitur,  non  nostra.  Primum  hoc  videmur 
adepti,  quod  maximum  est,  ut  plane  intelligamur.  Longe  enim 
aliud  est  singulis  prseceptis  exempla  subnectere,  aliud  universi 
operis  figuram  perfectam  et  quasi  solidam  construere  et  reprae- 
sentare.  Etenim  in  mathematicis,  adstante  machina  aut  fa- 
brica  sequitur  demonstratio  facilis  et  perspicua :  sed  absque 
hac  commoditate  omnia  videntur  involuta,  et  quam  revera  sunt 
subtiliora.  Atque  etiam  illud  usuvenit,  ut  quo  grandius  in- 
strumentum  demonstrationis  fiat,  eo  sit  et  fidelius  et  illustrius. 
Etiam  putamus  nos  aliquem  modestise  et  simplicitatis  fructum 
percipere  posse,  quod  nec  vim  nec  insidias  hominum  judiciis 
fecimus  aut  paravimus,  sed  rem  nudam  et  apertam  exhibuimus. 
Nemo1  enim  ante  nos,  homines  ad  fontes  naturse  et  res  ipsas 
adduxerunt,  ut  in  medium  consulerent ;  sed  exempla  et  experien- 
tiam  ad  dictorum  suorum  fidem,  non  ad  alieni  judicii  liberta- 
tem  adhibuerunt :  ut  dupliciter  nos  de  humano  genere  meritos 
existimemus,  duas  res  maxime  mortalibus  caras  et  gratas,  po- 
testatem  et  libertatem,  simul  deferentes :  potestatem  operum, 
libertatem  judicii.  Ac  veluti  in  judiciis  civilibus  ea  maxime 
incorrupta  et  recta  sunt  ubi  minimum  oratorum  licentiae  et 
turbis,  aut  etiam  eloquentiae,  conceditur ;  sed  onmis  fere  opera 
et  tempus  in  testibus  consumitur ;  eodem  modo  et  de  natura 
judicia  exercentur  optima,  cum  nec  pugnaci  nec  probabili  ora- 
tioni  aut  disputationi  maximae  partes  tribuuntur,  sed  expe- 
rientiae  testimoniis  evidentibus  et  coacervatis  res  conficitur. 
Nam  certe  in  authorum  testimoniis  libido  et  stimulus  versatur: 
rerum  autem  testimonia  et  responsa,  interdum  obscura  et  per- 
plexa,  sed  semper  sincera  et  incorrupta  sunt.  Liberati  etiam 
videmur  magno  malo,  ex  hominum  fastidio  et  praejudicio.  So- 
lent  enim  viri  prudentes  et  graves  et  cunctatores  novitatem 


So  in  the  original.  Perhaps  Bacon  had  altered  nulli  into  nemo  and  forgot  to  alter 
plural  verbs  at  the  same  time  into  the  singular 


INQUIS1TI0  LEGIT1MA  DE  MOTU. 


637 


omnem  levitatis  et  vanitatis  nomine  suspectam  habere ;  novas 
autem  sectas  et  nova  placita  ut  larvas  et  umbras  aspernari. 
Neque  enim  multum  interesse  putant,  utrum  homines  in  theoriis 
consentiant  aut  dissentiant :  nisi  quod  vetera  et  recepta  magis 
sint,  ob  consensum  et  mores,  rebus  gerendis  accommodata. 
Huic  malo  non  aliud  remedium  reperiebatur,  nisi  ut  amplitu- 
dine  exempli,  in  ipsos  hominum  sensus  ita  incurramus,  ut  pn- 
mo  aspectu  quivis  mediocris  judicii  rem  solidam  et  sobriam  esse, 
atque  opera  et  utilitatem  spirantem,  et  a  novae  scbolae  aut 
novae  sectae  ratione  et  consuetudine  prorsus  alienam,  statim 
perspiciat  et  agnoscat.  Speramus  etiam  hoc  potissimum  modo 
antiquis  et  aliis  qui  in  philosophia  aliquid  opinati  sunt,  authori- 
tatem  et  fidem  abrogari,  honorem  et  reverentiam  conservari 
posse ;  idque  non  artificio  quodam,  sed  ex  vi  ipsa  rei.  Existi- 
mamus  enim  subituram  animos  hominum  cogitationem,  num  et 
llli  hujusmodi  diligentiam  adhibuerint,  aut  placita  et  opiniones 
suas  a  tali  fundamento  excitaverint.  Atque  sane  hoc  dubium 
alicui  videri  potuisset,  si  opiniones  eorum  tantum  ad  nos  per- 
venissent,  modus  autem  inquisitionis  et  demonstrationis  non 
apparuisset.  Turn  enim  tale  quippiam  in  mentem  nobis  venisset 
cogitare,  illos  proculdubio  a  meditationum  suarum  principio 
magnam  vim  et  copiam  exemplorum  paravisse,  eamque  simili  quo 
nos  ordine,  vel  fortasse  meliore  disposuisse ;  sed  postquam  re 
comperta  illis  pronuntiare  visum  esset,  turn  demum  pronuntiata 
et  eorum  explicationes  et  connexiones  in  scripta  redegisse,  addito 
sparsim  uno  aut  altero  exemplo  ad  docendi  lumen ;  sed  pri- 
mordia  ilia  et  notas  ac  veluti  codieillos  et  commentarios  suos 
in  lucem  edere,  et  supervacuum  et  molestum  putasse  ;  itaque 
fecisse  ut  in  asdificando  facere  decet :  nam  post  operis  ipsius 
structuram,  machinas  et  scalas  et  hujusmodi  instrumenta  a 
conspectu  amovenda  esse.  Yerum  hsec  de  ipsis  cogitare,  nobis 
per  ipsos  integrum  non  est :  formam  enim  et  rationem  suam 
inquirendi,  et  ipsi  profitentur ',  et  scripta  eorum  ej'usdem  ex- 
pressam  imaginem  pras  se  ferunt.  Ea  non  alia  fuit,  quam  ut  ab 
exemplis  quibusdam  quibus  sensus  plurimum  assueverat,  ad  con- 
clusiones  maxime  generales  sive  principia  scientiarum  advo- 
larent:  ad  quorum  immotam  veritatem,  conclusiones  inferiores 
per  media  derivarent :  ex  quibus  arte  constituta,  turn  demum 
si  qua  controversia  de  aliquo  exemplo  mota  esset,  quod  placitis 

1  This  passage  and  the  corresponding  one  in  the  Redargutio  Philo sophiarum  (p,  582.) 
serve  to  correct  the  reading  projitemur  in  the  Nov.  Org.  i.  125.  —  R.  L,  E . 


638 


FILUM  LABYRINTHI,  SIVE 


euis  refragari  videretur,  illud  per  distinctiones  aut  regularum 
suarum  exphinationes  in  ordinetn  redigerent :  aut  si  de  rerum 
particularium  causis  mentio  injiceretur,  eas  ad  speculationes 
suas  ingeniose  accommodarent.  Itaque  res  et  totius  erroris 
processus  prorsus  patet :  nam  et  missio  experientise  prsepropera 
fuit,  et  conclusiones  mediae  (quse  operum  vitae  sunt)  aut  neg- 
lectae  aut  infirmo  fundamento  impositae  sunt;  et  sensui  ipsi 
(qui  non  repraesentatur)  ingenii  quaedam  facta  est  substitutio 
illegitima  et  infelix;  et  si  qua  frequens  alicubi  inter  eorum 
scripta  inveniatur  exemplorum  et  particularium  mentio,  id  sero, 
et  postquam  jam  decretum  esset  de  placitis  suis,  factum  esse 
constat.  Nostra  autem  ratio  huic  maxime  contraria  est:  quod 
Tabulae  affatim  extra  controversiam  ponunt.  Quibus  positis  et 
illud  sequitur,  admirationem  quae  quibusdam  ex  antiquis  aut  alii 
cuipiam  tribuitur,  intactam  et  imminutam  manere.  Nam  in  iis 
quae  in  ingenio  et  meditatione  posita  sunt,  illi  mirabiles  ho¬ 
mines  se  praestiterunt.  Nostra  autem  talia  sunt,  quae  hominum 
ingenia  et  facultates  fere  aequant.  Nam  quemadmodum  ad  hoc, 
ut  linea  recta1  describatur,  plurimum  est  in  manus  et  visus 
facilitate,  si  per  constantiam  manus  et  oculorum  judicium 
tantum  res  tentatur  ;  sin  per  regulam  admotam,  non  multum  ; 
aut  ut  etiam  simplicius  verba  faciamus,  quemadmodum  ad  hoc  ut 
longa  oratio  recitetur  memoriter,  homo  memoria  pollens  ab  ho- 
mine  oblivioso  mirum  in  modum  differt ;  sin  de  scripto,  non  item  : 
eadem  ratione  et  in  contemplations  rerum  quse  mentis  viribus  so¬ 
lum  incumbit,  homo  homini  praestat  vel  maxime;  in  ea  autem 
quse  per  Tabulas  fit  et  earum  usum  rite  adhibitum,  non  multo 
major  in  hominum  intellectu  eroinet  insequalitas,  quam  in  sensu 
inesse  solet.  Quin  et  ab  ingeniorum  acumine  et  agilitate,  dum 
suo  motu  feruntur,  periculum  metuimus.  Itaque  hominum 
ingeniis  non  plumas  aut  alas,  sed  plumbum  et  pondera  addimus. 
Accedit  et  illud,  quod  rem  omnium  difficillimam  (si  vis  et  con- 
tentio  adhibeatur)  per  Tabulas  nostras  sponte  secuturam  non 
diffidimus ;  hanc  ipsam,  ut  postquam  homines,  primo  aditu  for- 
tasse  difficiles  et  alieni,  paulo  post  nativae  rerum  subtilitati  quae 
oculis  suis  subjicitur  et  differentiis  in  experientia  plane  signatis 
et  expressis  assueverint,  continuo  fere  subtilitatem  verborum  et 
disputationum,  quae  hucusque  hominum  cogitationes  occupavit 
et  tenuit,  quasi  pro  re  ludicra  et  quadam  incantatione  et  spectro 
habituri  sint ;  atque  de  natura  decreturi,  quod  de  fortuna  dici 

1  recte  in  the  original. 


INQUISIT10  LEGITIMA  DE  MOTU. 


639 


solet,  earn  a  fronte  capillatam,  ab  occipitio  calvam  esse ;  omnem 
enim  istam  seram  et  pneposteram  subtilitatem,  postquam  tem- 
pus  rerum  praeterierit,  naturam  prensare  et  captare,  sed  nunquam 
apprehendere  et  capere  posse.  Etiam  vivum  nos  et  plane  ani- 
matum  docendi  genus  adhibuisse  arbitramur.  Non  enim  scien- 
tiam  a  stirpibus  avulsam,  sed  cum  radicibus  integris  tradimus, 
ut  in  ingeniis  melioribus  velut  in  gleba  feraciore  transplantata, 
magnum  et  felix  incrementum  recipere  possit.  Nos  autem,  si 
qua  in  re  vel  male  credidimus,  vel  obdormivimus  et  minus 
attendimus,  vel  defecimus  et  inquisitionem  abrupimus,  nihilomi- 
nus  rem  ita  proposuimus,  ut  et  errores  nostri,  antequam  massam 
ecientias  altius  inficiant,  notari  et  separari  possint :  atque  etiam 
ut  facilis  et  expedita  sit  laborum  nostrorum  successio  et  con- 
tinuatio  :  turn  autem  homines  vires  suas  noscent,  cum  non  eadem 
infiniti  sed  omissa  alii  praestabunt.  Etiam  illud  ludibrium 
avertisse  videmur,  cui  frequens  nostra  operum  mentio  et  incul- 
catio  exponi  posset,  nisi  homines  inter  res  ipsas  versari  coegisse- 
mus ;  hoc  est,  ut  homines  opera  qure  ab  aliis  exigimus,  et  a  nobis 
poscerent :  facile  enim  quivis  jam  perspiciet,  non  frustra  nos  de 
operibus  sermonem  intulisse,  cum  in  Tabulis  ipsis  paucas  nec 
novorum  operum  designationes  et  foenora  reperiet,  atque  simul 
rationem  nostram  plane  perspiciet,  non  opera  ex  operibus  (scilicet 
ut  empiric!  solent),  sed  ex  operibus  causas,  ex  causis  rursus  opera 
nova1,  ut  legitimi  naturae  interpretes,  educendi ;  atque  propterea 
evitandi  praematuram  et  effusam  a  principio  ad  opera  deflexi- 
onem,  atque  hujus  rei  legitimum  et  praestitutum  tempus  obser- 
vandi  et  expectandi.  Postremo  et  illud  videmur  effecisse,  ut 
homines  non  solum  de  vi  et  instituto  hujus  instaurationis  nostrae, 
sed  etiam  de  mole  et  quantitate  ejus  veras  opiniones  habeant;  ne 
forte  alicui  in  mentem  venire  possit,  hoc  quod  molimur  vastum 
quiddam  esse  et  supra  humanas  vires ;  cum  contra  plerumque 
fiat,  ut  quod  magis  utile  magis  finitum  sit :  Haec  vero  de  natura 
inquisitio,  vel2  singulis  non  sit  pervia,conjunctis  vero  operis  etiam 
expedita.  Quod  ut  pateat  magis,  digestum  Tabularum  addere 
visum  est.  Primse  Tabulae  sunt  de  motu ;  secundm  de  calore  et 
frigore ;  tertiae 3,  de  radiis  rerum  et  impressionibus  ad  distans ; 
quartae,  de  vegetatione  et  vitis  ;  quintae,  de  passionibus  corporis 
animalis ;  sextse,  de  sensu  et  objectis ;  septimae,  de  afiectibus  ani- 

1  nota  in  the  original. 

*  So  in  the  original.  I  suspect  that  several  words  have  been  left  out 

*  terra  in  the  original. 


640  FILUM  LABYRINTHI,  SIVE  INQ.  LEG.  DE  MOTU. 


mi ;  octavas,  de  mente  et  ejus  facultatibus.  Atque  hae  Tabulae  ad 
naturae  separationem  pertinent,  et  sunt  ex  parte  formae.  Ad 
constructionem  autem  naturae  pertinent,  et  ex  parte  materiae 
sunt,  Tabulae  quae  sequuntur.  Nonae,  de  arcbitectura  mundi; 
decimae,  de  relativis  magnis,  sive  accidentibus  essentiae ;  un- 
decimae,  de  corporum  consistentiis,  sive  inaequalitate  partium ; 
duodecimae,  de  speciebus  sive  rerum  fabricis  et  societatibus  or- 
dinariis:  decimae  tertiae,  de  relativis  parvis,  sive  proprietatibus; 
ut  universa  inquisitio  per  Tredecim  Tabulas  absolvatur.  Minores 
autem  Tabulas  (quas  specilla  appellamus)  ex  occasione  et  usu 
praesenti  c^nficimus.  Neque  enim  in  illis  ipsis  ullam  nisi  per 
Tabulas  et  de  scripto  inquisitionem  recipimus.  Restat  pars 
altera  mole  minor,  vi  potior ;  ut  postquam  constructionem 
machinae  docuimus,  etiam  de  usu  macbinae  lucem  et  consilia 
praebeamus. 


CALOR  ET  FRIGUS. 


643 


PREFACE 


TO  THE 


CALOR  ET  FRIGES. 


The  following  fragment,  which  was  first  printed  by  Stephens 
from  a  MS.  in  Bacon’s  own  hand,  then  belonging  to  the  Earl 
of  Oxford,  and  now  in  the  British  Museum  (Harl.  6855.),  is 
here  reprinted  from  the  original.  By  the  general  title  Sequela 
Cartarum,  and  the  heading 1  Sectio  ordinis,  &c.,  it  appears  to 
have  been  designed  for  the  commencement  of  a  methodical 
enquiry ;  but  it  breaks  off  at  so  early  a  stage  that  no  new 
light  can  be  gathered  from  it ;  and  the  plan  upon  which  Bacon 
at  this  time  proposed  to  proceed  in  these  investigations  he 
afterwards  materially  altered.  For  the  final  shape  which  his 
speculations  concerning  Heat  and  Cold  took,  see  the  second 
book  of  the  Novum  Organum. 

J.  s. 


1  This  heading  is  carefully  and  fairly  written  out  in  Bacon’s  Roman  hand  at  the  top 
of  every  page  ;  not  in  a  single  line,  as  it  is  here  printed,  but  thus  : — 

Calor  et  Frigus 
Sectio  ordinis 
Carta  Suggestionis. 


42  Bacon  III 


644 


SEQUELA  CART ARUM; 

SIVE 

INQUISITIO  LEGITIMA  DE  CALORE  ET  ERIGORE. 


Sectio  Ordinis. 

Carta  Sag  gestionis,  sive  Afemoria  Fixa. 

The  sun-beams  hot 1  to  sense. 

The  moon-beams  not  hot2,  but  rather  conceived  to  have  a 
quality  of  cold,  for  that  the  greatest  colds  are  noted  to  be  about 
the  full,  and  the  greatest  heats  about  the  change.3  Qu. 

The  beams  of  the  stars  have  no  sensible  heat  by  themselves  ; 
but  are  conceived  to  have  an  augmentative  heat  of  the  sun¬ 
beams  by  the  instances  following. 

The  same  climate  arctic  and  antarctic  are  observed  to  differ 
in  cold,  vt.  that  the  antarctic  is  the  more  cold,  and  it  is 
manifest  the  antarctic  hemisphere  is  thinner  planted  of 
stars. 

The  heats  observed  to  be  greater  in  July  than  in  June ; 
at  which  time  the  sun  is  nearest  the  greatest  fixed  stars, 


1  Spelt  whott  in  MS.,  and  so  throughout. 

2  Compare  on  this  point  Vol.  I.  pp.  239.  and  624.  Since  Mr.  Ellis’s  notes  on  those 
passages  were  in  type,  a  more  decisive  experiment  appears  to  have  been  made  as  to  the 
calorific  property  of  the  moon's  rays.  In  Mr.  C.  Piazzi  Smyth’s  “  Notes  of  Proceed¬ 
ings  during  the  Astronomical  Expedition  to  Teneriffe,”  date  14  Oct.  1856,  I  find  the 
following  paragraph  :  — “  Happier  was  the  enquiry  into  the  radiation  of  the  moon,  by 
means  of  the  Admiralty  delicate  thermomultiplier,  lent  by  Mr.  Gassiot  The  posi¬ 
tion  of  the  moon  was  by  no  means  favourable,  being,  on  the  night  of  the  full,  19  deg. 
south  of  the  equator  j  but  the  air  was  perfectly  calm,  and  the  rare  atmosphere  so  fa¬ 
vourable  to  radiation,  that  a  very  sensible  amount  of  heat  was  found,  both  on  this  and 
the  following  night  The  absolute  amount  was  small,  being  about  one-third  of  that 
radiated  by  a  candle  at  a  distance  of  15  feet ;  but  the  perfect  capacity  of  the  instru¬ 
ment  to  measure  smaller  quantities  still,  and  the  confirmatory  result  of  groups  of 
several  hundred  observations,  leave  no  doubt  of  the  fact  of  our  having  been  able  to 
measure  here  a  quantity  which  is  so  small  as  to  be  altogether  inappreciable  at  lower 
altitudes." 

3  The  last  clause  is  omitted  in  the  Novum  Organum . 


SECT10  ORDINIS.  CARTA  SUGGESTIONIS. 


645 


vt.  Cor  Lconis,  Cauda  Leonis,  Spica  Virginia,  Sirius, 
Canicula. 

The  conjunction  of  any  two  of  the  three  highest  planets 
noted  to  cause  great  heats. 

Comets  conceived  by  some  to  be  as  well  causes  as  effects 
of  heat,  much  more  the  stars. 

The  sun-beams  have  greater  heat  when  they  are  more  per¬ 
pendicular  than  when  they  are  more  oblique :  as  appeareth  in 
difference  of  regions,  and  the  differences  of  the  times  of  sum¬ 
mer  and  winter  in  the  same  region ;  and  chiefly  in  the  differ¬ 
ence  of  the  hours  of  mid-day,  morning,  evening  in  the  same 
day. 

The  heats  more  extreme  in  July  and  August  than  in  May 
or  J une  ;  commonly  imputed  to  the  stay  and  continuance  of 
heat. 

The  heats  more  extreme  under  the  tropics  than  under  the 
line  ;  commonly  imputed  to  the  stay  and  continuance  of  heat, 
because  the  sun  there  doth  as  it  were  double  a  cape. 

The  heats  more  about  three  or  four  of  clock  than  at  noon ; 
commonly  imputed  to  the  stay  and  continuance  of  heat. 

The  sun  noted  to  be  hotter  when  it  shineth  forth  between 
clouds,  than  when  the  sky  is  open  and  serene. 

The  middle  region  of  the  air  hath  manifest  effects  of  cold, 
notwithstanding  locally  it  be  nearer  the  sun ;  commonly  im¬ 
puted  to  antiperistasis,  assuming  that  the  beams  of  the  sun  are 
hot  either  by  approach  or  by  reflexion,  and  that  falleth  in  the 
middle  term  between  both ;  or  if,  as  some  conceive,  it  be  only 
by  reflexion,  then  the  cold  of  that  region  resteth  chiefly  upon 
distance.  The  instances  shewing  the  cold  of  that  region  are 
the  snows  which  descend,  the  hails  which  descend,  and  the 
snows  and  extreme  colds  which  are  upon  high  mountains. 

But  qu.  of  such  mountains  as  adjoin  to  sandy  vales,  and  not 
to  fruitful  vales,  which  minister  no  vapours ;  or  of  mountains 
above  the  region  of  vapours,  as  is  reported  of  Olympus,  where 
any  inscription  upon  the  ashes  of  the  altar  remained  untouched 
of  wind  or  dew.  And  note  it  is  also  reported  that  men  car¬ 
ried  up  sponges  with  vinegar  to  thicken  their  breath,  the  air 
growing  too  fine  for  respiration,  which  seemeth  not  to  stand 
with  coldness. 

The  clouds  make  a  mitigation  of  the  heat  of  the  sun.  So 


646 


CALOR  ET  FRIGUS. 


doth  the  interposition  of  any  body,  which  we  term  shades ;  but 
yet  the  nights  in  summer  are  many  times  as  hot  to  the  feeling 
of  men’s  bodies  as  the  days  are  within  doors,  where  the  beams 
of  the  sun  actually  beat  not.1 

There  is  no  other  nature  of  heat  known  from  the  celestial 
bodies  or  from  the  air,  but  that  which  cometh  by  the  sun-beams. 
For  in  the  countries  near  the  pole,  we  see  the  extreme  colds 
even  in  the  summer  months,  as  in  the  voyage  of  Nova  Zembla, 
where  they  could  not  disengage  their  barque  from  the  ice,  no 
not  in  July,  and  met  with  great  mountains  of  ice  some  float¬ 
ing  some  fixed,  at  that  time  of  the  year,  being  the  heart  of 
summer. 

The  caves  under  the  earth  noted  to  be  warmer  in  winter 
than  in  summer,  and  so  the  waters  that  spring  from  within  the 
earth. 

Great  quantity  of  sulphur,  and  sometimes  naturally  burning 
after  the  manner  of  ZEtna,  in  Iceland;  the  like  written  of 
Gronland,  and  divers  other  the  cold  countries.2 

The  trees  in  the  cold  countries  are  such  as  are  fuller  of  rosin, 
pitch,  tar,  which  are  matters  apt  for  fire,  and  the  woods  them¬ 
selves  more  combustible  than  those  in  much  hotter  countries ; 
as,  for  example,  fir,  pineapple,  juniper :  Qu.  whether  their  trees 
of  the  same  kind  that  ours  are,  as  oak  and  ash,  bear  not,  in  the 
more  cold  countries,  a  wood  more  brittle  and  ready  to  take  fire 
than  the  same  kinds  with  us  ? 

The  sun-beams  heat  manifestly  by  reflexion,  as  in  countries 
pent  in  with  hills,  upon  walls  or  buildings,  upon  pavements, 
upon  gravel  more  than  earth,  upon  arable  more  than  grass, 
upon  rivers  if  they  be  not  very  open,  &c. 

The  uniting  or  collection  of  the  sun-beams  multiplieth  heat, 
as  in  burning-glasses,  which  are  made  thinner 3  in  the  middle 
than  on  the  sides  (as  I  take  it  contrary  to  spectacles) ;  and 
the  operation  of  them  is,  as  I  remember,  first  to  place  them  be¬ 
tween  the  sun  and  the  body  to  be  fired,  and  then  to  draw  them 
upward  towards  the  sun,  which  it  is  true  maketh  the  angle  ot 


1  The  following  note  is  inserted  here  in  the  margin : — No  doubt  but  infinite  power 
of  the  heat  of  the  sun  in  cold  countries,  though  it  be  not  to  the  analogy  of  men,  and 
fruits,  &c, 

2  Opposite  to  this  and  to  the  nine  preceding  paragraphs,  is  written  in  the  margin 
Aug. 

3  So  MS.  Compare  Vol.  I.  p.  241.  (where  the  error  is  avoided,  though  not  corrected) 
and  p.  253.  note  1. 


SECTIO  ORDINIS.  CARTA  SUGGESTIONS. 


647 


the  cone  sharper.  But  then  I  take  it  if  the  glass  had  been  first 
placed  at  the  same  distance  to  which  it  is  after  drawn,  it  would 
not  have  had  that  force.  And  yet  that  had  been  all  one  to  the 
sharpness  of  the  angle.  Qu. 

So  in  that  the  sun’s  beams  are  hotter  perpendicularly  than 
obliquely,  it  may  be  imputed  to  the  union  of  the  beams,  which 
in  case  of  perpendicularity  reflect  into  the  very  same  lines  with 
the  direct;  and  the  further  from  perpendicularity  the  more 
obtuse  the  angle,  and  the  greater  distance  between  the  direct 
beam  and  the  reflected  beam. 

The  sun-beams  raise  vapours  out  of  the  earth,  and  when  they 
withdraw  they  fall  back  in  dews. 

The  sun-beams  do  many  times  scatter  the  mists  which  are  in 
the  mornings. 

The  sun-beams  cause  the  divers  returns  of  the  herbs,  plants, 
and  fruits  of  the  earth ;  for  we  see  in  lemon-trees  and  the  like, 
that  there  is  coming  on  at  once  fruit  ripe,  fruit  unripe,  and 
blossoms ;  which  may  shew  that  the  plant  worketh  to  put  forth 
continually,  were  it  not  for  the  variations  of  the  accesses  and 
recesses  of  the  sun  which  call  forth  and  put  back. 

The  excessive  heat  of  the  sun  doth  wither  and  destroy  vege¬ 
tables,  as  well  as  the  cold  doth  nip  and  blast  them. 

The  heat  or  beams  of  the  sun  doth  take  away  the  smell  of 
flowers,  specially  such  as  are  of  a  milder  odour. 

The  beams  of  the  sun  do  disclose  some  flowers,  as  the  pim¬ 
pernel,  marigold,  and  almost  all  flowers  else,  for  they  close  com¬ 
monly  morning  and  evening  or  in  over-cast  weather,  and  open 
in  the  brightness  of  the  sun  ;  which  is  but  imputed  to  dryness 
and  moisture  which  doth  make  the  beams  heavy  or  erect,  and 
not  to  any  other  propriety  in  the  sun-beams.  So  they  report 
not  only  a  closing  but  a  bending  or  inclining  in  the  heliotro- 
pium  and  calendula.  Qu. 

The  sun-beams  do  ripen  all  fruits,  and  addeth  to  them  a 
sweetness  or  fatness,  and  yet  some  sultry  hot  days  overcast 
are  noted  to  ripen  more  than  bright  days. 

The  sun-beams  are  thought  to  mend  distilled  waters,  the 
glasses  being  well  stopped,  and  to  make  them  more  virtuous 
and  fragrant. 

The  sun-beams  do  turn  wine  into  vinegar ;  but  quae,  whether 
they  would  not  sweeten  verjuice  ? 


648 


CALOR  ET  FRIGUS. 


The  sun-beams  doth  pall  any  wine  or  beer  that  is  set  in 
them. 

The  sun-beams  do  take  away  the  lustre  of  any  silks  or  arras- 

There  is  almost  no  mine  but  lieth  some  depth  in  the  earth  ; 
gold  is  conceived  to  lie  highest  and  in  the  hottest  countries ; 
yet  Thracia  and  Hungary  are  cold,  and  the  hills  of  Scotland 
have  yielded  gold,  but  in  small  grains  or  quantity. 

If  you  set  a  root  of  a  tree  too  deep  in  the  ground  that  root 
will  perish,  and  the  stock  will  put  forth  a  new  root  nearer  the 
superficies  of  the  earth. 

Some  trees  and  plants  prosper  best  in  the  shade,  as  the 
bayes,  strawberries,  some  wood-flowers. 

Almost  all  flies  love  the  sun-beams,  so  do  snakes ;  toads  and 
worms  contrary. 

The  sun-beams  tanneth  the  skin  of  man ;  and  in  some  places 
turneth  it  to  black. 

The  sun-beams  are  hardly  endured  by  many,  but  cause  head- 
ach,  faintness,  and  with  many  they  cause  rheums,  yet  to  aged 
men  they  are  comfortable. 

The  sun  causes  pestilences  which  with  us  rage  about  autumn, 
but  it  is  reported  in  Barbary  they  break  up  about  J une  and 
rage  most  in  the  winter. 

The  heat  of  the  sun  and  of  fire  and  living  creatures  agree 
in  some  things  which  pertain  to  vivification ;  as  the  back  of  a 
chimney  will  set  forward  an  apricock-tree  as  tvell  as  the  sun ; 
the  fire  will  raise  a  dead  butterfly  as  well  as  the  sun  and  so 
will  the  heat  of  a  living  creature  ;  the  heat  of  the  sun  in  sand 
will  hatch  an  egg  :  qu. 

The  heat  of  the  sun  in  the  hottest  countries  nothing  so 
violent  as  that  of  fire,  no  not  scarcely  so  hot  to  the  sense  as 
that  of  a  living  creature. 

The  sun  a  fountain  of  light  as  Avell  as  heat.  The  other 
celestial  bodies  manifest  in  light,  and  yet  non  constat  whether 
all  borrowed  as  in  the  moon  *,  but  obscure  in  heat. 

The  southern  and  western  wind  with  us  is  the  warmest, 
whereof  the  one  bloweth  from  the  sun  the  other  from  the  sea, 
the  northern  and  eastern  the  more  cold  ;  qu.  whether  in  the 
coast  of  Florida  or  at  Brasil  the  east  wind  be  not  the  warmest 


'  The  words  and  yet  ...  moon  are  interlined  in  tile  MS. 


SECTIO  ORDINIS.  CARTA  SUGGESTIONS. 


649 


and  the  west  the  coldest,  and  so  beyond  the  antarctic  tropic 
the  southern  wind  the  coldest. 

The  air  useth  to  be  extreme  hot  before  thunders. 

The  sea  and  air  ambient  appeareth  to  be  hotter  than  that  at 
land ;  for  in  the  northern  voyages  two  or  three  degrees  farther 
at  the  open  sea  they  find  less  ice  than  two  or  three  degrees 
more  south  near  land :  but  qu.  for  that  may  be  by  reason  of  the 
shores  and  shallows. 

The  snows  dissolve  fastest  upon  the  sea-coasts  yet  the 
winds  are  counted  the  bitterest  from  the  sea,  and  such  as  trees 
will  bend  from.  Qu. 

The  streams  or  clouds  of  brightness  which  appear  in  the 
firmament,  being  such  through  which  the  stars  may  be  seen, 
and  shoot  not  but  rest,  are  signs  of  heat. 

The  pillars  of  light  which  are  seen  upright  and  do  commonly 
shoot  and  vary  are  signs  of  cold,  but  both  these  are  signs  of 
drought. 

The  air  when  it  is  moved  is  to  the  sense  colder,  as  in  winds, 
fannings,  ventilabra. 

The  air  in  things  fibrous,  as  fleeces,  furs,  &c.  warm,  and 
those  stuffs  to  the  feeling  warm. 

The  water  to  man’s  body  seemeth  colder  than  the  air,  and 
so  in  summer  in  swimming  it  seemeth  at  the  first  going  in ; 
and  yet  after  one  hath  been  in  a  while  at  the  coming  forth 
again  the  air  seemeth  colder  than  the  water. 

The  snow  more  cold  to  the  sense  than  water,  and  the  ice 
than  snow,  and  they  have  in  Italy  means  to  keep  snow  and 
ice  for  the  cooling  of  their  drinks :  qu.  whether  it  be  so  in 
froth  in  respect  of  the  liquor. 

Baths  of  hot  water  feel  hottest  at  the  first  going  in. 

The  frost  dew  which  we  see  in  hoar  frost  and  in  the  rymes 
upon  trees  or  the  like  accounted  more  mortifying  cold  than 
snow,  for  snow  cherisheth  the  ground  and  any  thing  sowed  in 
it,  the  other  biteth  and  killeth. 

Stone  and  metal  exceeding  cold  to  the  feeling  more  than 
wood,  yea  more  than  jet  or  amber  or  horn  which  are  no  less 
smooth. 

The  snow  is  ever  in  the  winter  season,  but  the  hail  which  is 
more  of  the  nature  of  ice  is  ever  in  the  summer  season  ; 
whereupon  it  is  conceived  that  as  the  hollows  of  tUe  earth  are 


650 


CALOR  ET  FRIGUS. 


warmest  in  the  winter,  so  that  region  of  the  air  is  coldest  in 
the  summer,  as  if  they  were  a  fugueo  f  the  nature  of  either 
from  the  contrary,  and  a  collecting  itself  to  an  union  and  so  to 
a  further  strength. 

So  in  the  shades  under  trees  in  the  summer  which  stand 
in  an  open  field,  the  shade  noted  to  be  colder  than  in  a  wood. 

Cold  effecteth  congelation  in  liquors  so  as  they  do  consist 
and  hold  together  which  before  did  run. 

Cold  breaketh  glasses  if  they  be  close  stopped  in  frost,  when 
the  liquor  freezeth  within. 

Cold  in  extreme  maketh  metals  that  are  dry  and  brittle 
cleft  and  crack,  JEraque  dissiliunt ;  so  of  pots  of  earth  and 
glass. 

Cold  maketh  bones  of  living  creatures  more  fragile. 

Cold  maketh  living  creatures  to  swell  in  the  joints  and  the 
blood  to  clot  and  turn  more  blue. 

Bitter  frosts  do  make  all  drinks  to  taste  more  dead  and  flat. 

Cold  maketh  the  arters  and  flesh  more  asper  and  rough. 

Cold  causes  rheums  and  distillations  by  compressing  the  brain, 
and  laxes  by  like  reason. 

Cold  increases  appetite  in  the  stomach  and  willingness  to 
Btir. 

Cold  maketh  the  fire  to  scald  and  sparkle. 

Paracelsus  reporteth  that  if  a  glass  of  wine  be  set  upon  a 
tarras  in  a  bitter  frost  it  will  leave  soipe  liquor  unfrozen  in  the 
centre  of  the  glass,  which  excelleth  spiritus  vini  drawn  by  fire. 

Cold  in  Muscovy  and  the  like  countries  causes  those  parts 
which  are  voidest  of  blood,  as  the  nose,  the  ears,  the  toes,  the 
fingers,  to  mortify  and  rot ;  specially  if  you  come  suddenly  to 
fire  after  you  have  been  in  the  air  abroad,  they  are  sure  to 
moulder  and  dissolve.  They  use  for  remedy  as  is  said  washing 
in  snow  water. 

If  a  man  come  out  of  a  bitter  cold  suddenly  to  the  fire  he  is 
ready  to  swoon  or  overcome. 

So  contrariwise  at  Nova.  Zembla  when  they  opened  their 
door  at  times  to  go  forth  he  that  opened  the  door  was  in 
danger  to  overcome.1 

The  quantity  of  fish  in  the  cold  countries,  Norway,  &c.  very 
abundant. 


See  Three  Voyages,  &c.  Hackl.  Soc.  1853,  p,  130. 


SECTIO  ORDINIS.  CARTA  SUGGESTIONIS. 


651 


The  quantity  of  fowl  and  eggs  laid  in  the  cliffs  in  great 
abundance. 

In  Nova  Zembla  they  found  no  beast  but  bears  and  foxes, 
whereof  the  bears  gave  over  to  be  seen  about  September,  and 
then  the  foxes  began.1 

Meat  will  keep  from  putrifying  longer  in  frosty  weather, 
than  at  other  times. 

In  Iceland  they  keep  fish  by  exposing  it  to  the  cold  from 
putrifying  without  salt. 

The  nature  of  man  endureth  the  colds  in  the  countries  of 
Scricfinnia,  Biarmia,  Lappia,  Iceland,  Gronland ;  and  that  not 
by  perpetual  keeping  in  in  stoves  in  the  winter  time  as  they  do 
in  Russia,  but  contrariwise  their  chief  fairs  and  intercourse  is 
written  to  be  in  the  winter,  because  the  ice  evens 2  and  levelleth 
the  passages  of  waters,  plashes,  &c. 

A  thaw  after  a  frost  doth  greatly  rot  and  mellow  the  ground. 

Extreme  cold  hurteth  the  eyes  and  causes  blindness  in  many 
beasts,  as  is  reported. 

The  cold  maketh  any  solid  substance,  as  wood,  stone,  metal, 
put  to  the  flesh  to  cleave  to  it  and  to  pull  the  flesh  after  it, 
and  so  put  to  any  cloth  that  is  moist. 

Cold  maketh  the  pilage  of  beasts  more  thick  and  long,  as 
foxes  of  Muscovy,  sables,  &c. 

Cold  maketh  the  pilage  of  most  beasts  incline  to  grayness  or 
whiteness,  as  foxes,  bears,  and  so  the  plumage  of  fowls,  and 
maketh  also  the  crests  of  cocks  and  their  feet  white,  as  is 
reported. 

Extreme  colds  will  make  nails  leap  out  of  the  walls  and  out 
of  locks 3  and  the  like. 

Extreme  cold  maketh  leather  to  be  stiff  like  horn. 

In  frosty  weather  the  stars  appear  clearest  and  most 
sparkling. 

In  the  change  from  frost  to  open  weather  or  from  open 
weather  to  frosts,  commonly  great  mists. 

In  extreme  colds  any  thing  never  so  little  which  arresteth 
the  air  maketh  it  to  congeal ;  as  we  see  in  cobwebs  in  windows, 
which  is  one  of  the  least  and  weakest  thrids  that  is  and  yet 
drops  gather  about  it  like  chains  of  pearl. 

'  “  Before  the  sun  began  to  decline  we  saw  no  foxes,  and  then  the  bears  used  to  go 
from  us.” — Hackl.  Soc.  1853,  p.  120. 

2  even  in  MS. 


Qu.  whether  lockes  or  tochers. 


652 


CALOR  ET  FRIGUS. 


So  in  frosts,  the  inside  of  glass  windows  gathereth  a  dew ; 
qu.  if  not  more  without. 

Qu.  Whether  the  sweating  of  marble  and  stones  be  in  frost 
or  towards  rain. 

Oil  in  time  of  frost  gathereth  to  a  substance  as  of  tallow, 
and  it  is  said  to  sparkle  some  time  so  as  it  giveth  a  light  in  the 
dark. 

The  countries  which  lie  covered  with  snow  have  a  hastier 
maturation  of  all  grain  than  in  other  countries,  all  being  within 
three  months  or  thereabouts. 

Qu.  It  is  said  that  compositions  of  honey,  as  mead 1  do  ripen 
and  are  most  pleasant  in  the  great  colds. 

The  frosts  with  us  are  casual  and  not  tied  to  any  months, 
so  as  they  are  not  merely  caused  by  the  recess  of  the  sun,  but 
mixed  with  some  inferior  causes.  In  the  inlands  of  the  northern 
countries  as  in  Russia  the  weather  for  the  three  or  four  months 
of  November,  December,  January,  February,  is  constant,  vt. 
clear  and  perpetual  frost  without  snows  or  rains. 

There  is  nothing  in  our  region,  which,  by  approach  of  a 
matter  hot,  will  not  take  heat  by  transition  or  excitation. 

There  is  nothing  hot  here  with  us  but  is  in  a  kind  of  con¬ 
sumption  if  it  carry  heat  in  itself;  for  all  fired  things  are 
ready  to  consume,  chafed  things  are  ready  to  fire,  and  the 
heat  of  men’s  bodies  needeth  aliment  to  restore. 

The  transition  of  heat  is  without  any  imparting  of  substance, 
and  yet  remaineth  after  the  body  heated  is  withdrawn ;  for  it 
is  not  like  smells,  for  they  leave  some  airs  or  parts ;  not  like 
light,  for  that  abideth  not  when  the  first  body  is  removed  ;  not 
unlike  to  the  motion  of  the  loadstone,  which  is  lent  without 
adhesion  of  substance,  for  if  the  iron  be  filed  where  it  was 
rubbed,  yet  it  will  draw  or  turn.2 


1  meth  in  MS. 

2  On  the  back  of  the  MS.  is  written  in  Bacon’s  hand 


Calor  et  Frigus 
Inquisit.  Legitima. 

And  below  this  again  he  has  written  first  in  a  clear  and  careful  hand  the  word  new, 
and  afterwards  in  a  hurried  and  careless  hand  the  word  Fetus. 


HISTORIA  mi  ET  AUDITUS. 


655 


PREFACE 


TO  THE 


HISTORIA  SONI  ET  AUDITUS. 


The  following  fragment  was  first  published  by  Dr.  Hawley 
in  1688,  among  the  Opuscula  Philosophica  ;  and  as  he  does  not 
mention  it  among  the  works  composed  by  Bacon  during  the 
last  five  years  of  his  life,  we  may  conclude  that  it  was  written 
before  the  Sylva  Sylvarum.  It  may  have  been  the  commence¬ 
ment  of  the  “  Tables  de  Sono  ”  which,  as  we  learn  from  the 
Commentarius  Solutus,  he  was  preparing  in  the  summer  of 
1608.  If  so,  it  must  have  been  meant  for  the  second  in  the 
series, —  viz.  Sylva,  sive  Carta  Mater ;  whence  its  second  title, 
" Sylva  Soni  et  auditus  ;  ”  and  had  it  been  proceeded  with,  the 
several  tables — tabula  essentia  et  prasentia,  tabula  absentia  in 
proximo,  tabula  graduum,  &c. — would  have  followed  in  order. 
As  far  as  it  goes  however,  it  must  be  classed  among  the  rough 
collections,  not  yet  reduced  to  order  for  the  use  of  the  under¬ 
standing,  and  appears  to  aim  at  precisely  the  same  object  as 
the  investigation  concerning  Sound  which  occupies  the  greater 
part  of  the  second  and  third  centuries  of  the  Sylva  Sylvarum 
(101 — 290.)  ;  being  itself  in  fact  one  of  the  Sylva  of  which  the 
great  Sylva  was  made  up.  By  that  investigation  therefore  it 
must  be  considered  as  superseded. 

I  do  not  know  that  any  inference  of  importance  can  be 
drawn  from  a  comparison  of  the  two ;  but  to  make  the  com¬ 
parison  easier,  I  have  referred  in  the  footnotes  to  the  corre- 


656 


PREFACE  TO  HISTORIA  SONI  ET  AUDITUS. 


sponding  passages  of  the  Sylva  Sylvarwn.  It  will  be  seen  that 
the  order  of  the  inquiry  is  entirely  changed  ;  so  much  so  that 
I  can  hardly  think  Bacon  had  the  Latin  before  him  when  he 
wrote  the  English ;  for  in  point  of  arrangement  the  Latin  seems 
to  be  the  more  systematic  of  the  two. 


J.  S. 


657 


HISTORIA  ET  INQUISITIO  PRIMA 


DE 

SONO  ET  AUDITU,  ET  DE  FORMA  SONI  ET  LATENTE 
PROCESSU  SONI; 

SIVE  SYLVA  SONI  ET  AUDITUS. 


De  generatione  soni,  et  prima  percussione. 

De  duratione  soni,  et  de  interitu  et  extinctione  soni. 

De  confusione  et  perturbatione  soni. 

De  adventitiis  auxiliis  et  impediments  soni. 

De  haesione  soni,  et  varietate  mediorum. 

De  penetratione  soni. 

De  delatione  soni,  et  directione  seu  fusione  ejus,  et  de  area  quam 
occupat,  simul,  et  separatim. 

De  corporum  diversitate  quae  reddunt  sonum,  et  instruments,  et 
de  speciebus  soni  quae  occurrunt. 

De  multiplicatione,  augmentatione,  diminutione,  et  fractione  sonorum. 

De  repercussione  soni,  et  echo. 

De  conjugiis  et  dissidiis  audibilium  et  visibilium,  et  aliarum,  quas 
vocant,  specierum  spiritualium. 

De  celeritate  generationis  et  extinctionis  soni,  et  tempore  in  quo 
fiunt. 

De  affinitate,-  aUt  nulla  affinitate,  quam  habet  sonus  cum  motu  aeris, 
in  quo  defertur,  locali  et  manifesto. 

De  communicatione  aeris  percussi  et  elisi  cum  aere  et  corporibus 
vel  spiritibus  ipsorum  ambientibus. 

De  efformatione,  sive  articulatione  soni. 

De  ipsissima  impressione  soni  ad  sensum. 

De  organo  auditus,  ejusque  dispositione  et  indispositione,  auxiliis  et 
impedimentis. 


658 


De  sono  et  auditu  inter  prima  inquisitionem  instituere  visum 
est.  Etenim  expedit  intellectui,  et  tanquam  ad  salubritatem 
ejus  pertinet,  ut  contemplationes  spiritualium  (quas  vocant) 
specierum,  et  operationum  ad  distans,  misceantur  cum  contem- 
platione  eorum  quae  operantur  tantum  per  communicationem 
substantiae  ad  tactum.  Deinde  observationes  de  sonis  pepere- 
runt  nobis  Artem  Musicae.  Illud  autem  solenne  est  et  quasi 
perpetuum,  cum  experimenta  et  observationes  coaluerint  in 
artem,  Mathematicam  et  Practicam  intendi,  Physicam  deseri. 
Quinetiam  Optica  paulo  melius  se  habet ;  non  enim  tantum 
pictura  et  pulchritudo  et  symmetria  Opticae  proponuntur ;  sed 
contemplatio  omnium  visibilium.  At  Musicae,  tantum  toni 
harmonici.  Itaque  de  sonis  videndum.1 


1  Compare  Sylva  Sylvarum ;  introduction  to  Exp.  1 1 5.,  &c.  This  paragraph  is 
printed  in  the  original  as  if  it  were  part  of  the  table  of  contents  which  precedes.  I 
have  introduced  the  mark  of  separation  and  distinction  of  type,  it  being  obviously 
intended  for  the  aditus  or  general  introduction  to  the  whole  treatise. 


659 


HISTORIA  ET  INQTJISITIO  PRIMA 

DE 

SONO  ET  AUDIT  U,  ET  DE  FORMA  SONI, 
ET  LATENTE  PROCESSU  SONI; 

SIVE 

SYLYA  SONI  ET  AUDITUS. 


Be  generatione  soni,  et  prima  percussione. 

COLLISIO,  sive  elisio,  ut  vocant,  aeris,  quam  volunt  esse  cau- 
sam  soni,  nec  formam  nec  latentem  processum  denotat  soni,  sed 
vocabulum  ignorantiae  est  et  levis  oontemplationis.1 

Sonus  diffunditur  et  labitur  tam  levi  impulsu  in  sua  genera¬ 
tione  ;  item  tam  longe,  idque  in  ambitum,  Cum  non  multum 
pendeat  ex  prima  directione;  item  tam  placide  absque  ullo 
motu  evidenti,  probato  vel  per  flammam,  vel  per  plumas  et 
festucas,  vel  alio  quovis  inodo ;  ut  durum  plane  videatur,  soni 
Formam  esse  aliquam  elisionem  vel  motum  manifestum  loca- 
lem  aeris,  licet  hoc  Efficientis  vices  habere  possit. 

Quandoquidem  sonus  tam  subito  generetur,  et  continuo 
pereat,  necesse  videtur  ut  aut  generatio  ejus  aerem  de  sua 
natura  paulum  dejiciat,  atque  interitus  ejus  eum  restituat;  ut 
in  compressionibus  aquarum,  ubi  corpus  in  aquam  injectum 
complures  circulos  efficiat  in  aquis,  qui  proveniunt  ex  aqua 
primum  compressa,  deinde  in  suam  consistentiam  et  dimensio- 
nem  se  restituente  (id  quod  Motum  Libertatis  appellare  con- 
suevimus) ;  aut  contra,  quod  generatio  soni  sit  impressio  grata 
et  benevola,  quae  se  insinuat  aeri,  et  ad  quam  libenter  aer  se 
excitat ;  et  interitus  ejus  sit  a  vi  aliqua  inimica,  quae  aerem  eo 
motu  atque  impressione  diutius  frui  non  sinit ;  ut  in  generatione 

1  Sylv.  Sylv.  124. 


43  Bacon  III 


660 


HISTOR1A  SONI  ET  AUDITUS. 


ipslus  corporis  flammae,  in  qua  generatio  flammae  vicletur  fieri 
alacriter,  sed  ab  aere  et  inimicis  circumfusis  cito  destrui.’ 

Fistulatio  quae  fit  per  os  absque  aliqua  admota  fistula,  possit 
effici  sugendo  anhelitum  versus  interiora  palati,  non  solum 
extrudendo  anhelitum  ad  extra.  Atque  plane  omnis  sorbitio 
aeris  ad  interius  dat  sonum  nonnullum.2  Quod  dignum  admo- 
dum  notatu  videatur :  quia  sonus  generatur  in  contrarium  motus 
manifesti  aeris,  ut  prima  aeris  impulsio  videatur  plane  efficiens 
remotum,  nec  sit  ex  forma  soni. 

Similiter  si  accipiatur  vitreum  ovum,  atque  per  parvum  fora¬ 
men  aer  fortiter  exsugatur  ;  deinde  foramen  cera  obturetur,  et 
ad  tempus  dimittatur ;  post  cera  a  foramine  auferatur ;  audies 
manifeste  sibilum  aeris  intrantis  in  ovum,  tractum  scilicet  ab 
acre  interiore,  qui  post  violentam  rarefactionem  se  restituit. 
Ut  hoc  quoque  experimento  generetur  sonus  in  contrarium 
motus  manifesti  aeris. 

Similiter,  in  ludicro  illo  instrumento  quod  vocatur  lyra 
Judaica,  tenendo  latera  inter  dentes  vibratur  lingula  ferrea 
tracta  ad  exterius,  sed  resilit  interius  ad  aerem  in  palato,  et 
inde  creatur  sonus. 

Atque  in  his  tribus  experimentis  dubium  non  est,  quin  sonus 
generetur  per  percussionem  aeris  introrsum  versus  palatum  aut 
ovum  vitreum. 

Generatur  sonus  per  percussiones.  Percussio  ilia  fit,  vel 
aeris  ad  aerem,  vel  corporis  duri  ad  aerem,  vel  corporis  duri  ad 
corpus  durum. 

Exemplum  percussionis  aeris  ad  aerem  maxime  viget  in  voce 
humana,  et  in  vocibus  avium  et  aliorum  animalium ;  deinde  in 
instrumentis  musicis  quae  excitantur  per  inflationem :  etiam  in 
bombardis  et  sclopetis,  ubi  percussio  edens  sonum  generatur 
maxime  ex  percussione  aeris  conclusi,  exeuntis  ex  ore  bombardie 
aut  sclopeti  ad  aerem  externum.  Nam  pila  indita  non  multum 
facit  ad  fragorem.  Neque  percussio  corporis  mollis  ad  corpus 
molle  tantum  repraesentatur  in  percussione  aeris  ad  aerem, 
verum  et  aeris  ad  flammam,  ut  in  excitatione  flammae  per  folles ; 
etiam  flammae  inter  se,  alia  aliam  impellens,  reddunt  quendam 
mugitum ;  utrum  vero  interveniat  aer,  inquiratur  ulterius. 
Etiam  omnis  flamma  subito  concepta,  si  sit  alicujus  amplitudinis, 


1  S.  S.  290. 


2  Id.  191. 


HIST0R1A  SONI  ET  AUDITUS. 


661 


excitat  sonum  summovendo  (ut  arbitror)  aerem  magis  quam  ex 
sese  1 :  etiam  in  eruptionibus  fit  percussio  spiritus  erumpentis 
ad  aerem  ambientem ;  ut  in  crepitaculis  quae  fiunt  ex  foliis 
siccis,  aut  sale  nigro,  et  multis  aliis  immissis  in  ignem  ;  et  in 
tonitru,  vel  erumpente  spiritu  e  nube,  vel  volutante  et  agitato, 
ut  fit  in  tonitru  magis  surdo  et  prolongato  ;  etiam  solet  (ad 
ludicrum)  folium  rosae  viridis  contractum  ut  aerem  contineat, 
super  dorsum  manus  aut  frontem  percussum,  crepare  per  eru- 
ptionum  aeris.2 

Exempla  percussionis  corporis  duri  ad  aerem  ostendunt  se  in 
instrumentis  musicis  sonantibus  per  chordas;  in  sibilo  sagitte 
volantis  per  aerem ;  in  flagellatione  aeris,  licet  non  percutiat 
corpus  durum  ;  etiam  in  organis  musicis  editur  sonus  per  aerem 
percutientem  aquam  in  fistula  ilia  quam  vocant  lusciniolam, 
quae  reddit  sonum  perpetuo  tremulum,  in  mota  aqua  et  rursus 
se  recipiente  :  etiam  in  ludicris  instrumentis  quibus  se  oblectant 
pueri  ( Gallos  vocant)  ad  imitationem  vocum  avium3:  similiter 
in  aliis  hydraulicis. 

Exempla  percussionis  corporis  duri  ad  corpus  durum  se  osten¬ 
dunt  vel  simpliciter  vel  cum  communicatione  aeris  nonnihil 
conclusi,  praeter  ilium  aerem  qui  secatur  sive  eliditur  inter 
corpora  dura  percussa  ;  simpliciter,  ut  in  omni  malleatione,  seu 
pulsatione  corporum  durorum  ;  cum  communicatione  aeris  in- 
clusi,  ut  in  campanis  et  tympanis. 

Lapis  injectus  fortiter  in  aquam  reddit  sonum  ;  atque  etiam 
guttae  pluviae  cadentes  super  aquam ;  nec  minus  unda  pulsans 
undam  :  in  quibus  percussio  fit  inter  corpus  durum  et  aquam. 

Yidetur  in  generatione  omnis  soni  illud  constans  esse,  ut 
aliquae  sint  partes  aeris,  utque  requiratur  aer  inter  corpora  per¬ 
cussa;  qui  aer,  in  percussione  corporis  duri  ad  aerem,  et  corporis 
duri  ad  corpus  durum,  videtur  manifesto  secari  aut  elidi.  Arbitror 
flammam  ad  hoc  posse  sufficere,  vice  aeris  :  veluti  si  inter  flammas 
majores  sonet  campana,  aut  lapides  percutiantur :  at  in  percussi- 
onibus  aeris  ad  aerem  elisio  aut  separatio  ilia  videtur  obscurior, 
sed  tantum  videtur  aer  verberari  et  impelli,  idque  molliter  admo- 
dum  in  voce  leni.  Attamen  necesse  videtur,  etiam  in  hoc  genere, 
ut  sit  aliqua  elisio  aeris  percussi  per  aerem  percutientem  :  nam 
etiam  in  aere  moto  per  flabellum,  aer  a  latere ;  et  emisso  aerc 


>  S.  S.  119. 


2  Id.  123. 


8  Id.  172. 


662 


HISTORIA  SONI  ET  AUDITUS. 


per  folles,  currens  ille  aeris  qui  emittitur;  dividit  reliquum 
aerem.  Verum  de  hoc  genere  elisionis  aeris,  quod  fit  ubi  aeris 
percussio  ad  aerem  edit  sonum,  ut  in  voce,  inquiratur  ulterius. 

Merito  dubitatur,  utrum  percussio  ilia  qute  edit  sonum  cum 
aer  percutitur  per  chordam  aut  alias,  fiat  ab  initio,  cum  aer 
resiliente  chorda  percutitur ;  aut  paulo  post,  videlicet  densato 
per  primam  percussionem  aere,  et  deinde  priest  ante  vices  tan- 
quam  corporis  duri. 

Ubi  redditur  sonus  per  percussionem  aeris  ad  aerem,  requiritur 
ut  sit  incarceratio  aut  conclusio  aeris  in  aliquo  concavo ;  ut  in 
fistulando  per  os  ;  in  tibiis ;  in  barbito ;  in  voce,  qua;  participat 
ubi  aer  includitur  in  cavo  oris  aut  gutturis.1  In  percussione 
corporis  duri  ad  aerem  requiritur  durities  corporis,  et  citus 
motus ;  et  interdum  communicatio  cum  concavo,  ut  in  cithara, 
lyra,  fiagellatione  aeris,  etc.  At  in  percussione  corporis  duri  ad 
corpus  durum  minus  requiritur  concavum,  aut  celer  motus. 

Fabulantur  de  pulvere  pyrio  albo,  qui  praestaret  percussionem 
absque  sono.  Certum  est  nitrum,  quod  est  album,  ad  exuffla- 
tionem  plurimum  valere,  ita  tamen  ut  pernicitas  incensionis  et 
percussionem  et  sonum  multum  promoveat :  cita  autem  incensio 
ex  carbone  salicis  maxime  causatur,  qui  est  niger.  Igitur  si  fiat 
compositio  ex  sulphure  et  nitro  et  ex  modico  camphoras,  fieri 
potest  ut  incensio  sit  tardior,  et  percussio  non  ita  vibrans  et 
acuta :  unde  multum  possit  diminui  de  sono ;  sed  etiam  cum 
jactura  in  fortitudine  percussionis.  De  hoc  inquiratur  ulterius.2 

De  duratione  soni,  et  ejvs  interitu  et  extinctione. 

Duratio  soni  campanse  percussas  aut  chordae,  qui  videtur 
prolongari  et  sensim  extingui,  non  provenit  utique  a  prima 
percussione :  sed  trepidatio  corporis  percussi  generat.  in  aere 
continenter  novum  sonum.  Nam  si  prohibeatur  ilia  trepida¬ 
tio,  et  sistatur  campana  aut  chorda,  perit  cito  sonus ;  ut  fit  in 
espinettis,  ubi  si  dimittitur  spina,  ut  chordam  tangat,  cessat 
sonus.3 

Campana  pensilis  in  aere  longe  clariorem  et  diuturniorem  red- 
dit  sonum,  licet  percutiatur  malleo  ad  extra,  quam  si  staret  fixa, 
et  similiter  malleo  percutiatur.  Atque  de  diuturniore  sono 

'  s.  s.  1 16. 

2  S.  S.  120.  ;  where  a  different  explanation  is  suggested.  8  Id.  207. 


HISTORIA  SONI  ET  AUDITUS. 


663 


reddita  est  jam  ratio,  quia  trepidat  diutius.  Quod  vero  etiam 
primitivus  sonus  in  pensili  sit  magis  sonorus,  in  stante  minus, 
amplius  inquirendum  est. 

Similiter  scyphus  argenteus  aut  vitreus  talitro  percussus,  si 
sibi  permittatur,  sonum  edit  clariorem  et  diuturniorem ;  quod  si 
pes  scyphi  altera  manu  teneatur  fixus,  longe  hebetiorem  et 
brevioris  morae. 

Qui  redditur  in  barbito  aut  cithara  sonus,  manifesto  non  fit 
a  percussione  inter  digitum  aut  calamum  et  chordam;  seu 
inter  digitum  aut  calamum  et  aerem :  sed  impellente  digito,  ac 
turn  resiliente  chorda,  et  resiliendo  percutiente  aerem.  Itaque 
cum  chorda  moYetur  plectro,  non  digito  aut  calamo,  continuari 
potest  sonus  ad  placitum,  propter  asperitatem  fili  plectri  resina 
parum  obducti ;  unde  non  labitur  per  chordam,  nec  earn  semel 
percutit,  sed  hseret,  eamque  continenter  vexat ;  ex  quo  motu 
sonus  continuatur.1 

Potest  sumi  in  argumentum,  quod  sonus  sit  plane  genus 
quoddam  motus  localis  in  aere,  quod  ita  subito  pereat.  Quia 
in  omni  sectione  aut  impulsione  aeris,  aer  affatim  se  recipiat  et 
restituat ;  quod  etiam  aqua  facit  per  multos  circulos,  licet  non 
tarn  velociter  quam  aer.2 


De  confusione  et  perturbatione  soni. 

In  actu  visus  visibilia  ex  una  parte  non  impediunt  visibilia  ex 
aliis  partibus  ;  quin  universa  qu®  se  offerunt  undiquaque  visi¬ 
bilia,  terr®,  aqu®,  sylv®,  sol,  ®dificia,  homines,  simul  ob  oculos 
repr®sentantur.  Quod  si  totidem  voces  aut  soni  ex  diversis 
partibus  simul  salirent,  confunderetur  plane  auditus,  nec  ea 
distincte  percipere  posset.3 

Major  sonus  confundit  minorem,  ut  nec  exaudiatur :  at  species 
spirituales  (ut  loquuntur)  diversi  generis  a  sono  non  confundunt 
sonum^sed  omnia  simul  et  semel  h®rent  in  aere,  alterum  altero 
parum  aut  nihil  conturbante  ;  veluti  lux,  aut  color,  calor  et 
frigus,  odores,  virtutes  magnetic® ;  omnia  h®c  simul  possunt 
h®rere  in  aere,  nec  tamen  magnopere  impediunt  vel  conturbant 
sonos.4 

Causa  cur  plura  visibilia  simul  ad  oculum  repr®sentantur, 
1  S.  S.  137.  s  Id.  124,  125.  s  Id.  224.  4  Id.  226,  227. 


664 


HISTORIA  SON1  ET  AUDITUS. 


altero  alteram  non  confundente,  ea  omnino  esse  videatur  ;  quod 
visibilia  non  cernuntur,  nisi  in  linea  recta ;  at  soni  audiuntur 
etiam  in  obliqua,  aut  arcuata.  Itaque  in  area  sphscrse  visus 
quot  objecta  deferuntur,  tot  sunt  coni  radioram ;  neque  un- 
quam  alter  conus  in  alteram  coincidit :  neque  vertices  conorum 
in  idem  punctum  concurrunt,  quia  deferuntur  in  lineis  rectis. 
At  soni,  qui  deferuntur  per  lineas  et  rectas  et  arcuatas,  pos- 
sunt  facile  in  unum  punctum  concurrere,  itaque  confunduntur.1 
Eadem  videtur  causa,  cur  color  magis  vividus  colorem  magis 
obscurum  non  mergat ;  at  lux  major  lucem  debiliorem  obscurat 
et  condit ;  quia  lux  cemitur  in  linea  arcuata,  quemadmodum  et 
sonus.  Nam  licet  flamma  ipsa  candelae  non  cernitur  nisi  in 
linea  recta,  tamen  lux  undique  circumfusa  perfertur  ad  visum 
in  lineis  arcuatis,  quoad  corpus  candelae.  Similis  est  ratio  solis 
aut  flammae.  Quod  si  opponatur,  neque  ipsam  lucem  cerni  nisi 
in  recta  linea  ab  aere  illuminato,  verum  est :  verum  id  arbitror 
etiam  accidere  sono ;  neque  enim  auditur  sonus  nisi  in  lineis 
rectis  ab  aliqua  parte  sphaerae  soni,  quo  prima  pulsatio  pertingit. 
Attamen  color,  qui  nihil  aliud  est  quam  lucis  imago  inaequaliter 
reflexa,  tam  debiles  circumfundit  species,  ut  aerem  circumfusum 
parum  aut  nihil  tingat,  nisi  ubi  deferuntur  colores  in  lineis 
rectis  inter  objectum  et  oculum. 

Fiat  experimentum  in  aulo  (Anglice  a  recorder)  duplici,  in 
quo  sit  labrum,  et  lingua,  et  guttur,  ad  utrumque  finem,  ita  ut 
applicentur  ad  unisonum :  cava  autem  fistula  existente  duplici 
et  continuata,  sonent  duo  simul  cantionem  eandem  ad  utrumque 
finem,  ac  notetur  utrum  confundatur  sonus,  an  amplietur,  an 
hebetetur.2 

Accipiantur  duo  cavi  trunci,  et  conjungantur  in  modum 
crucis,  ita  ut  in  loco  ubi  connectuntur  sint  pervii ;  et  loquantur 
duo  ad  directum  et  transversum  truncum,  et  applicentur  similiter 
aures  duorum  ad  fines  oppositos,  et  notetur  utrum  voces  se 
invicem  confundunt3 

De  adventitiis  auxiliis  et  impedimentis  soni ;  de  hcesione  soni, 
et  varietate  mediotum. 

Memini  in  camera  Cantabrigiae  nonnihil  ruinosa,  ad  suffulci- 
mentum  erectam  fuisse  columnam  ferream,  crassitudinis  pollicis 


•  s.  S.  244. 


3  Id.  161. 


3  Id.  ibid. 


HISTORIA  SONI  ET  AUDITUS. 


665 


fortasse  et  dimidii ;  earn  columnam,  baculo  aut  alias  percussam, 
lenem  sonum  exhibuisse  in  camera  ubi  stabat  columna,  at  in 
camera  quae  subtus  erat  bombum  sonorum.1 

Inquirendum,  quae  corpora,  et  cujus  soliditatis  et  crassitu- 
dinis,  omnino  arceant  et  excludant  sonum ;  atque  etiam  quae 
magis  aut  minus  eum  hebetent,  licet  omnino  non  intercipiant. 
Neque  enim  adhuc  constat,  quae  media  interjecta  magis  pro- 
pitia  sint,  quae  magis  impedientia.  Itaque  fiat  experimentum 
in  auro,  lapide,  vitro,  panno,  aqua,  oleo,  et  eorum  crassitudine 
respectiva.  De  hoc  omnino  inquirendum  est  ulterius.2 

Aer  medium  ad  sonum  est  maxime  propitium,  et  quasi  uni- 
cum.3  Rursus,  aer  humidior  (arbitror)  magis  defert  sonum 
quam  siccior:  at  in  nebula  quid  fit,  non  memini.4  Noctur- 
nus  etiam  magis  .quam  diurnus :  verum  id  silentio  assignari 
potest.6 

Inquiratur  de  medio  flammae,  qualis  sit  operationis  versus 
sonum;  utrum  videlicet  flamma  alicujus  crassitudinis  omnino 
arceat  et  intercipiat  sonum,  aut  saltern  eum  magis  hebetet  quam 
aer.  In  ignibus  Jubili  hoc  expei'iri  licet.6 

Inquirendum  etiam  de  medio  aeris  vehementer  moti.  Licet 
enim  ventus  deferat  sonum,  arbitror  tamen  ventos  vehementio- 
res  nonnihil  turbare  sonum,  ut  minus  longe  exaudiatur  etiam 
secundum  ventum,  quam  in  tranquillo  :  de  quo  inquiratur  ul¬ 
terius.7 

Videndum  qualem  reddit  sonum  aes,  aut  ferrum  ignitum 
malleo  percussum,  comparatum  ad  eum  quern  reddit  frigidum.8 

De  penetratione  soni. 

Lapis  aetites  habet  tanquam  nucleum  aut  ovum  lapidis,  qui 
agitatus  reddit  sonum  obtusum ;  item  tintinnabula,  sed  longe 
clariorem  si  detur  rima.9 

Inquiratur  ab  urinatoribus,  si  omnino  audiant  subter  aquam, 
prtesertim  profundiorem :  atque  inquiratur  plane  utrumque ; 
non  tantum  utrum  audiant  sonum  aliquem  de  supra,  qui  editur 
in  aere ;  sed  etiam  utrum  audiant  percussionem  corporis  aquae 
intra  aquam,  ubi  non  est  aer.  Expertus  hoc  sum  in  balnen ; 
demittebatur  situla  bene  capax ;  ita  autem  demittebatur  ore 

’  S.  S.  151.  2  Id.  212— 220.  8  Id.  217,  4  Id.  218. 

»  Id.  143.  6  Id.  219.  ’Id.  193.  8  Id.  ICO.  9  Id.  154. 


666 


HISTORIA  SONI  ET  AUDITUS. 


inverso  in  aequilibrio,  ut  omnino  in  concavo  suo  deferret  secum 
aerem  subter  aquam  ad  altitudinem  palmae  unius;  atque  ad 
hunc  modum  tenebatur  situla  manibus  depressa,  ne  everteretur 
aut  resurgeret:  turn  urinator  inserebat  caput  in  concavum 
situlae,  et  loquebatur :  exaudiebatur  vox  loquentis  ;  etiam  sermo 
intelligebatur  articulatim,  sed  mirum  in  modum  acutus,  et  instar 
sibili  fere,  qualis  in  puparum  ludo  vox  exaudiri  solet.1 

Inquiratur  illud  exacte,  ut  reddatur  omnino  positivum,  utrum 
possit  generari  sonus  nisi  sit  aer  inter  percutiens  et  percussum 
corpus.2  Veluti  demittantur  duo  lapilli  pensiles  per  filum  in 
pelvim  aquae  vel  flumen,  et  agitentur  ut  percutiant  se  invicem 
in  medio  aquae ;  vel  mittatur  forceps  apertus  in  medium  aquae, 
et  ibi  claudatur :  et  notetur  utrum  edat  sonum,  et  qualem.3 
Equidem  existimo  urinatores  cum  natant  subter  aquam  non 
edere  sonum ;  nisi  fortassis  aliquis  esse  possit  per  successio- 
nem  motus  ad  superficiem  aquae,  atque  inde  percutiente  aqua 
aerem. 

Dubium  non  est,  quin  in  utribus  clausis  nec  prorsus  impletis, 
et  agitatis,  reddatur  sonus,  liquoris  scilicet  in  iis  contenti :  nec 
minus  redditur  sonus  demisso  lapide  in  aquam,  cum  percutiat 
fundum  vasis.  Yerum  in  primo  experimento  admiscetur  aer ; 
in  secundo  percussio  fundi  vasis  per  lapillum  communicat  cum 
aere  extra  vas.  At  post  percussionem  primam  non  necesse 
est  ut  aer  sit  in  medio  per  universam  aream  sphaerae  deferen- 
tis :  nam  id  evincitur  per  experimentum  loquentis  in  situla 
subter  aquam,  ubi  pars  deferentis  ex  aqua  non  est  aer,  sed 
lignum  situlae  et  aqua;  unde  acuitur  et  minuitur  sonus,  et 
extinguitur. 

Quoniam  autem  manifestum  est,  per  corpora  dura  (velut 
terram  figularem  et  vitrum)  transire  et  penetrare  sonum  ;  idque 
etiam  certissimum  est  (licet  adhuc  hominum  observationem 
latuerit)  inesse  in  omni  corpore  tangibili  pneumaticum  quiddam 
praeter  partes  crassas  intermixtum,  videndum  num  hujusmodi 
penetratio  soni  non  inde  fiat,  quod  partes  pneumaticae  sive 
aereaj  corporis  tangibilis  communicent  cum  aere  externo.4 

Accipe  catinum  aquae  argenteum,  alterum  ligneum;  accipe 

1  s.  s.  155. 

“  It  is  certain,  howsoever  it  cross  the  received  opinion,  that  sounds  may  be 
created  without  air.” — 5.  S.  133. 

3  “  You  shall  hear  the  sound  of  the  tongs  well,  and  not  much  diminished.” — Id. 
ibid. 

4  S.  S.  136. 


HXSTORIA  SON1  ET  AUDITUS. 


667 


forcipem  ferream,  et  percute  fines  ejus  intra  aquam  in  catinis 
illis,  in  distantia  latitudinis  pollicis  fortasse  aut  amplius  a  fundo : 
audies  sonum  forcipis  percussae  in  catino  argenteo  magis  raulto 
sonorum  quam  in  ligneo.  Quod  si  tamen  vacua  forent  catina, 
et  percuteretur  forceps  ad  eandem  distantiam,  parum  aut  nihil 
interesset.  Ex  quo  liquet  primum,  ubi  nullus  est  aer  qui 
possit  elidi,  sed  tantum  aqua,  edi  sonum  ;  deinde,  melius  com- 
municari  sonum  editum  per  percussionem  cum  catino  per 
aquam  quam  per  aerem.1 

Clauso 2  ore  fortiter,  redditur  murmur  (quale  solet  esse  mu- 
torum)  per  palatum  ;  quod  si  nares  etiam  fortiter  obturentur, 
nullum  possit  fieri  murmur.  Unde  liquet,  sonum  ilium  per 
palatum  non  actuari,  nisi  per  apertum  quod  intercedit  inter 
palatum  et  nares.3 


De  delatione  soni,  et  directions  seu  fusione  ejus ;  et  de  area 
quam  occupat,  simul,  et  separatim. 

OaiNis  sonus  diffunditur  in  ambitum  sphaericum  a  loco  pul- 
sationis,  et  occupat  universam  aream  ejus  sphaeras  ad  terminum 
certum,  sursum,  deorsum,  lateraliter,  undequaque.4 

Per  aream  ejus  sphoeras  fortissimus  est  sonus  juxta  pulsatio- 
nem :  deinde  secundum  proportion  em  distantia:  elanguescit,  et 
demum  evanescit. 

Termini  ejus  sphaeraa  extenduntur,  pro  acumine  auditus, 
aliquatenus ;  sed  est  quiddam  ultimum,  quo  in  sensu  maxime 
exquisito  non  pertingit  sonus. 

Est  (arbitror)  nonnihil  in  directione  primae  impulsionis.  Si 
quis  enim  staret  in  suggesto  aperto  in  campis,  et  clamaret, 
longius  arbitror  exaudiri  posset  vox  in  prorsum  a  loquente, 
quam  pone.  Sic  si  displodatur  bombarda  vel  sclopetus,  lon¬ 
gius  arbitror  exaudiri  possit  sonus  in  prorsum  a  bombarda  aut 
sclopeto,  quam  pone.5 

Utrum  aliquid  sit  in  ascensione  soni  sursum,  aut  in  descen- 
sione  soni  deorsum,  quod  sonum  promoveat  in  ulterius,  aut 
cessare  faciat  propius,  non  constat.  Auditur  quidem  plane 
sonus,  si  quis  ex  alta  fenestra  aut  turri  loquatur,  ab  iis  qui 

1  S.  S.  134. 

2  This  is  printed  in  the  original  as  if  it  were  part  of  the  preceding  paragraph ;  by 

a  mistake  no  doubt  of  the  printer  or  transcriber. 

*  S.  S.  287.  4  Id.  201. 


6  Id.  204 


668 


HISTORIA  SONI  ET  ADDITUS. 


stant  in  solo ;  et  contra,  editus  ab  iis  qui  in  solo  stant,  a  fene¬ 
stra  aut  turri :  sed  ab  utris  facilius,  aut  longius,  de  eo  inqui- 
ratur  ulterius.1 

Solent  in  concionibus  usurpari  suggesta,  et  in  concionibus 
imperatoriis  monticelli  ex  cespitibus ;  sed  minime  tamen  per 
hsec  evincitur  sonum  facilius  defluere  quam  insurgere ;  quoniam 
hujus  rei  possit  esse  causa  liber  in  loco  altiore  aer,  nec  obsti- 
patus  aut  impeditus,  ut  fit  infra  in  turba :  non  autem  motus 
proclivior  in  deorsum.  Itaque  in  hoc  experimento  non  ac- 
quiescat  contemplatio,  sed  fiat  experimentum  ubi  caetera  sint 
paria.2 

Vis  soni  excipitur  tota  in  qualibet  parte  aeris,  non  tota  in 
toto  aere,  nisi  foramen  aut  meatus  fuerit  valde  exilis ;  nam  si 
stet  quis  in  loco  aliquo  maxime  clauso,  ita  ut  non  penetret 
sonus  omnino,  idque  in  quacunque  parte  sphaerae  soni,  et  fiat 
foramen  parvum,  vox  articulata  intrabit  per  illud  foramen, 
et  denique  per  tot  foramina  quot  placuerit  terebrare  per  uni- 
versum  ambitum  sphaerae  soni:  ut  manifestum  sit  totam  illam 
articulationem  soni  deferri  integram  per  minusculas  illas  partes 
aeris,  non  minus  quam  si  aer  esset  undique  apertus.3 

Attendendum  tamen  est,  utrum  soni  editi  ex  pulsationibus 
majoribus  aeris  (quales  fiunt  ex  displosionibus  bombardarum) 
non  deveniant  exiliores  cum  intrent  ilia  parva  foramina.  Sub- 
tilitates  enim  sonorum  forte  intrare  possunt  non  confusae,  sed 
universus  fragor  neutiquam.  De  hoc  inquiratur  ulterius.4 

Radii  corporum  visibilium  non  feriunt  sensum,  nisi  deferan- 
tur  per  medium  in  directum ;  et  interpositio  corporis  opaci  in 
linea  recta  intercipit  visum,  licet  alia  omnino  fuerint  undequaque 
aperta.  Yerum  sonus,  si  detur  delatio  vel  meatus,  vel  arcu- 
ando  per  sursum  vel  inversa  arcuatione  per  deorsum  vel  late- 
raliter  vel  etiam  sinuando,  non  perit,  sed  pervenit.  Attamen 
arbitror  fortius  deferri  sonum  per  lineas  directas  inter  pulsa- 
tiones  et  aurem,  et  frangi  nonnihil  impetum  per  arcuationes 
et  per  sinuationes ;  veluti  si  paries  sit  inter  loquentem  et  au- 
dientem,  arbitror  vocem  non  tam  bene  exaudiri  quam  si  ab- 
esset  paries.5  Arbitror  etiam  si  paulo  longius  collocetur  vel 
loquens  vel  audiens  a  pariete,  melius  exaudiri  vocem  quam 

1  S.  S.  205.  2  Id.  Ibid.  3  Id.  192.  4  Id.  216. 

5  Id.  202.  “  They  move  strongest  in  a  right  line ;  which  nevertheless  is  not 

caused  by  the  rightness  of  the  line ,  but  by  the  shortness  of  the  distance :  tinea  recta 
brevissi/na 


HISTORIA  SONI  ET  AUDITUS. 


66& 


prope  parictem,  quia  arcuatio  tanto  minus  abit  a  linea  recta.' 
Yerum  de  boc  inquiratur  ulterius. 

Admota  aure  ad  alterum  terminum  tubi  alicujus  aut  cavi 
trunci  longi,  et  voce  submissa  ad  alterum  orificium  tubas, 
exaudiri  possit  vox  talis,  quae  eadem  submissione  edita  ad 
aerem  apertum  non  pertingeret  nec  exaudiretur.  Unde  liquet, 
clausuram  illam  aeris  conferre  ad  deferendam  vocem  absque 
confusione.2 

Etiam  communis  est  opinio,  melius  exaudiri  vocem,  casteris 
paribus,  sub  tecto  quam  sub  dio:  utrum  vero  melius  exau- 
diatur  vox,  aure  collocata  in  aperto,  voce  in  tecto  ;  aut  contra, 
aure  iu  tecto,  voce  in  aperto;  inquiratur  ulterius:  licet  etiam 
in  hoc  communis  sit  opinio,  melius  exaudiri  quae  foras  sunt  in 
aedibus,  quam  quae  in  aedibus  foras.3 

Commune  est  auditui  ac  visui,  ac  etiam  quadantenus  caeteris 
sensibus,  ut  intentio  animi  sentientis  et  directio  expressa  ad 
percipiendum  nonnihil  juvet ;  ut  cum  quis  dirigit  intuitum, 
aut  (ut  loquuntur)  arrigit  aures.4 

Soni  non  perferuntur  aeque  longe  articulati  et  distincti, 
quam  species  et  glomeratio  ipsorum  confusa :  nam  strepitus 
vocum  exaudiri  potest,  ubi  voces  ipsae  articulate  non  audiun- 
tur ;  et-  tinnitus  musicae  confusus,  cum  harmonia  ipsa  aut  cantio 
non  exaudiatur. 

In  trunco  cavo  optime  conservatur  sonus.  Igitur  accipiatur 
truncus  cavus,  bene  oblongus,  et  demittatur  extra  fenestram 
cameras  humilioris;  loquatur  quispiam  exerendo  caput  extra 
fenestram  ad  unum  terminum  trunci,  quam  maxime  potest  sub- 
misse ;  apponat  alter  aurem  ad  alterum  terminum  trunci,  stans 
infra  in  solo :  fiat  similiter  hoc  via  versa,  loquendo  infra, 
aurem  apponendo  supra ;  atque  ex  hoc  experimento  fiat  judi¬ 
cium,  utrum  vox  ascendat  aut  descendat  proclivius,  aut  etiam 
pari  ter.5 

Tradunt  pro  certo  esse  loca  et  aedificia  nonnulla  ita  conca- 
merata,  ut  si  quis  stet  in  quadam  parte  cameras  et  loquatur, 
melius  exaudiri  possit  ad  distantiam  nonnullam  quam  prope.6 

Omnis  concentus  paulo  gravius  et  profundius  sonare  videtur, 
si  removeatur  nonnihil  a  sono  edito,  quam  prope:  ut  simile 
quiddam  videatur  accidere  auditui  circa  sonum,  quale  accidit 

1  S.  S.  214.  2  Id.  129. 

3  “  And  it  is  certain  that  the  voice  is  better  heard  in  a  chamber  from  abroad  than 
abroad  from  within  the  chamber.” — S.  S.  130. 

1  Id.  235.  5  Id-  206. 


a  Id.  148. 


670 


HISTORIA  SOM  ET  AUDITUS. 


visui  circa  species  visibiles,  ut  nonnulla  distantia  ab  organo 
sensus  promoveat  perceptionem  sensus. 

Verum  fallax  potest  esse  ista  opinio,  idque  duplicit.er.  Primo, 
quod  in  actu  visus  requiruntur  forte  radii  ab  objecto  ad  pupil- 
lam,  qui  nulli  possunt  esse  ubi  objectum  tangit  pupillam ;  id 
quod  inter  auditum  et  sonum  non  requiritur ;  sed  multo  magis, 
quod  ad  videndum  opus  est  luce.  Objectum  autem  tangens 
pupillam  intercipit  lucem  :  at  nihil  hujusmodi  auditui  competit. 
Secundo  etiam,  quia  in  visu  non  semper  desideratur  medium : 
quandoquidem  in  tollendis  cataractis  oculorum,  stylus  ille  par¬ 
vus  argenteus,  quo  summoventur  cataractse,  etiam  super  pupil¬ 
lam  intra  tuniculam  oculi  movens,  optime  cernitur.1 

In  objectis  visus,  si  collocetur  oculus  in  tenebris,  objectum  in 
luce,  bene  habet ;  si  objectum  in  tenebris,  oculus  in  luce,  non 
fit  visio.  Ita  si  velum  tenue  ponatur  ob  oculos,  aut  reticulum, 
objectum  bene  cernitur;  si  super  objectum,  confundit  visum. 
Atque  licet  fortasse  neutrum  horum  competat  sono  et  auditui, 
tamen  monere  possunt  ut  fiant  experiments,  utrum  auris  col- 
locata  juxta  truncum  cavum,  si  sonus  fiat  ad  distans  in  aperto ; 
aut,  via  versa,  sonus  excitatus  ad  cavum  truncum,  auris  autem 
ponatur  ad  distans  in  aperto,  promoveat  magis  perceptionem 
sensus.2 

De  corporum  diversitate  qua  reddunt  sonum,  et  instruments, 
et  de  speciebus  soni  qua  occurrunt. 

Genera  sonorum  talem  videntur  subire  partitionem  :  ma- 
gnus,  parvus ;  acutus,  gravis ;  harmonious,  absonus  ;  summis 
sus  sive  susurrans,  exterior  sive  sonans ;  simplex,  compositus ; 
originalis,  reflexus :  ut  sint  partitiones  sex.3 

Quo  fortior  fuerit  prima  pulsatio,  et  delatio  liberior  et  absque 
impedimento,  eo  major  editur  sonus  :  quo  debilior  percussio,  et 
magis  conturbata  delatio,  eo  minor.4 

Acuti  soni  deferuntur  toque  longe,  et  fortasse  longius,  quam 
graves.  De  hoc  melius  inquiratur. 

1  Compare  675.,  and  S.  S.  272. 

2  “  And  it  is  tried  that  in  a  long  trunk  of  some  eight  or  ten  foot,  the  sound  is  holpen, 
though  both  the  mouth  and  the  ear  be  a  handful  or  more  from  the  ends  of  the  trunk ; 
and  somewhat  more  holpen  when  the  ear  of  the  hearer  is  near  than  when  the  mouth 
of  the  speaker.” — Id.  130. 

3  “  There  be  these  differences  in  general  by  which  sounds  are  divided:  1.  Musical, 
immusical.  2.  Treble,  base.  3.  Flat,  sharp.  4.  Soft,  loud.  5.  Exterior,  interior. 
6.  Clean,  harsh  or  purling.  7.  Articulate,  inarticulate.”—  Id.  290. 

4  Id.  164. 


HISTORIA  SONI  ET  AUDITUS. 


671 


Prout  majus  fuerit.  concavum  campanae,  eo  graviorem  edit 
sonum  ;  quo  minus,  acutiorem. 

Quo  major  fuerit  chorda,  eo  reddit  sonum  graviorem ;  quo 
minor,  acutiorem.1 

Quo  intentior  fuerit  chorda,  eo  reddit  sonum  acutiorem ;  quo 
laxior,  graviorem  :  ut  chorda  paulo  major  strictius  extensa,  et 
minor  laxius,  eundem  possint  reddere  sonum.2 

In  tubis  similiter,  et  tibiis,  et  cornibus,  et  fistulis,  atque 
etiam  in  ore  hominis  fistulantis,  -quo  angustiora  sunt  et  magis 
contracta,  eo  reddunt  sonum  acutiorem  ;  quo  latiora  aut  laxiora, 
graviorem.3 

In  tibiis,  aer  exiens  ex  foramine  propiore  ad  spiritum,  reddit 
sonum  acutiorem ;  e  longinquiore,  graviorem 3 :  ut  tibia  paulo 
major  ad  foramen  propius,  et  minor  ad  longinquius,  eundem 
possint  reddere  sonum. 

In  instrumentis  chordarum  nonnullis  (ut  in  barbito,  citharis, 
et  similibus)  invenerunt  homines  commoditatem  ad  extensionem 
earum  prseter  extensionem  primam,  ut  comprimentes  eas  digitis 
inferius  aut  superius,  eas  extendant  ad  alterationem  soni.4 

Si  accipiatur  scyphus  vitreus  aut  argenteus  et  talitro  percu- 
tiatur,  si  aqua  in  scypho  altius  ascenderit,  et  scyphus  plenior 
fuerit,  reddit  sonum  acutiorem ;  si  humilius,  et  scyphus  magis 
vacuus  fuerit,  graviorem.5 

In  trunco  cavo,  quali  ad  aves  percutiendas  utuntur,  si  quis 
ore  fistulet,  admoto  ore  ad  alterum  finem  trunci,  hebetatur 
scilicet  sonus  ad  astantem ;  at  si  applicetur  auris  ad  alterum 
finem,  reddit  sonum  acutissimum,  ut  vix  tolerari  possit.6 

Fiat  experimentum  in  trunco  ex  parte  ubi  collocatur  auris 
angusto,  ex  parte  ubi  collocatur  os  latiore,  (et  e  converso,)  utrum 
sonus  reddatur  acutior  aut  gravior ;  in  modum  speculorum  quae 
contrahunt  aut  ampliant  objecta  visus. 

De  multiplications,  augmentations,  et  diminutions,  et  fractions 

soni. 

Videndum  quomodo  possit  artificialiter  sonus  majorari  et 
multiplicari.  Specula  utrumque  praestant  in  visu.7  Yidetur 
autem  reflexio  subita  soni  verti  in  augmentum :  nam  si  vox  et 
echo  simul  reddantur,  necesse  est  ut  non  distinguatur  sonus. 


1  s.  S.  178. 
4  Id.  1 81. 


*  Id.  1 83. 


3  Id.  179. 


•  Id.  138. 


3  Id.  178. 
»  Id.  285. 


672 


HISTORIA  SONI  ET  AUDITUS. 


sed  majoretur.  Itaque  soni  super  flumina  ampliores  sunt,  re- 
sonante  aqua  et  se  uniente  cum  sono  originali.1 

Etiam  notavi,  facta  aede  rotunda  in  conductibus  (ut  loquun- 
tur)  aquarum,  et  deinde  caverna  oblonga,  ac  turn  aede  majore 
(quale  est  videre  in  campis  juxta  Charing-cross  prope  Londi- 
num),  si  fiat  clamor  per  fenestram  aut  rimam  aedis  rotunda;,  et 
stet  quispiam  juxta  fenestram  aedis  majoris,  longe  terribiliorem 
cieri  rugitum,  quam  fit  ad  aurem  alicujus  astantis  prope  ubi 
fit  clamor.2 

Memini  in  joculari  ludo  puparum,  locutionem  ita  edi,  ut  au- 
diatur  distincte,  sed  longe  acutior  et  exilior  quam  in  aperto ; 
ut  fit  in  speculis  quae  reddunt  literas  longe  minutiores  quam 
sunt  in  medio  ordinario :  ita  ut  videatur  plane  sonus  per  artem 
reddi  posse  et  amplior  et  exilior. 

Tenent  pueri  cornu  arcus  tensi  inter  dentes,  et  sagitta  per- 
cutiunt  cbordam,  unde  redditur  sonus  magis  sonorus,  et  quasi 
bombus  longe  major,  quam  si  arcus  non  teneretur  a  dentibus : 
quod  imputant  consensui  quem  habent  ossa  dentium  cum  osse 
auditus;  quandoquidem  et  via  versa,  ex  stridore  in  auditu 
etiam  dentes  obstupescant.3 

Similiter  tangat  hasta  lignum  cavi  lyrae,  praesertim  foraminis 
in  ipso  ad  cavum  finem,  et  teneatur  dentibus  ex  altero  fine,  et 
sonet  lyra ;  major  fit  sonus  per  prehensionem  dentium,  ei  scilicet 
qui  preliendit. 

Certissimum  est  (licet  non  animadversum)  quod  vis  ilia,  quae 
post  primam  percussionem  defert  pilas  aut  sagittas  aut  spicula, 
et  similia,  consistat  in  partibus  minutis  corporis  emissi,  et  non  in 
aiire  perpetuo  deferente,  instar  scaphae  in  aqua.  Hoc  posito,  vi- 
dendum  utrum  non  possit  diminui  sonus  in  bombarda,  aut  sclo- 
peto,  absque  magna  debilitatione  percussionis,  hoc  modo.  Fiat 
sclopetum  cum  tubo  bene  forti,  ut  non  facile  frangatur  ;  fiant 
in  tubo  quatuor  aut  quinque  foramina,  non  instur  rimaruin,  sed 
rotunda  circa  medium  tubi.  Percussio  suas  jam  accepit  vires, 
nisi  quatenus  ratione  longitudinis  tubi  augeantur :  at  percussio 
aeris  ad  exitiun  sclopeti,  quod  generat  sonum,  multum  extenua- 
bitur  ab  emissione  soni  per  ilia  foramina  in  medio,  antequam 
aer  inclusus  perferatur  ad  os  sclopeti.  Itaque  probabile  est, 
sonum  ilium  et  bombum  multis  partibus  diminutum  fore.11 

'S.  S.  144.  229.  2  Id.  140.  3  Id.  149. 

*  1 20.  “  And  if  any  man  think  that  the  sound  may  be  extinguished  or  deaded 


HISTORIA  SON1  ET  AUDITUS. 


673 


De  repercussione  soni,  et  echo. 

Repercussio  sonorum  (quam  echo  vocamus)  in  argumentum 
sumi  potest,  non  esse  sonum  motum  localem  aeris.  Nam  si 
esset,  debuerat  repercussio  fieri  in  modo  consimili  ad  originate ; 
ut  fit  in  omnibus  repercussionibus  corporeis.  At  in  sono  cum 
tam  accurata  requiratur  generatio,  ut  in  voce,  quae  tot  habet  in- 
strumenta,  et  in  instruments  musicis  qua?  subtiliter  fabricata 
sunt,  ea  quae  reddunt  sonum  repercussum  nihil  horum  habent, 
sed  rudia  plane  sunt,  et  illud  fere  habent  ut  sonus  non  trans- 
eat,  vix  aliud  quippiam.1 


De  conjugiis  et  dissidiis  audibilium  et  visibilium,  et  aliarum, 
quas  vocant,  specierum  spiritualium. 

Conveniunt  in  his.2 

Ambo  diffunduntur  in  circuitum  sphaericum,  et  occupant  uni- 
versam  aream  ejus  sphaerae,  et  feruntur  ad  spatia  bene  longinqua, 
et  elanguescunt  paulatim  secundum  distantiam  objecti,  deinde 
evanescunt.  Ambo  deferunt  figuras  et  differentias  suas  per 
portiones  minutas  sphaerae  suae,  integras  et  inconfusas ;  ut  per- 
cipiantur  per  foramina  parva  non  secus  quam  in  aperto. 

Ambo  sunt  generationis  et  delationis  valde  subitae  ac  celeris ; 
ac  e  contra  extinguuntur  et  pereunt  subito  et  celeriter. 

Ambo  suscipiunt  et  deferunt  minutas  differentias  et  accura- 
tas,  ut  colorum,  figurarum,  motuum,  distantiarum  in  visibilibus ; 
vocum  articulatarum,  tonorum  harmonicorum,  et  pernicis  alte- 
rationis  sive  trepidationis  ipsorum  in  audibilibus. 

Ambo  in  virtute  et  viribus  suis  non  videntur  vel  emittere 
aliquam  corporalem  substantiam  in  media  sua,  aut  ambitum 
sphaerae  sua;;  nec  etiam  edere  aut  ciere  manifestum  motum 
localem  in  mediis  suis,  sed  deferre  quasdam  species  spirituales, 
quarum  ignoratur  ratio  et  modus. 

Ambo  videntur  non  generativa  alicujus  alterius  virtutis  aut 

by  discharging  tile  pent  air  before  it  cometh  to  the  mouth  of  the  piece  and  to  the  open 
air,  that  is  not  probable  ;  for  it  will  make  more  divided  sounds  j  as  if  you  should  make 
a  cross  barrel  hollow  through  the  barrel  of  a  piece,  it  mav  be  it  would  give  several 
sounds,  both  at  the  nose  and  at  the  sides.” 

1  S.  S.  287. 


Id.  255—266. 


674 


HISTORIA  SONI  ET  AUDITUS. 


qualitatis  prseter  virtutem  propriam,  et  eatenus  operari ;  alias 
sterilia  esse. 

.Ambo  in  propria  sua  actione  videntur  tria  quasi  corporaliter 
operari.  Primum,  quod  fortius  objectum  mergat  et  confundat 
debilius,  ut  lux  solis  lucem  candelae,  displosio  bombards®  vo- 
cem.  Secundum,  quod  excellentius  objectum  destruat  sensum 
debiliorem,  ut  lumen  solis  oculum,  sonus  violentus  in  proximo 
ad  aurem  auditum.  Tertium,  quod  ambo  repercutiuntur,  ut  in 
speculis  et  echo. 

Neque  objectum  unius  confundit  aut  impedit  objectum  alte- 
rius ;  velut  lux  aut  color  sonum,  aut  e  contra. 

Ambo  afficiunt  sensum  in  animalibus,  idque  objectis  secun¬ 
dum  magis  aut  minus  gratis  aut  odiosis :  attamen  afficiunt 
etiam  modo  suo  inanimata  proportionata  et  organis  sensuum 
(ut  videtur)  conformia  ;  ut  colores  speculum,  quod  crystallinum 
est  instar  oculi ;  soni  locos  reverberationis,  qui  videntur  etiam 
similes  ossi  et  cavernse  auris. 

Ambo  operantur  varie  prout  habent  media  sua  bene  aut  per- 
peram  disposita. 

Ad  ambo  medium  magis  conducibile  et  propitium  est  aer. 
In  ambobus,  in  objectis  accuratioribus,  nonnihil  affert  intentio 
sensus,  et  quasi  erectio  ejus  ad  percipiendum. 

Differunt  in  his.1 

Videntur  species  visib ilium  esse  tanquam  emissiones  radio¬ 
rum  a  corpore  visibili,  instar  fere  odorum.  At  species  audi- 
bilium  videntur  magis  participare  ex  motu  locali,  instar  per- 
cussionum  quae  hunt  in  aere:  ut  cum  dupliciter  plerumque 
operentur  corpora,  per  communicationem  naturae  suae,  aut  per 
impressionem  aut  signationem  motus,  videatur  diffusio  ilia  in 
visibilibus  magis  ex  primo  modo  participare,  in  audibilibus  ex 
secundo. 

Videtur  delatio  sonorum  magis  manifesto  deferri  per  aerem, 
quam  visibilium.  Neque  enim,  arbitror,  ventus  vehemens 
tantum  impedire  potest  aliquod  visibile  a  longe,  quam  sonum ; 
flante,  intelligo,  vento  in  contrarium. 

Insignis  est  ilia  differentia,  unde  etiam  plurimae  minores  dif¬ 
ferentia}  derivantur,  quod  visibilia  (excepta  luce  originali)  non 


1  S.  S.  268—276. 


HISTORIA  SONI  ET  AUDITUS. 


675 


feruntur  nisi  per  lineas  rectas,  cnm  soni  deferantur  per  lineas 
arcuatas. 

Hinc  fit  quod  visibilia  alia  alia  non  confundant  simul  reprae- 
sentata ;  soni  contra.  Hinc  fit  quod  soliditas  substantiae  non 
videatur  impedire  visum  magnopere,  modo  positurae  partium 
corporis  sint  ordine  simplici  et  per  rectos  meatus,  ut  in  vitro, 
aqua,  crystallo,  adamante:  at  parum  panni  serici  aut  linei 
rumpit  visum,  cum  sint  corpora  valde  tenuia  et  porosa;  at 
hujusmodi  panni  parum  aut  nihil  impediunt  auditum,  ubi 
solida  ilia  quam  plurimum.  Hinc  fit  quod  ad  reverberationem 
visibilium  sufficiat  parvum  speculum,  aut  simile  corpus  perspi- 
cuum,  modo  ponatur  in  linea  recta,  ubi  visibilia  meant ;  at  ad 
faciendam  reverberationem  eclius  oportet  sonum  etiam  a  late- 
ribus  includere,  quia  fertur  undequaque. 

Longius  fertur  objectum  visibile,  pro  rata  proportione,  quam 
sonus.1 

Visibilia  nimis  prope  admota  ad  oculum  non  tarn  bene 
cernuntur  quam  per  distantiam  nonnullam,  ut  radii  coire  pos- 
sint  in  angulo  magis  acuto :  at  in  auditu,  quo  propius,  eo  me¬ 
lius.  Verum  in  hoc  duplex  potest  esse  error.  Prior,  quod  ad 
visum  requiritur  lux:  ea  autem,  objecto  ad  oculum  propius 
admoto,  arcetur.  Nam  audivi  ex  fide  digno^  qui  curabatur  ex 
cataractis  oculorum,  cum  stylus  file  minutus  argenteus  ducere- 
tur  super  ipsam  pupillam  oculi  sui,  eamque  tangeret,  absque 
ullo  medio  (existente  stylo  illo,  seu  acu  argentea,  longe  an- 
gustiore  quam  pupilla  erat  oculi)  eum  clarissime  vidisse  stylum 
ilium.  Secundus,  quod  sit  plane  interposita  caverna  auris  ante 
instrumentum  auditus,  ut  sonus  exterior  tangere  os  et  mem- 
branam  auditus  plane  nequeat. 

Celerius  deferuntur  species  visus  quam  soni,  ut  percipitur 
in  flamma,  et  sonitu  sclopetorum ;  etiam  in  fulgure,  et  tonitru, 
ubi  tonitru  auditur  post  pausam. 

Etiam  existimo  diutius  hterere  species  soni,  quam  visibilia. 
Licet  enim  et  ill*  non  subito  intereant,  ut  manifestum  est  in 
circulo  vertente,  et  chordis  talitro  percussis,  et  crepusculo,  et 
similibus ;  tamen  diutius  arbitror  durant  soni,  quia  deferuntur 
a  ventis. 

Radii  lucis  glomerati  etiam  inducunt  calorem,  qu*  est  actio 

'  In  the  original  this  sentence  stands  as  part  of  the  preceding  paragraph  ;  which  is 
clearly  wrong. 


44  Bacon  HI 


678 


HISTORIA  SONI  ET  AUDITUS. 


diversa  a  visibili.  Similiter,  si  verum  sit  clamores  aves 
volantes  deiecisse,  etiam  ea  est  actio  protinus  diversa  ab  au- 
dibili.1 

Non  videtur  in -visibili  esse  objectum  tam  odiosum  ad  sen- 
sum,  quam  in  audibili ;  sed  magis  ex  aequo.  Nam  foeda  visui 
magis  displicent  ob  excitationem  phantasiae  de  rebus  fcedis, 
quam  propter  se ;  at  in  audibilibus,  sonitus  serrse  dum  acuitur, 
et  similia,  inducunt  horrorem ;  et  tonus  discordans  in  musica 
statim  rejicitur  et  respuitur. 

Non  constat  esse  refractionem  in  sonis,  ut  in  radiis.  Atta- 
men  proculdubio  resiliunt  soni ;  sed  illud  reflexioni  assignan- 
dum.  Neque  enim  (arbitror)  si  sonus  pertranseat  diversa 
media,  ut  aerem,  pannum,  lignum,  alium  esse  locum  soni  ubi 
defertur,  alium  ubi  audiatur;  id  quod  proprium  refractionis 
est2;  sed  videtur  pendere  ex  operatione  in  lineis  rectis  refra- 
ctio ;  id  quod  non  competit  sono. 

Contractio  vero  soni  et  dilatatio  ejus,  secundum  disposi- 
tionem  medii  fit  proculdubio,  ut  in  puparum  vocibus  et  locu- 
tione  sub  aqua :  contrahitur  sonus  in  caverna  ilia,  in  campis 
dilatatur;  qucmadmodum  per  specula  dilatantur  et  contrahuntur 
visibilia. 

Medium  trepidans  (ut  fumus  in  visibilibus)  facit  visibilia 
objecta  etiam  trepidare :  at  in  sonis  nihil  adhuc  tale  invenitur, 
nisi  forte  accessio  et  recessio  per  ventos.3  Nam  trepidatio  in 
fistula  lusciniolae,  est  trepidatio  percussionis,  non  medii. 

Post  multam  lucem  mutando  ad  tenebras,  vel  post  tenebras 
ad  lucem,  confunditur  parum  visus:  utrum  vero  hoc  fiat  a 
magnis  fragoribus,  aut  alto  silentio,  inquirendum. 


De  celeritate  generationis  et  extinctionis  soni,  et  tempore  in  quo 

fiunt. 

Omnis  sonus  cito  admodum  generatur,  £t  cito  interit.  Cele- 
ritas  autcm  motus  ipsius,  et  difi'erentiarum  ejus,  non  tam  mira- 
bilis  res  videtur.  Etenim  digitorum  motus  in  cithara,  aut 
anhelitus  in  fistula  aut  tibia,  celeres  admodum  inveniuntur; 

1  S.  S.  267. 

2  Id.  254.  The  last  sentence  of  this  paragraph  is  omitted  in  the  Si/ fa  a  Sylvarnm , 

and  in  place  of  it  we  read,  “But  majoration,  which  is  also  the  work  of  refraction, 
appeareth  plainly  in  sounds,  as  hath  been  handled  at  full,  but  it  is  not  by  diversity  of 
mediums.”  3  Id.  204. 


HISTORIA  SONI  ET  AUDITUS. 


677 


etiam  lingua  ipsa  (non  curiosum  prorsus  organum)  tot  pcragit 
motua  quot  literas.  Quod  vero  soni  non  solum  tam  perniciter 
generentur,  sed  et  tantum  spatium  sua  vi  et  impressione  quasi 
momentanea  occupent  subito,  id  summam  admirationem  liabet. 
Nam,  exempli  gratia,  homo  in  medio  campo  vociferans  exau- 
ditur  ad  quartam  partem  milliaris  in  ambitu,  idque  verbis  arti- 
culatis,  iisque  in  singulis  minutis  portionibus  aeris  hserentibus, 
idque  in  spatio  temporis  longe  miuore  fortasse  minuto.' 

De  spatio  temporis  in  quo  defertur  sonus,  inquirendum. 
Id  hoc  modo  inveniri  potest.  Stet  homo  in  campanili,  noctu  ; 
stet  alter  in  piano,  ad  distantiam  forte  milliaris,  ant  quam  pro- 
cul  campana  exaudiri  possit,  habeatque  paratam  facem  lucen- 
tcm,  ecd  co-opertam.  Sonet  campana  in  campanili ;  quam  cito 
ilia  exaudiatur  ab  illo  altero  qui  stat  in  piano,  attollat  ille  facem  ; 
per  hoc,  ex  spatio  temporis  inter  campanam  pulsam  et  facem 
visam,  deprehendi  possunt  momenta  motus  soni  ab  eo  qui  stat 
in  campanili.2 

In  tormentis  igneis  flamnia  conspicitur  antequam  bombus 
exaudiatur ;  cum  tamen  flamma  sequatur  exitum  pilse :  ut 
flamma  tardius  exeat,  citius  sensum  feriat.  Unde  recte  col- 
ligitur,  radios  visibiles  celerius  diifundi  et  pervenire,  quam 
species  aut  impressiones  soni.3 

De  affinitate  aut  nulla  affinitate  quam  liabet  sonus  cum  rnotu 
aeris  in  quo  defertur  locali  et  manifesto. 

Sonus  non  videtur  manifesto  et  actualiter  quatefacere  et  tur- 
bare  aerem,  ut  ventus  solet ;  sed  videntur  motus  soni  fieri  per 
species  spirituales ;  ita  enim  loquendum,  donee  certius  quip- 
piam  inveniatur.4 

Adeo  ut  existimem,  sonum  clamantis  bene  magnum,  in  parva 
ab  ipso  rnotu  anhelitus  distantia,  vix  folium  aliquod  populi  albas 
tremulum,  aut  festucam,  aut  flammam  moturum. 

Attamen  in  pulsationibus  majoribus  deprehenditur  motus 
plane  corporalis  et  actualis  aeris :  id  vero  utrum  fiat  a  motu 
ipso  qui  generat  sonum,  an  a  concausa,  aut  concomitantia,  non 
constat.  Tonitrua  quandoque  tremere  faciunt  fenestras  vi- 
treas,  et  etiam  parietes :  arbitror  etiam  bombardas  displosas, 
aut  eruptioncs  cuniculorum  subterraneorum  idem  facere.5 

1  S.  S.  289.  2  Id.  209.  3  Id.  210.  'Id.  12.5.  5  Id.  126. 


678 


HISTORIA  SONI  ET  AUDITUS. 


Memini  etiam,  ni  fallor,  apucl  Collegium  Regium  in  Can- 
tabrigia,  esse  ligneam  quandam  fabricam  in  qua  campan® 
pendent,  eamque  a  campanis  quando  sonant  quatefieri.  Sed 
qualiscunque  fuerit  ille  occultus  motus  qui  est  sonus,  apparet 
ilium  nec  absque  manifesto  motu  in  prima  pulsatione  gigni,  et 
rursus  per  motum  manifestum  aeris  deferri  aut  impediri.1 

Yerbum  placide  prolatum,  quod  ad  distantiam  triginta  pedum 
forte  exaudiri  possit,  tamen  admotam  flammam  candel®  prope 
os,  ad  unum  pedem  etiam,  vix  trepidare  faciet:  ubi  paulo  in- 
tensior  flatus  oris  flammam  faciet  tremulam  multo  in  longiore 
distantia.1 

Sonus  campanarum,  et  similium,  accedit  clarior,  aut  recedit 
hebetior,  prout  flat  ventus  versus  aurem  aut  adversus.  Idem 
fit  in  clamore :  qui  contra  ventum  editus  non  tarn  longe  au- 
ditur.1 

Traditur,  per  ingentes  clamores  applaudentium,  et  voces 
jubili,  ita  aerem  collisum  aut  rarefactum  fuisse,  ut  deciderent 
aves  volantes.  Opinio  vagatur,  sonitus  complurium  campa¬ 
narum  simul,  in  urbibus  populosis,  contra  et  fulminum  per- 
niciem  et  pestilentias  valere.2 

Traduntur  pro  certo  loca  et  asdificia  nonnulla  ita  concamerata, 
ut  si  quis  loquatur,  atque  (ut  fertur)  locutio  ista  fiat  contra 
parietem  in  una  parte  earner®,  melius  exaudiantur  verba  post 
distantiam  nonnullam  a  voce,  quam  prope.3 

Notavi  sedens  in  curru,  et  demisso  ex  una  parte  velo  currus, 
aperto  ex  altera,  mendicum,  qui  clamabat  ex  latere  currus 
clauso,  ita  visum  esse  ac  si  clamaret  ex  latere  aperto ;  ut  vox 
plane  repulsa  circuiret,  aut  saltern  undique  sonans  putaretur 
tamen  ex  ea  parte  audiri  qua  melius  pertingeret.4 

Si  teneatur  candela  juxta  foramen  illud  quod  spiraculum  est 
tympani,  et  percutiatur  tympanum,  concutitur  et  extinguitur 
flamma.  Idem  fit  in  sonando  cornu  venatoris,  si  apponatur 
candela  ad  exitum  cornu,  etc. 

Etiam  exquisit®  differenti®,  quas  suscipit  sonus,  easque 
secum  defert,  demonstrant  hujusmodi  molles  affectus  non  esse 
motus  continuos  locales.  Nam  sigilla  certe  in  materia  accom- 
modata  faciunt  exquisitas  impressiones ;  ita  ut  in  generatione 
soni  fortasse  hoc  fieri  possit.  Sed  delatio  et  continuatio  ilia 
non  competL,  pr®sertim  in  liquidis.  Exquisitas  autem  illas 

1  s-  s'  125-  2  Id.  127.  s  Id.  148.  ‘  Id.  203. 


HISTOMA  SONI  ET  AUDITUS. 


679 


differentias  intelligimus  de  voeibus  articulatis  et  tonia  harmo- 
nicis.1 

Yerum  omnino  de  hac  re  (videlicet,  quam  relationem  et 
correspondentiam  habeat  sonus  ad  motum  localem  aeris)  in- 
quiratur  diligentius ;  non  per  viam  utrum  (quod  genus  quae- 
stionis  in  hujusmodi  rebus  omnia  perdidit),  sed  per  viam 
quatenus :  idque  non  per  argumenta  discursiva,  sed  per  appo- 
sita  experimenta  et  instantias  crucis. 

De  communicatione  aeris  percussi  et  elisi  cum  acre  et  corporibus 
vel  spiritibus  ipsorum  ambientibus. 

In  percussione  campanas,  sonus  editus  per  percussionem  cam- 
panse  cum  inalleo  ab  extra,  et  cum  embolo  ad  intra,  ejusdem 
est  toni.  Adeo  ut  sonus  redditus  per  percussionem  ab  extra 
non  possit  generari  per  collisionem  aeris  inter  malleum  et 
extima  campanse ;  quandoquidem  habeat  rationes  ad  concavum 
campana;  ab  intra.  Et  si  foret  lamina  plana  aeris,  non  conca¬ 
vum  quippiam,  alius  opinor  foret  sonus.2 

Si  fuerit  rima  in  campana,  reddit  sonum  raucum,  non  jucun- 
dum  aut  gratum.3 

Videndum,  quid  faciat  corporis  quod  percutitur  crassitudo 
ad  sonum,  et  quousque;  veluti,  si  ejusdem  concavi  una  cam¬ 
pana  sit  crassior,  altera  tenuior.  Expertus  sum  in  campana 
ex  auro,  earn  reddere  sonum  excellentem,  nihilo  pejorem,  imo 
meliorem,  quam  campanam  argenteam  aut  aeneam.  Attamen 
nummus  aureus  non  tarn  bene  tinnit  quam  argenteus.4 

Dolia  vacua  reddunt  sonum  profundum  et  sonorum,  repleta 
hebetem  et  mortuum. 

At  in  barbito,  cithara,  et  hujusmodi,  licet  prima  percussio 
sit  inter  chordam  et  aerem  exteriorem ;  tamen  statim  ille  aer 
communicat  cum  aere  in  ventre  sive  cavo  barbiti  aut  citharae. 
Unde  in  hujusmodi  instrumentis  fit  semper  perforatio  aliqua, 
ut  aer  exterior  communicet  cum  aere  concluso,  absque  quo 
sonus  foret  hebes  et  emortuus. 

Fiat  experimentum  fistulas  illius  lusciniolae,  ut  impleatur  oleo, 
non  aqua ;  et  notetur  quanto  sonus  sit  mollior,  aut  obtusior. 

Cum  redditur  sonus  inter  anhelitum  et  aerem  percussum  in 
fistula  aut  tibia,  ita  tamen  redditur,  ut  habeat  communicatio- 

1  S.  S.  288.  2  Id.  124.  9  Id.  169.  4  Id.  222. 


680 


HISTORIA  SONI  ET  AUDITUS. 


nem  nonnullam  cum  corpore  tibiae  aut  fistulae.  Alius  enim  fit 
sonus  in  tuba  lignea,  alius  in  aenea ;  alius,  arbitror,  si  tuba  per 
interius,  aut  fortasse  etiam  per  exterius,  fuerit  obducta  serico 
aut  panno  ;  alius  fortasse  si  tuba  fuerit  madida,  alius  si  sicca.1 
Etiam  existimo  in  espinettis  aut  barbito,  si  tabula  ilia  lignea 
super  quam  extenduntur  chordae  foret  aenea  aut  argentea,  di¬ 
version  nonnihil  possit  edere  sonum.2  Verum  de  his  omni¬ 
bus  inquiratur  ulterius.  Etiam  quatenus  ad  communicationem, 
inquirendum  est,  quid  possit  corporum  diversitas  et  inaequalitas  : 
veluti  si  penderent  tres  campanae,  una  intra  alteram,  cum  spatio 
aeris  interposito,  et  percuteretur  campana  exterior  malleo,  qua- 
lem  editura  foret  sonum  respectu  campanae  simplicis.3 

Obducatur  campana  ab  extra  panno  aut  serico,  et  notetur, 
quando  pulsatur  campana  per  embolum  interius,  quid  faciat  ob- 
ductio  ilia  ad  sonum. 

Si  foret  in  barbito  lamina  aenea  aut  argentea  foraminata 
loco  ligneae,  videndum  quid  hoc  faciat  ad  sonum. 

Usurpantur  in  Dania,  atque  etiam  deferuntur  ad  nos,  tym¬ 
pana  aenea,  non  lignea,  minora  ligneis,  atque  edunt  sonum  (arbi¬ 
tror)  magis  sonorum. 

Agitatio  aeris  in  ventis  vehementioribus  non  multum  (arbi¬ 
tror)  redditura  sit  sonum,  si  absint  sylvae,  fluctus,  aedes,  aut 
similia;  attamen  receptum  est,  ante  tempestates  fieri  murmura 
nonnulla  in  sylvis,  licet  flatus  ad  sensum  non  percipiatur,  nec 
moveantur  folia. 


Desunt  tria  capitula,  qua  perficere  non  vacabat. 


1  S.  S.  167.  234. 


2  Id.  229. 


8  Id.  158. 


PHENOMENA  UNIVERSE 


683 


PREFACE 


TO  THE 

PHENOMENA  UNIVERSI. 


The  fragment  which  follows  was  first  published  by  Gruter 
in  1653,  who  places  it  among  the  Impetus  Philosophici.  It 
appears  to  have  been  meant  originally  for  the  commencement 
of  the  third  part  of  the  Instauratio,  with  the  design  of  which, 
as  described  in  the  Distributio  Operis  and  the  Parasceve,  it 
agrees  very  well  as  far  as  it  goes.  “  Tertia  pars  operis”  (says 
Bacon  in  the  Distributio)  “  complectitur  Phenomena  Universi ; 
hoc  est  omnigenam  experientiam,  atque  historiam  naturalem 
ejus  generis  quae  possit  esse  in  ordine  ad  condendam  philosophiam 
....  Neque  corporum  tantum  historiam  exhibemus,  sed  dili- 
gentiae  insuper  nostrae  esse  putavimus  etiam  virtutum  ipsarum 
(illarum  dicimus  quae  tanquam  cardinales  in  natura  censeri  pos- 
sint,  et  in  quibus  naturae  primordia  plane  constituuntur,  utpote 
naturae  primis  passionibus  ac  desideriis;  viz.  denso,  raro;  calido, 
frigido ;  consistente,  fluido :  gravi,  levi ;  aliisque  haud  paucis) 
historiam  seorsim  comparare.”  “  Quod  vero  ”  (he  adds  in  the 
the  Parasceve ,)  “  in  distributione  operis  nostri  mentionem 
fecimus  cardinalium  virtutum  in  natura ;  et  quod  etiam  harum 
historia,  antequam  ad  opus  interpretationis  ventum  fuerit,  per- 
scribenda  esset ;  hujus  rei  minime  obliti  sumus ;  sed  earn  nobis 
ipsis  reservavimus ;  cum  de  aliorum  industria  in  hac  re,  prius- 
quam  homines  cum  natura  paulo  arctius  consuescere  inceperint, 
prolixe  spondere  non  audeamus.” 

Compare  these  announcements  with  the  following  passage  in 
the  preface  to  the  fragment  before  us.  “  Atque  a  phaenomenis 
aetheris  ordiri  solennius  foret.  Nos  autem,  nil  de  severitate 
instituti  nostri  remittentes,  ea  anteferemus  quae  naturam  con- 


684  PREFACE  TO  THE  PHENOMENA  UNIVERSE 

stituant  et  referant  magis  communem,  cujus  uterque  globus  est 
particeps.  Ordiemur  vero  ab  historia  corporum  secundum  earn 
differentiam  qua?  videtur  simplicissima ;  ea  est  copia  aut  pau- 
citas  materia  intra  idem  spatium  sive  eandem  circumscriptionem 
contentce  et  exporrectte.”  1  The  subject  therefore  which  stands 
first  in  the  list  of  these  cardinal  virtues  in  nature  which,  when 
he  published  the  Novum  Organum,  he  meant  to  reserve  for  his 
own  pen  and  handle  separately,  —  namely,  the  Historia  Densi 
et  Rari  —  is  the  very  subject  with  which  this  fragment  com¬ 
mences  ;  and  there  need  be  no  doubt  that  both  the  title  and 
the  praefatio  properly  belong  to  it. 

There  is  nothing  that  I  know  of  to  determine  the  date  at 
which  it  was  written.  But  there  being  no  allusion  to  it  in  the 
Commentarius  Solutus,  I  suppose  it  was  not  begun  in  1608. 
And  it  must  certainly  have  been  written  before  1622,  when 
the  Historia  Ventorum  was  published;  for  then  the  Historia 
Densi  et  Rari  was  designed  for  the  second  place  in  the  series, 
not  (as  here)  for  the  first.  The  allusion  in  the  last  paragraph 
but  one  to  an  instrument  recently  exhibited  in  England  by  cer¬ 
tain  Batavians,  which  uttered  a  musical  sound  when  exposed 
to  the  sun,  may  possibly  bring  the  uncertainty  within  narrower 
limits ;  if  the  date  of  that  exhibition  can  be  ascertained.  But 
in  the  meantime  we  cannot  he  far  wrong  in  placing  the  frag¬ 
ment  here. 

Another  copy  of  it,  much  enlarged  and  improved  in  the 
latter  part,  though  very  imperfect  and  apparently  of  earlier 
date  in  the  beginning,  was  published  by  Dr.  Hawley  in  1658. 
This  has  already  been  printed  in  its  place,  with  Mr.  Ellis’s 
preface  and  notes,  to  which  the  reader  is  referred. 


J.  S. 


1  See  p.  688.  at  the  bottom. 


685 


PHENOMENA  UNIVERSI; 

SITE 

HISTORIA  NATURALIS  AD  CONEENDAM  PHILOSOPHIAM. 


PRAIFATIO. 

Cum  nobis  homines  nec  opinandi  nec  experiendi  vias  tenere 
prorsus  videantur,  omni  ope  huic  infortunio  subveniendum  puta- 
vimus.  Neque  enim  major  aliunde  se  ostendit  bene  merendi 
ratio,  quam  si  id  agatur,  ut  homines,  et  placitorum  larvis  et 
experimentorum  stuporibus  liberati,  ipsi  cum  rebus  magis  fida 
et  magis  arcta  inita  societate  contrahant,  quasi  per  experientiam 
quandam  literatam.  Hoc  enim  modo  intellectus  et  in  tuto  et 
in  summo  collocatur,  atque  praesto  insuper  erit  atque  ingruet 
rerum  utilium  proventus.  Atque  hujus  rei  exordia  omnino  a 
Naturali  Historia  ducenda  sunt ;  nam  universa  philosophia  Grse- 
corum,  cum  sectis  suis  omnigenis,  atque  si  qua  alia  philosophia 
in  manibus  est,  nobis  videtur  super  nimis  angustam  basin  natu- 
ralis  historiae  fundata  esse,  atque  ex  paucioribus  quam  par  erat 
pronuntiasse.  Arreptis  enim  quibusdam  ab  experientia  et  tra- 
ditionibus,  neque  iis  interdum  aut  diligenter  examinatis  *,  reli- 
qua  in  meditatione  et  ingenii  agitatione  posuere,  assumpta  in  ma- 
jorem  rei  fiduciam  Dialectica.  Chymistae  autem  et  universum 
mechanicorum  et  empiricorum  genus,  si  et  illis  contemplationes 
et  philosophiam  tentare  audacia  creverit,  paucarum  rerum  ac- 
curatse  subtilitati  assueti,  miris  modis  reliquas  ad  eas  contor- 
quent ;  et  placita  magis  deformia  et  monstrosa,  quam  rationales 
illi  producunt.  Illi  enim  parum  ex  multis,  hi  rursus  multum 
ex  paucis,  in  philosophias  materiam  sumunt;  utriusque  autem 
ratio,  si  verum  dicendum  sit,  infirma  est  et  perdita.  Sed  natu- 
ralis  historia  quae  hactenus  congesta  est  primo  intuitu  copiosa 
videri  possit,  cum  re  vera  sit  egena  et  inutilis,  neque  adeo  ejus 
generis  quod  quserimus.  Neque  enim  a  fabulis  et  deliriis 

*  So  in  the  original ;  a  clause  having  apparently  dropped  out :  such  as,  aut  eerto 
compertis  notionibus,  or  words  to  that  effect.  Compare  Nov.  Org.  i.  62. 


686 


PHENOMENA  UNIVERSE 


purgata  est,  et  in  antiquitatem  et  philologiam  et  narrationes 
supervacuas  excurrit ;  circa  solida  negligens  et  faatidiosa,  cu- 
riosa  et  nimia  in  inanibus.  Pessinmm  autem  est  in  hac  copia, 
quod  rerum  naturalium  inquisitionem  amplexa  est,  rerum  autem 
mechanicarum  magna  ex  parte  aspernata.  Atque  has  ipste  ad 
naturae  sinus  excutiendos  longe  illis  praestant ;  natura  enim 
sponte  sua  fusa  et  vaga  disgregat  intellectum,  et  varietate  sua 
confundit ;  verum  in  mechanicis  operationibus  contrahitur  judi¬ 
cium,  et  naturae  modi  et  processus  cernuntur,  non  tantum 
effecta.  Atque  rursus  universa  mechanicorum  subtilitas  citra 
rem  quam  quaerimus  sistitur.  Artifex  enim  operi  et  fini  suo 
intentus  ad  alia  (quae  forsan  ad  naturae  inquisitionem  magis 
faciunt)  nec  animum  erigit  nec  manum  porrigit.  Itaque  magis 
exquisita  cura  opus  est,  et  probationibus  clectis,  atque  sumptu 
etiam,  ac  summa  insuper  patientia.  Illud  enim  in  experimen- 
talibus  omnia  perdidit,  quod  homines  etiam  a  principio  fructifera 
experimenta,  non  lucifera,  sectati  sunt;  atque  ad  opus  aliquod 
magnificum  educendum  omnino  incubuere,non  ad  pandenda  Ora- 
cula  Naturae,  quod  opus  operum  est,  et  omnem  potestatem  in  se 
complectitur.  Intervenit  et  illud  ex  hominum  curiositate  et  fastu, 
quod  ad  secreta  et  rara  se  plerunque  converterunt,  et  in  his  operam 
et  inquisitionem  posuerunt,  spretis  experimentis  atque  observa- 
tionibus  vulgatis ;  quod  videntur  fecisse,  aut  admirationem  et  fa- 
mam  captantes,  aut  in  eo  lapsi  et  decepti,  quod  philosophiae  officium 
in  accommodandis  et  reducendis  rarioribus  eventibus  ad  ea  quae 
familiariter  occurrunt,  non  aeque  in  ipsarum  illarum  vulgarium 
rerum  causis  et  causarum  causis  altioribus  eruendis,  situm  esse 
existimarunt.  Universae  autem  hujus  de  naturali  historia  querelae 
causa  ea  praecipua  est,  quod  homines  non  in  opere  tantum,  sed 
in  ipso  instituto  aberrarunt.  Namque  historia  ilia  naturalis,  quae 
extat,  aut  ob  ipsorum  experimentorum  utilitatem  aut  ob  nar- 
rationum  jucunditatem  confecta  videtur  et  propter  se  facta,  non 
ut  philosophiae  et  scientiis  initia  et  veluti  mammam  praebeat. 
Itaque  huic  rei  pro  facultate  nostra  deesse  nolumus.  Nobis 
enim  quantum  philosophiis  abstractis  sit  tribuendum,  jampridem 
constitutum  est.  Etiam  vias  Inductionis  verse  et  bonae,  in  qua 
sunt  omnia,  tenere  nos  arbitramur,  et  intellectus  humani  versus 
scientias  facultatem  incompetentem  et  prorsus  imparem,  veluti 
per  machiuas  aut  filum  aliquod  labyrinthi,  posse  juvare.  Neque 
nescii  sumus,  nos,  si  instaurationem  illam  scientiarum  quam 
in  animo  habemus  intra  inventa  ulla  majora  cohibere  voluisse- 


PHENOMENA  UNIVERSE 


687 


mus,  ampliorem  fortasse  honoris  fructum  percipere  potuisse. 
Verum  cum  nobis  Deus  animum  indiderit  qui  se  rebus  submit- 
tere  sciat,  quique  ex  meriti  conscientia  et  successus  fiducia 
speciosa  libens  praetereat ;  earn  etiam  partem  operia  nobis  de- 
sumpsimus,  quam  existimamus  alium  quemquam  aut  in  uni- 
versum  fugere,  aut  non  pro  institute  nostro  tractare  voluisse. 
Circa  hoc  autem  duo  sunt,  de  quibus  homines  et  alias,  et  nunc 
praecipue  cum  ad  rem  ipsam  accingimur,  monitos  volumus. 
Primo,  ut  mittant  illam  cogitationem,  quae  facile  hominum 
mentes  occupat  et  obsidet,  licet  sit  falsissima  et  perniciosissima, 
earn  videlicet,  quod  rerum  particularium  inquisitio  infinitum 
quiddam  sit  et  sine  exitu :  cum  illud  verius  sit,  opinionum  et 
disputationum  modum  nullum  esse,  sed  phantasias  illas  ad  per- 
petuos  errores  et  infinitas  agitationes  damnari;  particularia 
autem  et  informationes  sensus  (demptis  individuis  et  rerum 
gradibus,  quod  inquisitioni  veritatis  satis  est)  comprehensionem 
pro  certo,  nec  earn  sane  vastam  aut  desperatam,  patiuntur. 
Secundo,  ut  homines  subinde  meminerint  quid  agatur,  atque 
cum  inciderint  in  complures  res  vulgatissimas,  exiles,  ac  specie 
tenus  leves,  etiam  turpes,  et  quibus  (ut  ait  ille)  honos  praj- 
fandus  sit,  non  arbitrentur  nos  nugari,  aut  mentem  humanam 
inferius  quam  pro  dignitate  sua  deprimere.  Neque  enim  ista 
propter  se  quaesita  aut  descripta  sunt,  sed  nulla  prorsus  alia 
patet  intellectui  humano  via,  neque  ratio  operis  aliter  constat ; 
nos  siquidem  conamur  rem  omnium  maxime  seriam  et  humana 
mente  dignissimam,  ut  lumen  naturae  purum  et  minime  phanta- 
sticum  (cujus  nomen  hactenus  quandoque  jactatur,  res  homi- 
nibus  penitus  ignota  est),  per  facem  a  divino  numine  praebitam 
et  admotam,  hoc  nostro  seculo  accendatur.  Neque  enim  dissi- 
mulamus  nos  in  ea  opinione  esse,  praeposteram  illam  argumen- 
torum  et  me<3itationum  subtilitatem,  primae  informationis  sive 
vene  inductionis  subtilitate  et  veritate  suo  tempore  praeter- 
missa  aut  non  recte  instituta,  rem  in  integrum  restituere  nullo 
modo  posse,  licet  omnia  omnium  aetatum  ingenia  coierint ;  sed 
naturam,  ut  fortunam,  a  fronte  capillatam,  ab  occipitio  calvam 
esse.  Restat  itaque  ut  res  de  integro  tentetur,  idque  majoribus 
praesidiis ;  atque  exutis  opinionum  zelis  detur  aditus  ad  regnum 
philosophiae  et  scientiarum  (in  quo  opes  humanae  site  sunt, 
natura  enim  nonnisi  parendo  vincitur),  qualis  patet  ad  regnum 
illud  coelorum,  in  quod  nisi  sub  persona  infantis  ingredi  non 
licet :  usum  autem  hujus  operis  plebeium  ilium  et  promiscuum 


688 


PHENOMENA  UNIVERSL 


ex  experimentis  ipsis  omnino  non  contemnimus  (cum  et  notitiae 
et  invention!  hominum,  pro  varietate  artium  et  ingeniorum, 
plurima  utilia  proculdubio  suggerere  possit) ;  attamen  minimum 
quiddam  esse  censemus,  prae  eo  aditu  ad  scientiam  et  potentiam 
humanam,  quern  ex  misericordia  divina  speramus.  A  qua  etiam 
supplices  iterum  petimus,  ut  novis  eleemosynis  per  manus 
nostras  familiam  humanam  dotare  dignetur. 

Natura  rerum  aut  libera  est,  ut  in  Speciebus,  aut  perturbata, 
ut  in  Monstris,  aut  constricta,  ut  in  Experimentis  Artium ;  faci- 
nora  autem  ejus  cujuscunque  generis  digna  memoratu  et  histo- 
ria.  Sed  Historia  Specierum,  quae  habetur,  veluti  plan  tar  um, 
animalium,  metallorum  et  fossilium,  tumida  est  et  curiosa ;  Ili- 
storia  Mirabilium,  vana  et  e  rumore  ;  Historia  Experimentorum 
manca,  tentata  per  partes,  tractata  negligenter,  atque  omnino 
in  usum  practicae,  non  in  usum  philosophise.  Nobis  itaque  stat 
decretum,  historiam  specierum  contrahere,  historiam  mirabilium 
excutere  atque  expurgare;  praecipuam  autem  operam  in  expe¬ 
rimentis  mechanicis  et  artificialibus,  atque  naturae  erga  manum 
humanam  obsequiis  collocare.  Quid  enim  ad  nos  lusus  naturae 
et  lascivia?  hoc  est,  pusillae  specierum  ex  figura  differentiae, 
quae  ad  opera  nil  faciunt ;  in  quibus  nihilominus  naturalis  histo¬ 
ria  luxuriatur.  Mirabilium  autem  cognitio  grata  certe  nobis, 
si  expurgata  et  electa  sit ;  sed  quamobrem  tandem  grata?  Non 
ob  ipsam  admirationis  suavitatem,  sed  quod  saepe  artem  officii 
sui  admonet,  ut  naturam  sciens  eo  perducat,  quo  ipsa  sponte 
sua  nonnun  quam  praeivit.  Omnino  primas  partes  ad  excitan- 
dum  lumen  naturae  artificialibus  tribuimus;  non  tantum  quia 
per  se  utilissima,  sed  quia  naturalium  fidissimi  interpretes. 
Num  forte  fulguris  aut  iridis  naturam  tarn  clare  cxplicasset 
quisquam,  antequam  per  tormenta  bellica,  aut  artificiosa  iridum 
super  parietem  simulacra,  utriusque  ratio  demonstrata  esset? 
Quod  si  causarum  fidi  interpretes,  etiam  effectorum  et  operum 
certi  et  felices  indices  erunt.  Neque  tamen  consentaneum 
putamus  ex  triplici  ista  partitione  historiam  nostram  distraliere, 
ut  singula  seorsim  tractentur,  sed  genera  ipsa  miscebimus,  na- 
turalia  artificialibus,  consueta  admirandis  adjungentes,  atque 
utilissimis  quibusque  maxime  inhaerentes. 

Atque  a  phaenomenis  aetheris  ordiri  solennius  foret.  Nos 
autem  nil  de  severitate  instituti  nostri  remittentes,  ea  ante- 
feremus  quae  naturam  constituunt  et  referunt  magis  com- 


PHENOMENA  UNIVERSE 


689 


munem,  cujus  uterque  globus  est  particeps.  Ordiemur  vero 
ab  historia  corporum,  secundum  earn  differentiam,  quse  videtur 
simplicissima ;  ea  est  copia  aut  paucitas  materia;  intra  idem 
spatium,  sive  eandem  circumscriptionem,  contentxe  et  expor- 
recta;.  Nam  cum  ex  pronuntiatis  de  natura  nil  verius  sit 
quam  propositio  ilia  gemella,  ex  nihilo  nihil  fieri ,  neque  quic- 
quam  in  nihilum  redigi,  sed  quantum  ipsum  natura;,  sive  ma¬ 
teria;  summam  universalem,  perpetuo  manere  et  constare,  et 
neutiquam  augeri  aut  minui.  Etiam  illud  non  minus  certum, 
tametsi  non  tam  perspicue  notatum  aut  assertum  sit  (quicquid 
homines  de  potentia  materia;  aequabili  ad  formas  fabulentur), 
ex  quanto  illo  materia,  sub  iisdem  spatiorum  dimensionibus 
plus  et  minus  contineri,  pro  corporum  diversitate  a  quibus  oc- 
cupantur ;  quorum  alia  magis  com  pacta,  alia  magis  extensa  sive 
fusa,  evidentissime  reperiuntur.  Neque  enim  parem  materia 
portionem  recipit  vas  aut  concavum  aqua  et  aere  impletum; 
sed  illud  plus,  istud  minus.  Itaque  si  quis  asserat,  ex  pari  aeris 
contento  par  aquae  contentum  effici  posse ;  idem  est  ac  si  dicat 
aliquid  fieri  posse  ex  nihilo.  Nam  quod  deesse  supponitur  ex 
materia,  id  ex  nihilo  suppleri  necesse  foret.  Rursus  si  quis 
asserat,  par  contentum  aquae  in  par  contentum  aeris  posse  verti, 
idem  est  ac  si  dicat  aliquid  posse  redigi  in  nihilum.  Nam 
quod  superesse  supponitur  ex  materia,  id  ad  nihilum  evanuisse 
similiter  necesse  foret.  Neque  nobis  dubium  est,  quin  haec  res 
etiam  calculos  pati  possit,  surdos  fortasse  in  aliquibus,  sed  defi- 
nitos  et  certos,  et  naturae  notos.  Yeluti  si  quis  dicat  auri 
corpus  collatum  ad  corpus  spiritus  vini,  esse  coacervationem 
materia;  superantem  ratione  vicecupla  simpla  aut  circiter,  non 
erraverit.  Itaque  exhibituri  jam  historiam  earn  quam  diximus 
de  copia  et  paucitate  materia;,  atque  de  materia;  coitione  atque 
expansione,  ex  quibus  notiones  illae  Densi  et  Rari  (si  proprie 
accipiantur)  ortum  habent,  hunc  ordinem  servabimus,  ut  primo 
corporum  diversorum  (ut  auri,  aqua;,  olei,  aeris,  flammse)  ra- 
tiones  ad  invicem  recenseamus.  Examinatis  autem  rationibus 
corporum  diversorum,  postea  unius  atque  ejusdcm  corporis 
subingressus  et  expatiationes  cum  calculis  sive  rationibus  me- 
morabimus.  Idem  enim  corpus  etiam  absque  accessione  aut 
ablatione,  aut  saltern  minime  pro  rata  contractionis  et  extensi- 
onis,  ex  variis  impulsibus  turn  externis  turn  internis,  sustinet  se 
congerere  in  majorem  et  minorem  sphaeram.  Interdum  enim 
luctatur  corpus,  et  in  veterem  splueram  se  restituere  nititur. 


690 


PHENOMENA  UNIVERSE 


interdum  plaue  transmigrat,  nec  revertere  satagit.  Hie  cursus 
primo  atque  differentias  et  rationes  corporis  alicujus  naturalis 
(quoad  extentum)  collati  cum  aperturis  aut  clausuris  suis  me- 
morabimus ;  videlicet  cum  pulveribus  suis,  cum  calcibus  suis, 
cum  vitrificationibus  suis,  cum  dissolutionibus  suis,  cum  distil- 
latis  suis,  cum  vaporibus  et  auris,  exhalationibus,  et  inflamma- 
tionibus  suis  memorabimus ;  deinde  actus  ipsos  et  motus,  et 
progressus  et  terminos  contractionis  et  dilatationis  proponemus, 
et  quando  se  restituant  corpora,  quando  transmigrent  secun¬ 
dum  extentum ;  prsecipue  autem  efficientia  et  media,  per  quae 
hujusmodi  corporum  contractiones  et  dilatationes  sequuntur, 
notabimus  ;  atque  interim  virtutes  et  actiones,  qure  corpora  ex 
hujusmodi  compressionibus  et  dilatationibus  induunt  et  nanci- 
scuntur,  obiter  subtexemus.  Cumque  probe  noverimus  quam 
difficilis  res  sit,  in  prsesenti  animorum  statu,  jam  ab  ipso  prin- 
cipio  cum  natura  consuescere,  observationes  nostras  ad  atten- 
tionem  hominum  et  meditationem  excitandam  et  conciliandam 
adjieiemus.  Quod  ad  demonstrationem  autem  attinet,  sive  re- 
tectionem  densitatis  et  raritatis  corporum,  nil  dubitamus  aut 
cunctamur  quin  quoad  corpora  crassa  et  palpabilia,  motus  gra- 
vitatis  (quem  vocant)  loco  optimse  et  maxime  expedita;  pro- 
bationis  sumi  possit ;  quo  enim  corpus  compactius,  eo  gravius. 
Verum  postquam  ad  gradum  aereorum  et  spiritualium  ventum 
est,  turn  profecto  a  lancibus  destituimur,  atque  alia  nobis  indu- 
stria  opus  erit.  Incipiemus  autem  ab  Auro,  quod  omnium  quae 
habemus  (neque  enim  tarn  adulta  est  philosophia,  ut  de  visce- 
ribus  terra;  statuere  debeamus),  gravissimum  est,  atque  pluri- 
mum  materiae  minimo  spatio  complectitur,  atque  ad  hujus  cor¬ 
poris  sphaeram  reliquorum  rationes  applicabimus ;  illud  monentes, 
historiam  ponderum  hie  nos  minime  tractare,  nisi  quatenus  ad 
corporum  spatia  sive  dimensa  demonstranda  lucem  praebeat. 
Cum  vero  non  conjicere  et  ariolari,  sed  invenire  et  scire  nobis 
propositum  sit,  hoc  autem  in  examine  et  probatione  experimen- 
torum  primorum  magnopere  positum  esse  judicemus,  prorsus 
decrevimus  in  omni  experimento  subtiliore  modum  experimenti 
quo  usi  sumus  aperte  subjungere :  ut  postquam  patefactum  sit 
quomodo  singula  nobis  constiterint,  videant  homines  et  qua¬ 
tenus  fidem  adhibeant,  et  quid  ulterius  faciendum  sit,  sive  ad 
errores  corrigendos  qui  adhaerere  possint,  sive  ad  excitandas 
atque  ad  operandas  probationes  magis  fidas  et  exquisitas.  Quin 
et  ipsi  de  iis  qua3  nobis  minus  explorata  atque  errori  magis  ex- 


PHENOMENA  UNIVERSE 


691 


posita  et  quasi  finitima  videbuntur,  sedulo  et  sincere  monebimus. 
Postremo  observationes  nostras  (ut  modo  diximus)  adjiciemus, 
ut  licet  omnia  integra  philosophic;  servemus,  tamen  faciem  ipsam 
historic  naturalis  etiam  in  transitu  versus  pbilosophiam  obver- 
tamus.  Atque  porro  illud  curabimus,  ut  quascunque  ea  sint 
sive  expcrimenta  sive  observationes,  qua;  praeter  scopum  in- 
quisitionis  occurrunt  atque  interveniunt,  et  ad  alios  titulos  pro- 
prie  pertinent,  notemus,  ne  inquisitio  confundatur. 


Tabula  Coitionis  et  Expansions  Materle  per  Spatia  in 
Tangibilibus,  cum  Supputatione  Rationum  in  Corporibus 

DIVERSIS. 


Idem  spatium  occupant,  sive  asque  exporriguntur, 


Den 

Gr. 

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centis  J 

17 

Crystalli  . 

2 

18 

45 

Ligni  ebeni 

i 

H 

18 

Alabastri 

2 

12 

46 

Sem.  fieniculi  I 

i 

H 

19 

Salis  gemm®  . 

2 

10 

dulcis  J 

20 

Luti  communis 

2 

47 

Succini  lucidi 

i 

3 

21 

Luti  albi  . 

2 

48 

Aceti . 

i 

3* 

22 

Nitri 

2 

5 

49 

Agress®  ex  pomis  1 

i 

3 

23 

Ossis  bovis 

2 

5 

acerbis  J 

o  C  paul. 
^  C  min. 

24 

Pulveris  margarita- ' 

2 

2 

50 

Aqu®  communis 

i 

rum 

51 

Urin® 

i 

3 

25 

Sulphuris 

2 

2 

52 

Olei  caryophyllorum  1 

o  C  paul. 
°  l  rain. 

26 

Terr®  communis 

2 

H 

53 

Vini  clareti 

i 

n 

27 

Vitrioli  albi 

1 

22 

54 

Sacchari  albi 

i 

28 

Eboris 

1  21 J 

55 

Cer®  flav® 

i 

2 

29 

Aluminis 

1 

21 

56 

Radicis  Chin®  , 

i 

2 

45  Bacon  III 


692 


PHENOMENA  UNIVERSE 


Den. 

Gr. 

j 

Den  Gr. 

57 

Camis  pyri  bruma-  1 

1 

2 

Olei  maceris  viridis 

(•  0  231 

lis  crudi  J 

expressi 

58 

Aceti  distillati  . 

I 

1 

Herb®  sampsuchi 

0  22 

59 

Aquae  rosace®  dis- 1 

1 

1 

Petrolei 

0  23 

llat®  J 

Florum  rosffi 

0  22 

60 

Cineris  communis 

1 

01 

Spiritus  vini 

0  22 

61 

Beniovis  . 

1 

0 

Ligni  quercus  . 

0  191 

62 

Myrrh® 

1 

0 

Fuliginis  communis  et 

l  0  17 

63 

Butyri 

1 

0 

camino  pressi. 

1 

64 

Adipis 

1 

0 

Ligni  abietis 

0  15 

Olei  amygdalini  dulcis 

0  23£' 

Modus  experimenti  circa  tabulam  suprascriptam. 

Intelligantur  pondera  quibus  usi  sumus  ejus  generis  et 
computationis,  quibus  aurifabri  utuntur,  ut  libra  capiat  uncias 
12,  uncia  viginti  denarios,  denarius  grana  24.  Delegimus  au- 
tem  corpus  auri,  ad  cujus  exporrectionis  mensuram  reliquorum 
corporum  rationes  applicaremus,  non  tantum  quia  gravissimum, 
sed  quia  maxime  unum  et  sui  simile.  Reliqua  enim  corpora 
quae  quiddam  continent  volatilis,  etiam  ignem  passa  varietatem 
retinent  ponderis  et  spatii ;  sed  aurum  depuratum  earn  plane 
exuisse  videtur,  atque  ubique  simile  esse.  Experimentum  vero 
hujusmodi  erat.  Unciam  auri  puri  in  figuram  ale  eg  sive  cubi 
efFormavimus  ;  dein  vasculum  quadratum  paravimus,  quod 
corpus  illud  auri  caperet,  atque  ei  exacte  con  venire  t,  nisi  quod 
esset  nonnihil  altius ;  ita  tamen  ut  locus  intra  vasculum  quo 
cubus  ille  auri  adscenderat  linea  conspicua  signaretur.  Id 
fecimus  liquorum  gratia,  ut  cum  liquor  aliquis  intra  idem  vas¬ 
culum  immittendus  esset,  ne  diffiueret ;  atque  hoc  modo  justa 
mensura  commodius  servari  posset.  Simul  autem  aliud  vascu¬ 
lum  fieri  fecimus,  quod  cum  altero  illo,  pondere  et  contento 
prorsus  par  esset ;  ut  in  pari  vasculo  corporis  contenti  tantum 
ratio  appareret.  Turn  cubos  ejusdem  magnitudinis  sive  di- 
mcnsi  fieri  fecimus,  in  omnibus  materiis  in  Tabula  specificatis 
quae  sectionem  pati  possent;  liquoribus  vero  ex  tempore  usi 
sumus,  implendo  scilicet  vasculum  quousque  liquor  ad  locum 
ilium  signatum  adscenderet ;  pulveres  eodem  modo  ;  sed  intel¬ 
ligantur  pulveres  maxime  et  fortiter  compressi.  Hoc  enim 
potissimum  ad  asquationem  pertinet,  nec  casum  recipit.  Ita- 
que  non  alia  fuit  probatio,  quam  ut  unum  ex  vasculis  vacuum 

1  Den.  I.  gran.  23.  D.  in  the  original;  a  misprint,  no  doubt.  Compare  Vol.  IE 
p.  246. 


PHENOMENA  UNIVERSE 


693 


cum  uncia  in  una  lance,  alterum  ex  vasculis  cum  corpore 
in  altera  parte  poneretur,  et.  ratio  ponderis  exciperetur ;  quod 
quanto  esset  diminutum,  tanto  dimensum  ejusdem  corporis 
intelligitur  auctum.  Exempli  gratia,  cum  auri  cubus  dct  un- 
ciam  unam,  adipis  vero  denarium  unum  ;  liquet  exporrectionem 
corporis  auri,  collatnm  ad  exporrectionem  corporis  adipis,  ha¬ 
bere  rationem  vicecuplam.  Mensurae  autem  ejus  qme  unciam 
auri  capiebat,  modem  etiam  excipere  et  notare  visum  est ;  ea 
erat  pintae  vinarise,  qualis  apud  nos  Anglos  in  usu  est,  pars 
2G9  paulo  minus.  Probatio  vero  talis  erat.  Pondus  aqua; 
quod  intra  vasculum  sub  ilia  linea  continebatur  notavimus,  ac 
turn  pondus  aqua;  intra  pintam  contentum  similiter  notavimus, 
et  ex  rationibus  ponderum  rationes  mensurarum  collegimus. 


Monita. 


Videndum  num  forte  contractio  corporis  arctior  ex  vi  unita 
nanciscatur  majorem  rationem  ponderis,  quam  pro  quantitate 
materia; ;  id  utrum  fiat  necne  ex  historia  propria  ponderis  con¬ 
stant.  Quod  si  fiat,  fallit  certe  supputatio ;  et  quo  corpora 
sunt  extensiora,  eo  plus  habent  materia;  quam  pro  calculo 
ponderis  et  mensura;,  qua;  ex  eo  pendet. 

2  Parvitas  vasis  quo  usi  sumus,  et  forma  etiam  (licet  ad 
cub  ,s  illos  recipiendos  habilis  et  apta),  ad  rationes  exquisitas 
verificandas  minus  propria  fuit.  Nam  nec  minutias  infra  gram 
dimidium  et  quadrantem  facile  excipere  licebat,  et  quadrata  ilia 
superficies  in  parvo  nec  sensibili  adscensu  sive  altituiline  no- 
tabilem  ponderis  differentiam  trahere  potuit,  contra  quam  fit  in 
vnsis  in  acutum  surgentibus. 


rationibus  de  materia;  coacervatione  judicium  faciamus. 


cujus  ra 


hue  retrahi  non  poterant.  Primo, 


Itaque  tria  genera  corporum 


694 


PHENOMENA  UNIVERSI. 


ea  quae  dimensioni  cubical  satisfacere  non  poterant,  ut  folia, 
flores,  pelliculae,  membranae.  Secundo,  corpora  inaequaliter  cava 
et  porosa,  ut  spongiae,  suber,  vellera.  Tertio,  pneumatica 
pondere  non  dotantur. 

Observationes. 

Coacervatio  materiae  in  corporibus  tangibilibus,  quae  ad  nos- 
tram  notitiam  pervenerunt,  intra  rationes  partium  2 1  vel  circi- 
ter  vertuntur.  Coacervatio  enim  maxime  compacta  invenitur 
in  auro,  maxime  expansa  in  spiritu  vini  (ex  corporibus  dicimus 
quae  unita  sunt,  nec  evidenter  porosa).  Namque  spiritus  vini 
occupat  spatium  vicies  et  semel  repetitum,  quod  occupat  aurum, 
juxta  rationes  uncial  unius  ad  grana  22.  Ex  21  enim  illis  par- 
tibus,  quibus  corpora  alia  aliis  sunt  magis  compacta,  13  partes 
occupant  metalla ;  nam  stannum,  quod  metallorum  est  levissi- 
mum,  ponderis  est  denar,  fere  8,  quod  decrevit  infra  pondus 
auri  denariis  13.  Omnigena  autem  ilia  varietas,  postquam  a 
metallis  decessimus,  intra  8  illas  reliquas  partes  clauditur ; 
ac  rursus  insignis  ilia  varietas,  qu£e  incipiendo  a  lapidibus  in¬ 
clusive  ad  alia  ilia  protenditur,  intra  tres  tantum  partes  aut  non 
multo  plus  cohibetur.  Nam  lapis  Lydius,  qui  est  ex  lapidibus 
gravissimus  (excepto  magnete),  parum  denariis  3  praiponderat. 
Spiritus  autem  vini,  qui  est  terminus  levitatis  in  corporibus 
unitis,  denario  uno  paulo  levior  est. 

Yidetur  saltus  magnus  sive  hiatus  ab  auro  et  argento  vivo 
ad  plumbum;  scilicet  a  20  denariis  et  paulo  minus  ad  12. 
Atque  licet  metallica  magna  varietate  exuberent,  vix  tamen 
existimamus  in  hoc  hiatu  multa  inveniri  corpora  media,  nisi  sint 
prorsus  rudimenta  argenti  vivi.  A  plumbo  autem  gradatim 
adscenditur  ad  ferrum  et  stannum.  Eursus  alterum  magnum 
hiatum  sive  saltum  invenimus  inter  metalla  et  lapides ;  scilicet 
ab  8  denariis  ad  tres ;  tantum  enim  aut  circiter  a  stanno  distat 
ad  lapidem  Lydium.  Solummodo  inter  haec  se  interponit,  et 
fere  ex  aequo,  magnes,  qui  est  lapis  metallicus;  atque  existima¬ 
mus  inveniri  et  alia  fossilia  misturae  imperfectae,  et  compositae 
naturae  inter  metallum  et  lapides.  A  lapidibus  certe  ad  reliqua 
parvis  intervallis  proceditur. 

In  vegetabilibus  autem  minime  dubitamus,  ac  etiam  in  parti- 
bus  animalium,  se  ostendere  quam  plura  corpora  etiam  satis 
aequalis  texturae,  quae  spiritum  vini  levitate  superent.  Namque 
etiam  lignum  quercus,  quae  videtur  esse  ex  lignis  robustis  et 


PHENOMENA  UNIVERSE 


695 


solidis,  spiritu  vim  est  levius ;  et  lignum  abietis  adhuc  magis. 
Korum  autem  et  foliorum  plurima,  et  membranae  et  pelliculae, 
ut  spolia  serpentum  et  alae  insectorum,  et  similia,  proculdubio 
ad  minores  rationes  ponderum  (si  dimensionem  illam  cubicam 
capere  possent)  accederent,  ac  multo  magis  artificialia,  ut  pa¬ 
pyrus,  linteus  pannus  extinctus  (quali  ad  fomites  flammarum 
utimur),  folia  rosarum  quae  supersunt  a  distillatione,  et  hu- 
jusmodi. 

Reperimus  plerunque  in  partibus  animalium  corpora  non- 
nulla  magis  compacta  quam  in  plantis.  Ossa  enim  et  carnes 
magis  sunt  compacta  quam  ligna  et  folia.  Cohibenda  ac  etiam 
corrigenda  est  ilia  cogitatio,  in  quam  animus  humanus  pro- 
pendet ;  compacta  nimirum  quaeque  et  maxime  solida,  esse  du- 
rissima  et  consistere  maxime;  fluido  vero  adesse  naturam  minus 
contractam.  Nam  coacervatio  materiae  non  minor  est  in  corpo- 
ribus  quae  fluunt,  quam  in  iis  quae  consistunt,  sed  major  potius. 
Siquidem  aurum  mollitie  quadam  vergit  ad  fluorem,  atque  cum 
liquescit  neutiquam  extenditur,  sed  priore  spatio  continetur. 
Et  argentum  vivum  ex  se  fluit,  et  plumbum  facile  fluit,  ferrum 
gegre,  quorum  alterum  ex  gravissimis  metallis  est,  alterum  ex 
levissimis.  Sed  illud  praecipuum,  quod  generaliter  metalla  lapi- 
des  (fluida  videlicet  corpora,  fragilia)  pondere  longe  superent.1 

Accidit  auro  et  argento  vivo,  quae  ex  metallis  reliquis  tanto 
sunt  graviora,  res  mira ;  nempe  ut  reperiantur  quandoque  in 
granis  et  parvis  portionibus  quasi  a  natura  perfecta,  et  fere 
pura ;  quod  nulli  fere  aliorum  metallorum  contingit,  quae  ne- 
cesse  habent  ut  per  ignem  purgentur  et  coeant;  cum  tamen 
haec  duo,  quorum  coitio  longe  maxima  est  et  verissima,  id  a 
natura  quandoque  absque  ignis  beneficio  consequantur. 

In  inquisitione  de  re  metallica  ac  de  natura  lapidum,  attenda- 
tur  parum  quae  sint  ea  metalla,  quae  solent  esse  caeteiis  depres- 
siora,  et  magis  in  profundo  sita,  si  quae  hujus  rei  norma  sit  et 
experimentum  constans ;  in  quo  tamen  ipso  ratio  habenda  est 
regionis  in  qua  fodinae  sunt,  an  ipsa  fuerit  terra  alta,  an  ten  a 
liumilis.  Similiter  de  lapidibus  et  gemmis,  crystallis,  an  natura 
lapidea  penetret  terram  tam  profunde  quam  metallica,  an  potius 
in  superficie  haereat,  quod  magis  existimamua. 

Sulphur,  quem  patrem  metallorum  esse  communis  est  opinio, 
licet  a  peritioribus  fere  repudiata,  aut  ad  sulphurem  quendam 
uaturalem  non  communem  translata,  habet  coacervationem 

1  Id  the  original  fragilia  is  not  included  within  the  parenthesis  j  obviously  by  mistake. 


696 


PHENOMENA  UNIVERSE 


materise,  omni  raetallo,  etiam  lapidibus  et  terris  robustioribus, 
inferiorem ;  scilicet  denariorum  2  et  granorum  2  ;  neque  id 
tamen  obstat  (si  cactera  convenirent)  quin  cum  mercurio  con- 
fusum,  propter  ejusdem  eximiam  gravitatem,  pondera  omnium 
metallorum  pro  ratione  temperament!  reddere  posset,  praeter 
pondus  auri. 

Efficiens  coitionis  in  corporibus  ad  coacervationem  non  semper 
spectatur.  Nam  vitrum,  quod  coit  per  iguem  acrem  et  fortem, 
pneponderat  crystallo,  quod  nativum  est  et  educitur  sine  igne 
aut  evidenti  calore  (nam  quod  glacies  sit  concreta,  id  populare 
est)  atque  ipsum  crystallum  longe  ponderosius  est 1  [glacie], 
quae  manifeste  a  frigore  cogitur,  ac  tamen  aquae  supernatat. 

Mixtura  liquorum  ex  rationibus  ponderum  solummodo  non 
pendet  aut  procedit,  siquidem  spiritus  vini  cum  oleo  amygda- 
larum  expresso  non  miscetur;  sed  (quod  quis  fortasse  non 
putaret)  supernatat  oleo,  quemadmodum  oleum  supernatat 
aquae ;  et  tamen  grano  tantum  et  dimidio  (ut  in  Tabula  con- 
spicitur)  levior  est.  At  idem  spiritus  vini  aquae  licet  graviori 
longe  facilius  miscetur ;  ut  et  aqua  ipsa  rursus  facilius  miscetur 
cum  oleo  vitrioli,  quam  cum  oleo  amygdalarum ;  et  tamen  oleum 
vitrioli  aqua  est  granis  18  gravius ;  oleum  amygdalarum  vero 
tantum  granis  4  levius.  Neque  hoc  accipiendum  est,  quin 
in  corporibus  proportionatis  ad  mixturam  praecipua  sit  ponde- 
ris  ratio.  Nam  videmus  vinum  aquae  supernatare,  si  cohibea- 
tur  agitatio,  vel  primi  casus  sive  descensus  perturbatio ;  veluti 
cum  in  vase  ubi  continetur  aqua  vinum  superinfunditur,  sed 
mediante  oflfa  panis  vel  linteo,  quod  vim  ipsam  casus  primi 
frangat.  Atque  idem  in  aqua  super  oleum  vitrioli  cum  hac 
industria  infusa  usu  venit.  Atque  quod  magis  est,  licet  vinum 
infundatur  prius,  et  aqua  posterius  (super  offam,  vel  per  pannum 
ut  dictum  est),  invenit  locum  suum,  et  permeat  per  vinum,  et 
in  fundo  se  colligit. 


Continuatio  Histories.  Coitionis  et  Expansionis  Materioe 
in  Corpore  Eodem. 

Rationes  pulverum  majore  cum  utilitate  inquiri  si  fiat  col- 
latio  eorum  cum  corporibus  ipsorum  integris,  quam  si  poneren- 


1  Some  word  is  evidently  wanting  in  the  original.  Mr.  Montagu  omits  the  paren¬ 
thesis,  puts  a  semicolon  after  calore ,  and  inserts  ea  after  crystallum.  But  I  think  the 
insertion  of  glacie  gives  a  better  sense. 


PHENOMENA  UNIVERSE 


697 


tur  per  se  et  simpliciter,  judicavimus.  Hoc  enim  modo  et  de 
corporum  diversitate  et  de  arctissimis  illis  naturae  integralis 
nexibus  et  vinculis  judicium  fieri  et  rationes  iniri  posse  ani- 
mum  advertimus.  Intelligimus  autem  in  rationibus  pulverum, 
pul  veres  for  titer  et  maxime  pressos.  Hoc  enim  facit  ad  aequa- 
tionem,  nec  recipit  casum. 

Mercurius  in  corpore  habet  in  mensura  ilia  experimentali 
secundum  quam  Tabula  ordinatur,  denar.  19,  grana  9;  sublima- 
tus  vero  in  pulvere  habet  denar.  3,  gran.  22. 

Plumbum  in  corpore  denar.  12,  gran.  1  dimid.  In  cerussa 
vero  in  pulvere  denar.  4,  gran.  8  dimid. 

Chalybs  in  corpore  denar.  8,  gran.  10.  In  pulvere  praepa- 
rato  (quali  ad  medicinas  utimur)  denar  2,  gran.  9. 

Crystallum  in  corpore  denar.  2,  gran.  18.  In  pulvere  denar. 
1.  gran.  20. 

Santalum  rubeum  in  corpore  denar.  1,  gran  5  dimid.  In  pul¬ 
vere  gran.  16  dimid. 

Lignum  quercus  in  corpore  gran.  19  dimid.  In  cinere  denar. 
1,  gran.  2. 

Ut  autem  melius  intelligantur  rationes  pulveris  pressi  et  non 
pressi,  idque  pro  diversitate  corporum,  nos  pondus  rosarum,  quod 
integraliter  in  Tabulamrecipi  non  poterat,  in  pulvere  excepimus; 
illud  in  pulvere  non  presso  dabat  gran.  7,  in  pulvere  presso  gran. 
22:  sed  idem  in  ligno  santali  rubei  experti,  santalum  rubeum  in 
pulvere  non  presso  gran.  10,  in  pulvere  presso  gran.  16  dimid. 
dare  comperimus ;  ut  sit  pulvis  rosae  pulvere  santali,  si  non  pre- 
mantur,  multo  levior,  si  premantur,  gravior.  Etiam  ad  sup- 
plementum  Tabulae  prioris  rationes  pulveris  excepimus  in  aliquo 
ex  floribus,  ex  berbis,  et  ex  seminibus  (nam  radicum  dimensio 
cubica  esse  poterat),  ad  exemplum  reliquorum  in  sua  specie; 
ac  invenimus  pulverem  floris  rosae,  ut  superius  dictum  est,  dare 
gran.  22,  herbae  sampsuchi  gran.  23,  seminis  focniculi  dulcis 
denar.  1,  gran.  3  dimid.  Etiam  aliorum  corporum,  quae  in 
Tabula  recipi  non  poterant,  pondera  in  pulveribus  excepimus, 
ut  arenae  albas.  Haec  dabat  denar.  1,  gran.  20.  Salis  communis, 
qui  dat  denar.  1,  gran.  10.  Sacchari,  quod  dat.  denar.  1,  gran. 
2  dimid.  Myrrhae,  quae  dat  denar.  1.  Biniorum,  quae  dant  denar. 
1.  Conspicere  autem  est  in  ipsa  Tabula  sulphur  in  corpore 
dare  denar.  2,  gran.  2  :  in  oleo  cbymico  denar.  1,  gran.  18. 
Vitriolum  autem  in  corpore  denar.  1,  gran  22;  in  oleo  denar.  1, 
gran.  21.  Vinum  in  corpore  dare  denar.  1,  gran.  2  d.  qu.  in 


698 


PHENOMENA  UNIVERSE 


distillato  gran.  22.  Acetum  in  corpore  dare  denar.  1,  gran. 
2.  d.  in  distillato  denar.  1,  gran.  1. 

Monita. 

Quando  dicimus  pondus  in  corpore,  pondus  in  pulvere,  non 
intelligimus  de  eodem  individuo,  sed  de  corpore  et  pulvere 
ejusdem  speciei,  intra  eandem  illam  mensuram  tabularem  con- 
tento.  Nam  si  lignum  quercus  accipiatur,  et  idem  lignum  in 
individuo  in  cinerem  redigatur ;  et  plurimum  de  pondere  de- 
perdit,  et  cinis  ille  mensuram  ligni  ex  magna  parte  non  implet. 

Modus  versionis  corporis  in  pulverem  ad  apertionem  sive 
expausionem  corporis  multum  facit.  Alia  enim  est  ratio 
pulveris  qui  fit  per  simplicem  contusionem  sive  limaturam : 
alia  ejus  qui  per  distillationem,  ut  sublimati:  alia  ej us  qui  per 
aquas  fortes  et  erosionem  vertendo  tanquam  in  rubiginem  :  alia 
ejus  qui  per  exustionem,  ut  cinis,  calx.  Itaque  ista  cum  ad 
contemplationem  adhibeantur,  requiparari  nullo  modo  debent. 

Nos  in  singulis  diutius  quam  pro  instituti  nostri  ratione 
morari  non  possumus,  et  tamen  quae  praestare  non  licet  de- 
signare  juvat;  ea  demuin  foret  Tabula  exacta  corporum  cum 
suis  aperturis,  quae  corpora  singula  cum  pulveribus  suis,  cum 
calcibus  suis,  cum  vitrificationibus  suis,  cum  dissolutionib  us 
suis,  cum  dist  illatis  suis  con  ferret. 

Historiam  variationis  ponderum  in  individuis,  id  est  ejusdem 
corporis  integri  et  pulverizati,  ut  ejusdem  aquae  in  nive  aut 
glacie,  et  solutae  ejusdem  *,  ovi  crudi  et  cocti,  ejusdem  pulli  vivi 
et  mortui,  et  similium,  ad  historiam  propriam  ponderum  reji- 
cimus. 

Observationes. 

In  corporibus  magis  compactis  longe  arctior  est  compactio 
partium,  quam  ulla  pulverum  suorum  positione  aut  pressura 
aequari  potest.  Et  quo  corpora  sunt  graviora  et  solidiora,  eo 
major  differentia  redundat  inter  integra  sua  et  aperturas  suas, 
ut  ratio  argenti  vivi  crudi  ad  sublimatum  in  pulvere  est  quin- 
tupla  et  amplius ;  rationes  cbalybis  et  plumbi  non  adscendunt 
ad  quadruplam ;  rationes  crystalli  et  santali  non  adscendunt  ad 
duplam. 

1  So  in  the  original.  A  word  appears  to  have  dropped  out  and  the  punctuation  to 
have  been  disturbed.  Bacon  prob.ibly  wrote  ut  ejusdem  aquae  in  nive  aut  glacie  fix®  et 
solutce,  ejusdem  ovi  crudi  et  cocti ,  & c. 


PHENOMENA  UNIVERSE 


699 


In  corporibus  levioribus  et  porosis  laxior  fortasse  est  par¬ 
ti  um  positura  in  integris  quam  in  pulveribus  pressis,  ut  in 
foliis  siccis  rosarum.  Atque  in  hujusmodi  corporibus,  major 
intercedit  differentia  inter  pulveres  suos  pressos  et  non 
pressos. 

Pulverum  partes  ita  se  sustentare  possunt,  ut  pul  vis  non 
pressus  triplicem  impleat  mensuram  ad  pulverem  pressum. 

Corpora  metallica,  ut  sulphur,  vitriolum,  in  olea  (quae  vocant) 
conversa,  pondus  eximie  retinent,  nec  magnum  intercedit  dis- 
crimen  inter  olea  et  ipsa  corpora. 

Destiilata  proculdubio  attenuantur  et  pondere  decrescunt ; 
sed  hoc  facit  vinum  duplo  plus  quam  acetum. 

Dignissima  observatione  est  insignis  ilia  apertura  in  pulvere 
sublimati,  ad  corpus  crudum,  hoc  nomine,  quod  licet  tanta  sit 
(quintupla  enim  est,  ut  diximus)  idque  in  corpore  non  transe- 
unte,  ut  in  vaporibus  argenti  vivi,  sed  consistente,  tamen  tam 
parvo  negotio  rursus  coit  ad  veterem  spliaeram. 


Continuatio  fflstorice  Coitionis  et  Expansions  Materia  per 
Spatia  in  Corpore  eodem. 

Animalia  natando  j  almis  vel  pedibus  aquam  deprimunt, 
ea  ultra  naturalem  consistentiam  depressa  et  densata  resurgit, 
resurgcns  corpus  grave  sublevat  et  sustinet.  Homines  vero 
natandi  peritiores  corpus  suum  super  aquam  ita  librare  possunt, 
ut  ad  tempus  absque  motu  brachiorum  vel  tibiarum  se  susti- 
neant;  etiam  pedibus  aquam  calcant  erecti,  et  alias  agilitates 
super  aquam  exercent.  Aves  certe  aquatiles  palmipedes  sunt, 
et  pedum  membranis  aquam  apte  deprimunt;  in  profundiore 
autem  aqua  facilior  est  natatio. 

Aves  volando  acrein  alis  verberant  et  condensant,  aer  veio 
(ut  superius  de  aqua  dictum  est)  ad  consistentiam  suam  se 
festituens  avem  vehit.  Atque  aves  quoque  nonnunquam 
radunt  iter  suum  expansis,  sed  immotis,  alis,  aut  subinde  alas 
parum  concutiendo,  atque  iterum  labendo.  Neque  dissimilis 
est  ratio  pennatorum  et  aliorum  volatilium.  Nam  muscae,  et 
id  genus,  liabent  suas  alarum  tunicas,  quibus  aerem  pulsant. 
Infirmitas  autem  alarum  parva  corporis  mole  sive  pondere  com- 
pensatur.  Etiam  in  sublimi  facilius  feruntur  alata,  praesertim 
qua;  alas  habent  amplitudine  latiores,  motu  non  ita  pernices,  ut 
ardea.  Atque  omnes  aves,  quae  aliquantae  magnitudinis  sunt, 


700 


PHENOMENA  UNIVERSE 


magis  laboriose  feruntur,  cum  primum  se  a  terra  elevant,  ubi 
scilicet  necesse  est  aerem  esse  minus  profundum. 

Monitum. 

Motus  condensations  in  aqua,  aut  aere,  aut  similibus,  per 
verberationem  sive  impulsionem  manifestus  est.  Is  hujusmodi 
est.  Aeris  vel  aquae  partes,  quanto  ab  impulsu  primo  seu 
verbere  remotiores  sunt,  tanto  infirmius  impetuntur  et  tardius 
cedunt ;  quanto  autem  propius,  tanto  fortius  et  velocius ;  unde 
necessario  fit,  ut  anterior  aer  celerius  fugiens  posteriorem 
tardius  se  expedientem  consequatur,  atque  hoc  modo  coeant. 
Postquam  autem  ex  ea  coitione  major  provenerit  condensatio 
quam  natura  patitur,  corpora  aquae  vel  aeris,  ut  se  aperiant  et 
laxent,  resiliunt  et  revertuntur. 


Historia. 

Facies  aquae  atque  omnis  fluidi  ab  agitation  e  et  perturba- 
tione  inaequalis  est,  idque  inaequalitate  mobili  et  successiva, 
quousque  aqua  debitam  recuperet  consistentiam,  et  pressura 
liberetur ;  ut  in  undis  maris  et  fluviorum,  etiam  postquam 
venti  conciderint,  et  in  omni  aqua  quovis  modo  turbata. 

Neque  dubium  est,  quin  et  similis  inaequalitas  versetur  in 
ventis,  qui  et  ipsi  in  morem  fluctuum  se  volvunt ;  neque  vel 
cessante  prima  violentia  se  subito  recipiunt  in  tranquillitatem ; 
nisi  quod  in  undulatione  aeris  non  intervenit  motus  gravi- 
tatis,  qui  in  aqua  cum  motu  liberationis  a  pressura  conjun- 
gitur. 

Lapis  super  aquam  lateraliter  jactus  (ut  pueri  ludendo  solent) 
resilit,  atque  iterum  et  saepius  cadit,  et  ab  aqua  repercutitur. 
Etiam  natantes  cum  ex  loco  altiore  in  aquas  se  saltu  dejiciunt, 
cavent  sibi  ne  in  femorum  junctura  vi  aquas  secentur.  Deni- 
que  aqua  manu  aut  corpore  fortiter  percussa,  ferulas  aut 
corporis  durioris  instar  verberat,  et  dolorem  incutit.  Atque  in 
scapbis  et  carinis,  quae  vi  remorum  aguntur,  aqua  remis  pone 
remiges  trusa  et  pressa,  non  aliter  scapham  impellit,  eamque 
prolabi  et  emicare  cogit,  quam  cum  conto  ad  littus  posito  scapha 
a  littore  summovetur.  Neque  enim  ejus  rei  causa  praecipua 
est  aqua  pone  puppim  scaphas  se  colligens  et  scapham  in  con- 
trarium  protrudens,  quod  ipsum  tamen  fit  a  pressura  se 
laxante. 


PHENOMENA  UNIVERSE 


701 


Aer  ad  evitandam  pressuram  omnia  opera  corporis  solidi  et 
robusti  edit  et  imitatur,  ut  fit  in  ventis,  qui  naves  agunt, 
arbores,  domos  evertunt prosternunt,  et  similia.  Etiam  non 
aba  vi  quam  ipsorum  anbelitu,  cum  balista  cava  et  longa  quae 
aeris  compressionem  juvet,  jaculamur  ictu  nonnullo. 

Pueri  ad  imitationem  tormentorum  alnum  excavant,  et  partes 
radicis  iridis  aut  papyri  globulati  ad  utrumque  siphonis  finem 
infarciunt,  dcinde  cum  embolo  ligneo  globulum  protrudendo 
emittunt,  globulus  autem  ulterior  emittitur  cum  sono  et  impetu, 
antequam  ab  embolo  ullo  modo  tangatur,  a  vi  aeris  inclusi  et 
compressi. 

Aer  impulsu  densatus  frigidiur,  et  magis  ad  naturam  aquae 
appropinquans  videtur,  ut  cum  flabris  ventum  facimus,  aut 
concitato  gradu  aerem  impellendo  rursus  reflantem  sentimus, 
aut  ore  contracto  frigidum  spiramus,  aut  ex  follibus  ventum 
emittimus.  Quinetiam  sub  dio  ventis  flantibus,  major  fit  refri- 
geratio,  quam  aere  quieto  et  placido. 

In  sonorum  generatione  aer  densatus  corporis  solidi  naturam 
imitatur ;  nam  quemadmodum  inter  duo  corpora  solida  percus- 
sione  sonus  generatur,  ita  etiam  inter  corpus  solidum  et  aerem 
densatum  fit  sonus,  et  rursus  inter  aerem  densatum  et  alium 
aerem  ex  adverso  densatum.  Nam  in  instrumentis  musicis  cum 
chordis  manifestum  est,  sonum  non  emitti  ex  tactu  seu  percus- 
sione  inter  digitum  vel  plectrum  et  chordam,  sed  inter  chordam 
et  aerem.  Chorda  enim  cum  resilit,  idque  motu  celerrimo 
propter  intentionem,  aerem  primo  densat,  dein  percutit.  In- 
strumenta  autem  ex  spiritu,  propter  infirmiorem  motum  spi- 
ritus  quam  chord®,  necesse  habent  ut  forma  sint  cava  et 
conclusa,  ad  juvandam  compressionem  aeris;  quod  etiam  in 
instrumentis  cum  chordis  juvamenti  loco  adhibetur. 

Aqua  arctata  et  constipata  magno  impetu  se  laxat  et  diffundit 
in  latera,  ut  latitudinem  debitam  consequatur,  ut  sub  arcubus 
pontium.  Simili  modo  et  ventus  per  angustias  densatus  inva- 
lescit  et  furit.  Adversi  autem  gurgites  aquarum  turbines 
aquarum  generant  vorticosos,  ut  quoniam  debita  relaxatio  fieri 
non  potest,  singula;  partes  pressuram  ex  aequo  tolerent. 

Aqua  ex  angustiis  subito  violenter  emissa  corporis  continui, 
veluti  fib  aut  virgae  aut  trunci,  imaginem  refert,  et  fit.  primurn 
directa,  post  arcuata,  deinde  se  scindit,  et  in  guttas  hinc  illinc 
in  orbem  se  dispertit,  ut  in  fistulis  sive  syringis  et  impluviis. 

1  So  in  the  original.  It  should  probably  be  arbores  evertunt,  domos  prosternunt. 


702 


PHENOMENA  UNIVERSE 


Est  genua  turbinis  in  paludibus  non  infrequens,  prseser- 
tim  post  foenum  demessum,  aut  saltern  ex  ea  occasione  se  con- 
spiciendum  prsebens.  Iste  typhon  quandoque  cumulum  focni 
in  aerem  sublevat,  et  ad  tempus  fere  unitum  et  non  multum 
dispersum  evehit,  donee  postquam  ad  altitudinem  magnam 
evectum  sit,  foenum  conopei  instar  distendat  et  spargat. 

Catinum  ligneum  vacuum  versum,  et  ad  superficiem  aquae 
aequaliter  appositum,  et  postea  sub  aquam  demersum,  secum 
portat  usque  ad  fundum  vasis  aerem  universum  qui  antea 
in  catino  continebatur :  quod  si  cum  simili  aequilibrio  rur- 
sus  ex  aqua  educatur,  invenias  aerem  in  non  multo  minus 
spatium  quam  antea  implebat  se  recepisse,  quod  ex  coloratione 
labri  catini  ad  locum  quo  aqua  adscenderat,  et  a  quo  introrsum 
aer  se  receperat,  manifestum  erit. 

In  cubiculo  ubi  ventus  flarit  aperta  fenestra,  si  non  de- 
tur  exitus  ex  aliqua  alia  parte,  ventus,  nisi  vehemens  fuerit, 
non  admodum  sentitur,  cum  a  corpore  aeris  quod  cubiculum 
impleverat  et  sub  primo  flatu  nonnihil  densatum  fuerat,  et 
amplius  densari  recusat,  non  recipiatur ;  dato  autem  exitu 
turn  demum  manifesto  sentitur. 

Ad  commodiorem  moram  operariorum  qui  sub  aqua  opus 
aliquod  moliuntur  et  peragunt,  excogitatum  fuit,  ut  dolium 
quoddam  instar  alvei  pararetur,  ex  metallo  sive  aliqua  materia 
quae  fundum  peteret,  id  tripode  sustineretur  pedibus  ad  labrum 
dolii  affixis,  qui  pedes  essent  altitudinis  minoris  quam  staturae 
hominis.  Dolium  istud  in  profundum  demittebatur,  cum  uni- 
verso  quern  continebat  aere,  eo  modo  quo  de  catino  dictum 
est,  et  in  pedes  suos  plantabatur  et  stabat  juxta  locum  ubi 
opus  faciendum  esset.  Urinatores  autem,  qui  iidem  erant 
operarii,  cum  sibi  respiratione  opus  esset,  caput  in  cavum  dolii 
inserebffnt,  et  recepto  aere  rursus  ad  opus  se  conferebant.  Nos 
quoque  in  balneo  famulum  fecimus  caput  suum  in  pelvim 
subter  aquam  cum  aere  depressam  inserere,  qui  ad  dimidium 
quartae  partis  horse  sub  eodem  mansit,  donee  aerem,  ex  an- 
helitu  suo  tepefactum,  sensum  quendam  sulfocationis  induxisse 
sentiret. 

Aer  exiguam  aliquam  contractionem  non  aegre  admittit.  Id 
in  vesica  experiri  res  fallax  est.  Nam  cum  inflatur  vesica, 
densatur  ipso  flatu  aer,  ut  aer  intra  vesicam  densior  sit  quam 
aer  communis,  ideoque  non  mirum  est  si  ad  novam  condensa- 
tionem  sit  ineptior.  Sed  in  experimento  illo  vulgari  de  catino 


PHENOMENA  UNIVERSE 


703 


ligneo  subter  aquam  depresso,  cerni  datur  aquam  subintrantem 
ex  extremo  vasis  nonnihil  occupasse,  atque  aerem  tantidem 
spatii  detrimentum  fecisse. 

feed  ut  de  proportione  magis  liquido  constet ;  globulum,  vel 
aliud  corpus  solidum  et  ima  petentem,  in  fundo  vasis  posuirnus, 
super  quod  catinus  imponendus  esset;  turn  catinura  (inetallicum 
scilicet,  non  ligneum,  quod  in  imo  vasis  stare  ex  sese  posset) 
superimposuimus.  Quod  si  corpus  illud  exigute  sit  magnitu- 
dinis,  cum  in  concavum  catini  recipitur  aerem  contrudit,  non 
extrudit.  Quod  si  grandioris  fuerit  magnitudinis  quam  ut  aer 
libenter  cedat,  turn  aer,  majoris  pressure  impatieus,  catinum 
ex  aliqua  parte  elevat,  et  in  bullis  adscendit. 

Atque  fieri  fecimus  globum  cavum  ex  plumbo  lateribus  non 
admodum  exilibus,  ut  vim  mallei  vel  torcularis  sustinere  melius 
posset.  Globus  autem  ille,  malleis  percussus  ad  utrumque 
polum,  ad  planisplwerium  magis  et  magis  appropinquabat. 
Atque  sub  primis  contusionibus  facilius  cedebat,  postea  pro 
modo  condensationis,  aigrius ;  ut  ad  extremum  mallei  non 
multum  proficerent ;  sed  pressorio,  eoque  forti,  opus  esset. 
Yerum  id  prtecepimus,  ut  a  pressuris  aliqui  dies  interponeren- 
tur,  qucd  in  pnesentia  nihil  attinet,  sed  alio  spectat. 

Aer  in  vasa  clausa  exsuctione  forti  extend  itur  seu  dilatatur, 
adeo  ut  parte  aeris  sublata,  reliquus  aer  tamen  eandem  men- 
suram  im pleat  quam  totus  impleverat ;  ita  tamen  ut  magna 
contentione  se  restituere  et  ab  ilia  tensura  liberare  nitatur.  Id 
videre  est  in  ovis,  quae  aquam  odoratam  continent  et  per  lusum 
jaciuntur  et  franguntur,  ut  adspersione  et  odore  suavi  aerem 
imbuant.  Modus  autem  est,  ut  parvo  admodum  facto  in  ex¬ 
tremo  ovi  foramine,  ovi  cibum  universum  exsugant,  integra 
testa ;  turn  vero  fortiter  aerem  ipsum  qui  subintravit  ex¬ 
suctione  forti  alligant1,  et  statim  sub  exsuctione  digito  foramen 
obturent,  atque  ovum  hoc  modo  clausum  subter  aquam  illam 
ponant,  et  turn  demum  digitum  amoveant.  Aer  vero  tensura 
ilia  tortus,  et  se  recipere  nitens,  aquam  trahit  et  introcipit, 
quousque  portio  ilia  aeris  antiquam  recuperet  consistentiam. 

Nos  idem  cum  ovo  vitreo  expcrti  sumus,  et  aquam  receptam 
circa  octavam  partem  contenti  reperimus ;  tantum  scilicet  aer 
per  exsuctionem  erat  extcnsus.  Sed  hoc  pro  violentia  majore 
aut  minore  exsuctionis  casum  recipit.  Sub  finem  vero  exsu- 
ctionis  labrum  ipsum  trahebat.  Sed  prate rea  cura  nobis  fuit 


1  So  in  the  original. 


704 


PHENOMENA  UNIVERSE 


novi  experimenti,  nimirum  ut,  postquam  exsuctio  facta  fuisset, 
foramen  cera  bene  obturaretur,  et  ovum  ita  obturatum  per 
diem  integrum  maneret.  Id  eo  fecimus,  ut  experiremur  ut 
mora  ilia  appetitum  aeris  minueret,  ut  fit  in  rebus  consistenti- 
bus,  viminibus,  laminis  ferreis,  et  similibus,  quorum  motus  ad 
se  recipiendum  a  tensura  mora  elanguescit ;  sed  comperimus 
tantula  ilia  mora  nihil  effectum,  quin  ovum  illud  aeque  fortiter 
ac  similem  traberet  aquae  quantitatem,  ac  si  continuo  ab  ex- 
suctione  immissum  esset ;  adeo  ut  etiam  foramine  illius  aperto 
extra  aquam  novum  aerem  cum  sonitu  et  sibilo  manifesto 
traheret :  sed  elfectum  ulterioris  morse  experiri  negleximus. 

In  follibus,  si  nullum  detur  spiraculum,  et  subito  folles 
eleventur  et  aperiantur,  franguntur;  scilicet  cum  attrahi  non 
possit  per  rostri  follium  angustias  tanta  aeris  quantitas,  quae 
ventrem  a  piano  in  altum  subito  surgentem  implere  possit, 
nec  aer  qui  adest  in  tantum  extendi;  unde  sequitur  follium 
eflractio. 


Historia. 

Si  aqua  accipiatur  in  vitro  ad  mensuram  justam,  et  locus 
usque  quern  aqua  adscenderit  signetur,  et  immittatur  in  aquam 
cinis  communis  per  cribrum  mundatus,  et  permittatur  donee  re- 
sederit ;  videbis  spatium  in  fundo  cinere  occupatum  adscendere 
quadruplo  altius,  quam  corpus  aquae  superficie  adscenderit  a 
loco  prius  signato ;  ita  ut  manifestum  sit,  aquam  cum  cinere 
commistam,  aut  sphaeram  mutare  et  se  contrabere,  aut  cinerem 
intra  cava  aquae  recipere,  cum  nullo  modo  se  expandat  pro 
ratione  cineris  recepti.  Yerum  si  hoc  in  arena  vel  tenuissima 
(sed  neutiquam  calcinata  aut  combusta)  experieris,  videbis 
aquam  surgere  in  superficie,  pari  spatio  ac  arena  surrexerit  in 
fundo.  Existimamus  etiam  infusiones  plerasque  aquas  onerare, 
neque  tamen  extendere  pro  mole  corporis  recepti ;  verum  hujus 
rei  experimentum  omisimus. 

Monitum. 

Motum  successions,  quem  motum  ne  detur  vacuum  appel¬ 
lant,  nullo  modo  cum  motu  receptionis  a  tensura  confundimus. 
Sunt  enim  duo  isti  motus  tempore  et  opere  conjuncti,  ratione 
diversi,  ut  in  propria  historia  ejus  motus  patebit. 

Aer  per  respirationem  receptus  exigua  mora  ita  naturam 
vaporis  induit,  ut  et  speculum  caligine  quadam,  et  tanquam 


PHENOMENA  UNIVERSE 


705 


roscida  materia  obducat,  et  frigore  brumali  circa  barbam  con- 
geletur.  Ilia  autem  irroratio  supra  laminam  ensis  lucidam,  aut 
adamantem,  instar  nubeculae  dissipatur,  ut  corpus  politum  se 
veluti  expurget. 

Modus  processus  aquae  circa  expansionem  et  contractionem 
quae  fiunt  in  ejus  corpore  mediante  igne,  hujusmodi  est.  Aqua 
modico  calore  lacessita  vaporem  paucum  et  rarum  emittit, 
antequam  intra  corpus  ejus  alia  conspiciatur  mutatio  ;  deinde 
continuato  et  aucto  calore,  corpore  tamen  integro,  non  insurgit, 
nee  etiam  bullis  minutioribus  in  modum  spumse  eflervescit,  sed 
per  bullas  majores  adscendens  in  vaporem  copiosum  se  solvit, 
cito  autem  evolat  aqua  et  absumitur.  Atque  vapor  ille,  si 
non  impediatur,  aeri  se  miscet ;  primum  conspicuus,  etiam 
postquam  conspectum  effugerit  sensibilis,  vel  odorem  fundendo 
vel  etiam  aerem  ad  tactum  et  anhelitum  humectando  et  lenien- 
do.  Tandem  vero  intra  pelagus  illud  aeris  se  condit  et  dis- 
perdit.  Quod  si  prius  occurrat  corpus  solidum  (et  eo  magis  si 
sequale  fuerit  et  politum),  vapor  ille  se  ipse  subingreditur,  et 
in  aquam  restituitur  excludendo  sive  excernendo  aerem  qui 
prius  vapori  immistus  fuerat.  Atque  universus  ille  processus 
et  in  decoctione  aqua:,  ut  in  destillatione  fit  manifestus.  Sed 
porro  videmus  vapores  qui  a  terra  emittuntur,  si  penitus  a 
calore  solis  dissipati  atque  edomiti  non  fuerint,  neque  ab  aeris 
frigore  fortasse  corpori  ipsi  aeris  asqualiter  commisti,  licet  cor- 
pori  solido  non  occurrant,  tamen  a  frigore  et  ipsa  caloris  destitu- 
tione  in  aquam  restitui ;  ut  in  rore  vespertino  prsesentius,  in 
pluviis  tardius  fit.  Ex  aestimatione  eaque  diligenti  statuimus, 
expansionem  aeris,  si  ad  aquam  conferatur,  ad  rationem  cen- 
tuplam  vicecuplam,  aut  circiter,  accedere. 

Historia  Exporrectionis  Materia  in  Pneumaticis. 

Phialam  vitream  accepimus,  quse  unciam  fortasse  unam  capere 
posset;  parvitatem  autem  vasis  duas  ob  causas  experimento 
convenire  existimavimus ;  unam,  quod  minore  cum  calore  ad 
bullitionem  properaret,  ne  forte  calore  intensiore  vesica  quse 
superimponenda  esset  adureretur  atque  exsiccaretur ;  alteram, 
ut  minorem  portionem  aeris  in  ea  parte  quae  aqua  implenda 
non  esset  caperet ;  cum  ipsum  aerem  extensionem  per  ignem 
6uscipere  probe  cognossemus.  Itaque  ut  ilia  extensio  rationes 


706 


PHENOMENA  UNIVERSE 


aquae  minus  disturbaret,  non  multum  aeris  adhiberi  consultum 
putavimus.  Phiala  autem  erat  ejus  figur®,  non  quae  collum 
rectum  haberet  sine  limbo  sive  labro  (nam  in  hujusmodi  phiala 
aquae  vapor  citius  destillaret,  et  in  partem  vesicae  collo  phial® 
conjunctam  ros  incumberet  et  delaberetur),  sed  quae  collum 
haberet  paululum  primo  adductum,  et  deinde  tanquam  reversum 
cum  labro.  Hanc  phialam  ad  dimidiam,  non  amplius  (existi- 
mantes  hoc  etiam  ad  celeritatem  bullitionis  conferre),  aqua 
implevimus,  atque  pondus  aquae  cum  phiala  ipsa  exacte  no- 
tavimus  per  arenam  in  bilance  immissam ;  deinde  vesicam 
accepimus  quae  circiter  pintam  dimidiam  contineret.  Earn  ac- 
cepimus  non  veterem  neque  siccam,  et  per  siccitatem  magis 
renitentem,  sed  recentem  et  molliorem ;  vesicam  autem  primo 
in  sufflando  probavimus  an  integra  esset,  ne  forte  foramina 
haberet;  postea  ex  eadem  aerem  omnem,  quoad  fieri  potuit, 
expressimus.  Etiarn  prius  vesicam  oleo  extra  oblivirnus,  et 
oleum  quoque  fricatione  nonnulla  recipi  fecimus.  Hoc  eo 
pertinebat  ut  vesica  clausior  esset,  ejus  si  qua  erat  porositate 
oleo  obturata.  Hanc  vesicam  circa  os  phial®,  ore  phial®  intra 
os  vesic®  recepto,  fortiter  ligavimus,  filo  parum  cerato,  ut  me¬ 
lius  adh®resceret  et  arctius  ligaret.  Sed  hoc  ipsum  melius  fit 
luto  ex  farina  et  albumine  ovi  facto,  et  cum  papyro  nigra  ligato 
et  bene  siccato,  ut  experti  sumirs.  Turn  demum  phialam  supra 
carbones  ardentes  in  foculo  collocavimus.  Aqua  non  ita  multo 
post  bullire  incepit,  ac  paulatim  vesicam  ex  omni  parte  sufflare, 
et  fere  ad  rupturam  usque  extendere.  Continuo  vitrum  ab 
igne  removimus,  et  super  tapetem  posuimus,  ne  frigore  vitrum 
disrumperetur ;  et  statim  in  summitate  vesic®  foramen  acu 
fecimus,  ne  vapor  cessante  calore  in  aquam  restitutus  recideret, 
ac  rationes  confunderet.  Postea  vero  vesicam  ipsam  cum  filo 
sustulimus ;  lutum  autem  si  adhibitum  fuerat,  expurgavimus ; 
turn  rursus  aquam  qu®  remanserat  cum  phiala  sua  ponderavi- 
mus ;  comperimus  autem  circiter  pondus  duorum  denariorum 
per  vaporem  absumptum  fuisse.  Quicquid  autem  corporis 
vesicam  cum  sufflata  esset  impleverat,  ex  illo  quod  de  aqua 
perditum  fuerat  factum  et  productum  fuisse  cognovimus.  Ita- 
que  materia  cum  in  corpore  aqu®  contracta  fuisset,  tantum 
unplebat  spatii  quantum  pondus  2  denariorum  corporis  aqu® 
implebat ;  at  eadem  materia  in  corpore  vaporis  expansa  dimidi¬ 
am  pintam  implebat.  Itaque  secundum  dimensionem  in  Tabula 
expressam  rationes  subduximus ;  vapor  aqu®  ad  corpus  aqu® 


PHENOMENA  UNIVERSL 


707 


habere  potest  rationem  octogecuplam.  Vesica  eo  quo  diximus 
modo  sufflata,  si  nullum  detur  spiraculum,  sed  integra  ab  igne 
removeatur,  statim  ab  inflatione  ilia  decrescit,  et  subsidet,  et 
contrahitur.  Vapor  dum  vesica  turget  ex  foramine  emissus, 
aliam  fere  speciem  a  vapore  communi  aquae  habebat,  magis 
raram  et  perspicuam,  et  erectam,  nec  cum  aere  tarn  cito  se 
miscentem. 


Monita. 

Ne  quis  putet,  si  major  fuisset  aquae  absumptio,  tanto  ma- 
jorem  vesicam  impleri  potuisse;  nobis  enim  hoc  expertis  res 
non  successit,  sed  inflatio  quae  fit,  fere  confertim  fit,  nec  gra- 
datim.  Id  partim  adustioni  vesicae  tribuimus  quae  facta  est 
obstinatior  nec  cedebat  facile,  et  erat  forte  porosior  (hoc  vero 
calore  humido,  ut  balneo  Mariae,  corrigi  poterat);  sed  illud 
magis  in  causa  esse  putamus,  quod  vapor  copiosior  factus  per 
successionem  continuam,  vergit  ad  restitutionem,  et  se  ipse  con- 
densat.  Itaque  nec  est  aequiparandus  vapor  iste  qui  in  vesicam 
recipitur,  vaporibus  qui  intra  clibana1  recipiuntur ;  quia  illi  se 
mutuo  subsequentes  et  trudentes  densant,  isti  vero  a  vesicae  mol- 
litie  et  cessione,  praesertim  sub  initiis  (ut  diximus)  antequam 
copia  restitutionem  incitet,  se  expandunt  ut  volunt. 

Expansio  vaporis  aquae  omnino  non  est  judicanda  ex  adspectu 
vaporis  qui  in  aerem  evolat ;  ille  enim  vapor  statim  cum  aere 
mistus  longe  maximam  corporis  misti  dimensionem  ab  acre 
mutuatur,  nec  sua  stat  mole.  Itaque  amplificatur  ad  molem 
quampiam  aiiris  in  quern  recipitur,  ad  exemplum  parvae  por- 
tionis  vini  rubei,  aut  alterius  rei  infectae  et  coloratae,  quae  ma- 
gnam  quantitatcm  aquae  tingit.  Rationes  exactae  in  tanta  sub- 
tilitate,  nec  sine  inutili  et  curiosa  indagine  haberi  possunt,  nec 
ad  id  quod  agitur  magnopere  juvant.  batis  est,  ut  pateat  ex  hoc 
experimento,  rationem  vaporis  ad  aquam  non  esse  duplam,  non  de- 
cuplam,non  quadragecuplam,non  rursus  millecuplam,non  ducen- 
tuplam  etc.  Termini  enim  naturarum,  non  gradus,  in  praesentia 
Lnvestigantur.  Itaque  si  quis  suo  experimento  in  rationem  istam 
octogecuplam)  vel  propter  figurae  vitri  differentiam,  vel  propter 
vesicae  duritiem  aut  mollitiem,  vel  propter  caloris  modum)  non 
incidat,  id  rem  nullius  esse  momenti  sciat.  Nemo  erit  (existi- 

1  CUbona  in  the  original.  I  believe  it  ought  to  be  clibanos 


46  Bacon  III 


708 


PHENOMENA  UNIVERST. 


mamus)  tam  imperitus,  qui  putet  pneumatica  et  volatiba  qu® 
ex  corporibus  ponderosis  evolant,  latere  in  poris  eorundem  cor- 
porum,  nec  esse  illam  ipsam  inateriam  qu®  ponderosa  erat ;  sed  a 
ponderosa  parte  separari,  cum  aqua  quasi  tota  consumatur,  et  ad 
nihilum  evaporet.  Pruna  ardens  si  in  bilance  ponatur,  et  usque 
ad  extinctionem  permittatur  ut  sit  carbo,  longe  levior  invenie- 
tur.  Metalla  ipsa  per  evolationes  fumorum  pondere  insigniter 
mutantur.  Itaque  prorsus  eadem  materia  numero  tangibilis  est 
et  pondere  dotatur,  et  fit  pneumatica  et  pondus  exuit. 


Historia. 

Modus  processus  olei  tabs  est ;  si  accipiatur  oleum  in  phiala 
vitrea  vulgari,  et  ponatur  super  ignem,  tardius  multo  bullire 
incipit,  et  majorem  calorem  ad  hoc  ut  bulliat  desiderat,  quam 
aqua.  Ac  primo  guttul®  qu®dam  aut  granula  per  corpus 
olei  sparsa  apparent,  adscendentia  cum  crepitatione  quadam; 
interim  nec  bull®  in  superficie  ludunt,  ut  in  aqua  fit,  nec 
corpus  integrum  mole  insurgit,  nec  quicquam  fere  lialitus 
evolat,  sed  paulo  post  corpus  integrum  inflatur  et  dilatatur  pro- 
portione  notabili,  tan  quam  ad  duplum  insurgens.  Turn  demum 
copiosissimus  et  spissus  evolat  halitus:  ad  ilium  halitum  si  flam- 
ma  admoveatur,  etiam  bono  spatio  supra  os  phial®,  flammam 
halitus  continuo  concipit,  atque  statim  ad  os  phial®  descendit, 
atque  ibi  se  figit,  et  perpetuo  ardet.  Quod  si  etiam  majorem 
in  modum  calefactum  fuerit  oleum,  ad  extremum  halitus  ille 
extra  vitrum  flammans,  absque  flamma  aut  corpore  aliquo  ignito 
admoto,  prorsus  se  ipse  inflammat  et  expansionem  flamm® 
induit. 

Monitum. 

Videndum  est  ut  phiala  sit  oris  angustioris,  ut  fumos  con- 
stringat,  ne  aeri  se  statim  ac  largiter  miscentes  naturam  inflam- 
mabilem  deponant. 


Historia. 

Modus  processus  spiritus  vini  tabs  est.  Ille  minore  multo 
calore  excitatur 1  et  celerius  ad  expansionem  se  comparat,  eam- 
que  pr®stat,  quam  aqua.  Ebullit  autem  magnis  utique  bulbs, 


excitatus  in  tile  original. 


PHENOMENA  UNIVERSE 


709 


absque  spuma  aut  etiam  totius  corporis  elevatione ;  vapor  nutem 
ejus  dum  confertus  est,  in  bona  ab  ore  vitri  distantia  flamma 
admota  flammam  concipit,  non  tam  lucidam  certe  et  bene 
compactam  quam  oleum,  sed  tenuem  et  jejunam,  coeruleam 
quoque  et  fere  perspicuam.  Inflammatus  autem  fertur  ad  os 
vitri,  ubi  pabuli  magis  copiosi  datur  subministratio,  quemadmo- 
dum  et  oleum.  Yerum  tamen  si  inflammetur  vapor  in  parte 
ab  ore  vitri  nonnihil  deflectente  in  obliquum,  fit  inflammatio  in 
aere  pensilis,  undulata,  aut  arcuata,  imaginem  vaporis  secuta,  et 
proculdubio  longius  ipsum  comitatura,  si  vapor  ille  constipatus 
maneret,  nec  cum  aere  se  confunderet.  Atque  corpus  ipsum 
spiritus  vini,  nullo  praecedente  vapore  notabili,  flamma  admota 
et  parum  immorante,  in  flammam  ejusque  expansionem  mu- 
tatur,  eo  citius  et  facilius,  quo  spiritus  latius  diffusus  sit  et 
minorem  occupet  altitudinem.  Quod  si  spiritus  vini  in  cavo 
palmae  manus  ponatur,  et  candela  accensa  inter  digitos  juxta 
palmam  collocetur  (ut  pueri  cum  pulvere  resinse  ludere  solent), 
et  spiritus  ille  leviter  projiciatur,  et  prorsum  non  sursum  di- 
recto  ;  ardet  corpus  ipsum  in  acre,  ct  accensum  interdum  de¬ 
scends  recta ;  interdum  nubeculam  in  aere  volitantem  explicat, 
quae  tamen  ipsa  ad  descensum  vergit ;  interdum  ad  tecti  fasti- 
gium,  vel  latera,  vel  pavimentum,  utique  inflammatum,  adhie- 
rescit  et  ardet,  et  sensim  extinguitur. 

Habent  autem  acetum,  agresta,  vinum,  lac,  atque  alii  liquores 
simplices  (ex  vegetabilibus  et  animantibus,  dico,  nam  de  mine- 
ralibus  seorsim  memorabimus)  suos  expansionum  modos,  atque 
in  iis  notabiles  nonnullas  diflerentias,  quas  hoc  loco  referre  su¬ 
pervacuum  visum  est.  A^ersantur  autem  istae  differentiae  in  lllis 
naturis,  quas  in  processibus  aquae  et  olei  et  spiritus  vini  nota- 
vimus  ;  gradu  nempe  caloris  ;  et  modo  expansionis,  quae  triplex 
est ;  vel  toto  corpore,  vel  spuma,  vel  bulbs  majoribus.  Nam  pin- 
guia  fere  toto  corpore  \  succi  immatuii,  ut  agresta,  bullis  ma¬ 
joribus  ;  succi  effbeti,  ut  acetum,  minoribus,  adscendunt.  Etiam 
congregatio  spiritus  situ  differt.  Nam  in  vini  bullitione  bullae 
circa  medium,  in  aceto  circa  latera,  se  congregare  in  ebulbtione 
primo  incipiunt ;  quod  etiam  in  vino  matuio,  et  forti,  et  \apido 
rursus  aut  fugiente,  cum  infunduntur,  fieri  solet. 

Omnes  autem  liquores,  etiam  oleum  ipsum,  antequam  bulbre 
incipiunt,  paucas  et  raras  semibullas  circa  latera  vasis  jaciunt. 
Atque  illud  etiam  omnibus  bquoribus  commune  est,  ut  paiva 
quantitate  citius  bulbant  et  absumantur,  quam  magna. 


710 


PHENOMENA  UNIVERSE 


Monitum. 

Liquores  manifeste  compositos,  ad  historiam  expansionis  et 
coitionis  materiae .  mediante  igne,  haud  idoneoa  aut  proprios 
existimavimus,  quia  separationibus  et  misturis  suis  rationes 
simplicis  expansionis  et  coitionis  disturbant  et  confundunt. 
Itaque  illos  ad  propriam  historiam  separationis  et  misturae 
ablegayimus. 


Historia. 

Spiritus  vini  in  experimento  positus  cum  pileo  illo  tensibili 
(quern  cum  de  aqua  loqueremur  descripsimus)  hujusmodi  sor- 
titus  est  expansionem.  Comperimus  pondus  6  denariorum 
consumptum  et  in  vaporem  solutum,  vesicam  grandem  quae  8 
pintas  capere  posset,  explevisse  et  fortiter  inflasse ;  quae  vesica 
decuplo-sextuplo  erat  major  quam  vesica  ilia  qua  ad  aquam 
usi  sumus,  quae  dimidiam  pintam  tantum  recipiebat.  Sed  in 
experimento  aquae  ponderis  solummodo  2  denariorum  facta 
erat  consumptio ;  quae  tertia  tantum  pars  est  denariorum  sex. 
Ita  supputatis  rationibus,  expansio  vaporis  spiritus  vini  ad  ex¬ 
pansionem  vaporis  aquae  quintuplam  rationem  habet,  et  amplius. 
Neque  tamen  obstabat  immensa  ista  expansio,  quin,  vase  ab  igne 
remoto,  corpus  ad  se  restituendum  properaret,  vesica  continuo 
flaccescente ',  et  se  insigniter  contrahente.  Atque  ex  hoc  expe¬ 
rimento  corporis  flamma;  expansionem  aestimare  coepimus,  con- 
jectura  non  admodum  firma,  et  tamen  probabili.  Cum  enim 
vapor  spiritus  vini  res  sit  tam  inflammabilis,  atque  ad  naturam 
flammae  tam  prope  accedat,  judicavimus  rationes  vaporis  spiritus 
vini  ad  flammam,  cum  rationibus  vaporis  aquae  ad  aerem  con- 
venire.  Quales  enim  se  ostendunt  rationes  rudimentorum,  sive 
corporum  imperfectorum  et  migrantium  (vaporum  scilicet),  tales 
etiam  evadere  corporum  perfectorum  et  statariorum  (flammse 
scilicet  et  aeris)  consentaneum  est.  Ex  quo  sequetur,  flam¬ 
mam  aerem  raritate  sive  expansione  materiae  quintuplo  et  am¬ 
plius  superare.  Tamto  enim  se  inviccm  superant  vapores  sui, 
ut  dictum  est ;  flamma  vero  ipsa  ad  proprium  vaporem,  non  im- 
purum  sed  summe  praeparatum,  sesquialteram  rationem  habere 
potest,  ut  aerem  item  ad  vaporem  aquae  summe  praeparatum 
habere  posuimus. 

Neque  haec  multum  discrepant  ab  iis  quae  visu  obiter  per- 


1  Jlavescenlc  in  the  original. 


PHENOMENA  UNIVERSE 


711 


cipiuntur,  et  familiariter  occurrunt.  Nam  si  candelam  ceream 
accensam  flatu  extinguas,  et  fili  illius  fumei  qui  adscendit  (in 
ima  parte  antequam  dispergatur)  dimensionem  animadvertas  ; 
et  candelam  prope  flammam  admoveas,  et  rursus  portionem 
flammaa  quae  primo  allabitur  contempleris ;  earn  fumi  magnitu- 
dinem  non  multo  plus  quam  duplo  excedere  judicabis ;  et  ta- 
men  ille  fumus  impurior  est  et  pressior.  Quod  si  pulveris 
tormentarii  corporis  dimensionem  diligenter  notes,  aut  ad  me- 
liorem  conjecturam  in  situla  metiaris,  atque  rursus,  postquam 
flammam  corripuerit,  dimensionem  flammse  suae  advertas;  flam¬ 
mam  corpus  (quomodo  hujusmodi  res  subito  intuitu  compre- 
hendi  possit)  mille  vicibus  superare,  non  admodum  negabis. 
Atque  hujusmodi  quaedam  proportio  flammae  ad  nitrum,  ex  iis 
qute  prius  posuimus,  debetur.  Verum  de  his,  cum  ad  observa- 
tiones  nostras  super  hanc  historiam  ventum  erit,  clarius  expli- 
cabimus. 

Aerem  ipsum  expandi  et  contrahi  ex  calore  et  frigore,  in 
ventosis  quibus  utuntur  medici  ad  attractionem  luculenter 
videmus.  Xllae  enim  super  flamma  calefactae  et  continuo  ad 
carnem  applicatae,  carnem  trahunt,  contrahente  se  et  restituente 
paulatim  aere.  Atque  hoc  operatur  ex  sese,  licet  stuppa  im- 
missa  atque  inflammata  non  fuerit,  qua  ad  vehementiorem 
attractionem  uti  solent.  Quinetiam  si  spongia  frigida  infusa 
ventosis  superimponatur  exterius,  tanto  magis  se  contrahit  aer 
virtute  frigoris,  et  fortior  fit  attractio. 

Salinum  argenteum,  quale  forma  companili  vulgatissima  ad 
raensae  usum  adhibemus,  in  lavacro  aut  patera  aqua  plena  collo- 
cavimus,  aerem  depressum  secum  una  ad  vasis  fundum  vehens. 
Turn  prunas  ardentes  duas  aut  tres  in  concavo  illo  parvo  quod 
salem  excipere  solet  posuimus,  atque  ignem  a  flatu  excitavimus. 
Evenit  autem  non  multo  post,  ut  aer  per  calorem  rarefactus,  et 
antiquse  sphaerse  impatiens,  salini  fundum  ex  aliquo  latere  ele- 
varet,  et  in  bullis  adscenderet. 

Hero  describit  altaris  fabricam,  eo  artificio,  ut  supenmposito 
holocausto  et  incenso,  subito  aqua  decideret,  quas  ignem  extin- 
gueret  Id  non  aliam  poscebat  industriam,  quam  ut  sub  altare 
loco  cavo  et  clause  aer  reciperetur,  qui  nullum  alium  (cum  ab 
igne  extenderetur)  inveniret  exitum,  nisi  qua  aquam  in  canali 
ad  hoc  paratam  impelleret  et  extruderet.  Erant  etiam  Batavi 
quidam  nuper  apud  nos,  qui  organum  quoddam  musicum  con- 
fecerant,  quod  radiis  solis  percussum  symphoniam  quandam 


712 


PHENOMENA  UNIVERSE 


edebat.  Id  ab  aeris  tepefacti  extensions  quse  principium  motus 
dare  potuit,  factum  fuisse  verisimile  est ;  cum  certum  sit  aerem, 
vel  exigui  admodum  caloris  contactu  lacessitum,  expansionem 
statim  moliri. 

Yerum  ad  magis  accuratam  expansionis  aeris  notitiam,  ad 
vesicam  illam  sensibilem  versi,  vitrum  accepimus  vacuum  (sci¬ 
licet  aere  solo  impletum) ;  ei  pileum  ilium  ex  vesica  (de  quo 
jam  antea  locuti  sumus)  imposuimus.  Vitro  autem  super  ignem 
imposito,  celerius  et  min  ore  calore  se  extendebat  aer,  quam 
aqua  aut  spiritus  vini ;  sed  expansione  non  admodum  ampla. 
Hanc  enim  proportionem  ferebat :  si  vesica  ex  semisse  minoris 
contenti  erat  quam  vitrum  ipsum,  aer  illam  fortiter  sane  et  plene 
inflabat ;  ad  majorem  expansionem  non  facile  adscendebat ;  fo- 
ramine  autem  in  summitate  vesicse,  dum  inflaretur,  facto,  nul¬ 
lum  exibat  corpus  visibile. 


DESCRIPTIO 


GLOBI 


INTELLECTU ALLS 


ET* 


THEMA  CCELL 


715 


PREFACE 


TO  THE 

DESCRIPTIO  GLOBI  INTELLECTUALS. 


This  tract,  published  by  Gruter  in  1653,  must  have  been 
written  about  1612.  This  follows  from  what  is  said  of  the  new 
star  in  Cygnus1,  which  was  first  observed  in  1600.  It  is  there¬ 
fore  intermediate  in  date  between  the  Advancement  of  Learning 
and  the  Be  Augmentis  ;  and  though  on  a  larger  scale  than  either, 
it  is  to  be  referred  to  the  same  division  of  Bacon’s  writings. 
The  design  of  all  three  is  the  same,  namely,  a  survey  of  the 
existing  state  of  knowledge.  The  commendation  of  learning 
which  forms  the  first  book  of  the  other  two  works  being  in  this 
one  omitted,  it  commences  with  the  tripartite  division  of  know¬ 
ledge  which  Bacon  founded  on  the  corresponding  division  of 
the  faculties  of  man— memory,  imagination,  and  reason.  His¬ 
tory,  which  corresponds  to  memory,  is  here  as  in  the  Be  Aug¬ 
mentis  primarily  divided  into  natural  and  civil,  whereas  in 
the  Advancement  the  primary  division  of  history  is  quadripar¬ 
tite,  literary  and  ecclesiastical  history  being  made  co-ordinate 
with  civil  history,  instead  of  being  as  here  subordinated  to  it. 

The  divisions  of  natural  history  are  then  stated,  and  are  the 
same  as  in  the  Be  Augmentis ;  and  the  remainder  of  the  tract 
relates  to  one  of  these  divisions,  namely  the  history  of  things 


1  Stella  nova  in  pectore  Cygni  .  .  jam  per  duodccim  annos  integros  duiavit. 


716 


PREFACE  TO  THE 


celestial,  or  in  other  words  to  astronomy.  The  problems  which 
it  should  consider,  and  the  manner  in  which  they  ought  to  be 
solved,  are  treated  of  at  some  length ;  but  even  with  respect  to 
astronomy  much  which  it  is  proposed  to  do  is  left  undone,  the 
whole  tract  being  merely  a  fragment. 

Bacon  has  nowhere  else  spoken  so  largely  of  astronomy ;  the 
reason  of  which  apparently  is,  that  he  was  writing  just  after 
Galileo’s  discoveries  had  been  made  known  in  the  Sydereus 
Nuncius,  published  in  1611  ;  a  circumstance  which  makes  the 
Descriptio  Globi  Intellectualis  one  of  the  most  interesting  of  his 
minor  writings.  The  oracles  of  his  mind  were  in  this  case 
evoked  by  the  contemplation,  not  of  old  errors,  but  of  new 
truths. 

The  Thema  Cceli,  which  contains  a  provisional  statement  of 
his  own  astronomical  opinions,  is  immediately  connected  with 
the  astronomical  part  of  the  Descriptio  Globi  Intellectualis. 
They  are  clearly  of  the  same  date,  and  form  in  reality  but  one 
work. 

In  the  De  Augmentis  Bacon  has  expressed  the  same  general 
views  on  the  subject  of  astronomy  as  in  these  tracts  ;  and  they 
are  in  truth  views  which  it  was  natural  for  a  man  not  well 
versed  in  the  phenomena  of  the  science  to  entertain  and  to 
promulgate.  What  had  been  done  by  the  old  astronomers 
seemed  to  him  full  of  useless  subtleties  and  merely  mathema¬ 
tical  conceptions ;  men  therefore  were  to  be  exhorted  to  cast  all 
these  aside,  and  to  study  the  phenomena  of  the  heavens  in¬ 
dependently  of  arbitrary  hypotheses.  Let  us  first  obtain  an 
accurate  knowledge  of  the  phenomena,  and  then  begin  to  search 
out  their  real  causes.  Orbs,  eccentrics,  and  epicycles  must  not 
stand  between  the  astronomer  and  the  facts  with  which  he  has 
to  deal.  In  this  language,  which  had  been  held  by  others, 
there  is  something  not  wholly  untrue ;  yet  the  counsel  which 
it  contains  would,  if  it  could  have  been  followed,  have  put  an 
end  to  the  progress  of  astronomical  science.  Let  us  obtain  an 
accurate  knowledge  of  the  phenomena  —  this  no  doubt  is 
necessary,  but  then  how  is  it  to  be  done  ?  To  say  that  instead 
of  trying  to  resolve  the  motion  of  the  planets  into  a  combina¬ 
tion  of  elementary  circular  motions,  we  ought  to  be  content 
to  save  the  appearances  by  means  of  spirals,  is  to  no  purpose 
unless  we  are  prepared  to  give  an  accurate  definition  of  the 
kind  of  spiral  we  mean.  Failing  this,  a  statement  that  the 


DESCRIPTIO  GLOBI  INTELLECTUALS. 


717 


apparent  path  of  a  planet  is  a  spiral  or  irregular  line  along 
which  it  moves  with  varying  velocity,  is  much  too  vague  to  be 
of  any  scientific  value  whatever ;  and  if  we  seek  to  give  precision 
to  this  statement,  we  find  ourselves  led  back  again  into  the 
region  of  mathematical  conceptions,  or,  if  the  phrase  be  pre¬ 
ferred,  of  mathematical  hypotheses.  The  distinction  between 
what  is  real  and  what  is  only  apparent  lies  at  the  root  of  all 
astronomy ;  and  it  is  in  vain  to  seek  for  a  physical  cause  of  that 
which  has  only  a  phenomenal  existence,  as  for  instance  of  the 
stations  and  regressions  of  the  planets.  Thus  in  two  points  of 
view,  astronomy  must  of  necessity  employ  mathematical  hypo¬ 
theses,  firstly  in  order  to  the  distinct  conception  of  the  pheno¬ 
mena,  and  secondly  in  order  to  be  able  to  state  the  problems 
which  a  higher  science  is  afterwards  to  solve.  If  the  hypo¬ 
theses  employed  are  inappropriate,  as  in  the  systems  of  Ptolemy 
or  Tycho  Brahe,  they  may  nevertheless  have  done  good  ser¬ 
vice  in  making  it  possible  to  conceive  the  phenomena,  and 
moreover  may  serve  to  suggest  the  truer  views  by  which  they 
are  to  be  replaced.  Almost  any  hypothesis  is  better  than  none, 
«  citius  enim,”  as  Bacon  has  elsewhere  said,  “  emergit  veritas  ex 
errore  quam  ex  confusione.”  The  wrong  hypotheses  doubtless 
lead  to  premature  speculation  touching  physical  causes ;  but 
this  is  a  mischief  which  in  course  of  time  tends  to  correct  itself, 
as  we  see  in  the  Ptolemaic  system,  of  which  the  overtlrrow  was 
in  good  measure  due  to  the  cumbrous  machinery  of  solid  orbs 
which  had  been  constructed  to  explain  the  motions  mechani¬ 
cally.  It  came  to  be  seen  that  even  if  this  system  could  save 
the  phenomena,  it  was  unable  to  give  a  basis  on  which  a  just 
explanation  of  their  causes  could  be  founded. 

I  have  said  that  almost  any  hypothesis  is  better  than  none. 
But  the  truth  is  that  as  soon  as  men  begin  to  speculate  at  all 
an  hypothesis  of  some  kind  or  other  is  a  matter  of  necessity. 
On  merely  historical  grounds  and  apart  from  any  consideration 
of  the  relation  between  facts  and  ideas,  questions  might  be 
propounded  to  a  writer  who  was  trying  to  describe  the  pheno¬ 
mena  of  the  heavens  without  introducing  any  portion  of  theory, 
to  which  he  would  not  find  it  easy  to  give  clear  answers.  Thus 
we  know  that  one  of  the  philosophers  of  antiquity  affirmed  that 
the  sun  is  new  every  day  ; — are  you  prepared,  we  might  ask,  to 
set  aside  the  authority  of  Heraclitus,  and  to  maintain  your 
theory  in  opposition  to  his  ?  If  you  affirm  that  the  sun  which 


718 


PREFACE  TO  THE 


set  last  night  is  the  same  as  that  which  rose  this  morning,  you 
are  no  longer  a  describer  of  phenomena,  but,  like  those  whom 
you  condemn,  a  dealer  in  hypotheses. 

However  this  difficulty  is  got  over,  you  will  at  any  rate  not 
venture  to  confound  Hesperus  and  the  morning  star.  It  is 
true  that  one  of  the  great  teachers  of  Greece  long  since  as¬ 
serted  that  they  are  the  same;  but  the  speculative  fancies  of 
Pythagoras  must  be  rejected  not  less  than  those  of  Ptolemy  or 
Regiomontanus. 

We  find  that  Bacon,  both  in  the  De  Augmentis  and  in  the 
following  tract,  speaks  of  the  constructions  of  astronomy  as 
purely  hypothetical.  In  this  he  agrees  with  many  other  writers. 
It  was  a  common  opinion  that  these  constructions  had  no  foun¬ 
dation  in  reality,  but  were  merely  employed  as  the  basis  of 
mathematical  calculations.  They  served  to  represent  the  phe¬ 
nomena,  and  that  was  all.  This  view,  which  has  not  been 
without  influence  on  the  history  of  astronomy,  inasmuch  as  it 
made  the  transition  from  one  hypothesis  to  another  more  easy 
than  it  would  have  been  if  either  had  been  stated  as  of  absolute 
truth,  connected  itself  with  a  circumstance  not  unfrequently 
overlooked.  The  struggle  between  the  peripatetic  philosophers 
and  the  followers  of  Copernicus  has  caused  an  earlier  struggle 
of  the  same  kind  to  be  forgotten.  The  Ptolemaic  system  is 
in  reality  not  much  more  in  accordance  with  the  philosophy  of 
Aristotle  than  the  Copernican ;  and  therefore,  while  the  autho¬ 
rity  of  Aristotle  was  unshaken,  it  could  only  be  accepted,  if 
accepted  at  all,  as  a  means  of  representing  the  phenomena. 
The  motions  of  the  several  orbs  of  heaven  must,  if  our  astro¬ 
nomy  is  to  accord  with  Aristotle,  be  absolutely  simple  and 
concentric.  On  these  conditions  only  can  the  incorruptibility 
of  the  heavens  be  secured.  Consequently  eccentrics  and  epi¬ 
cycles  must  be  altogether  rejected;  and  as  the  Ptolemaic  system 
necessarily  employs  them,  it  follows  that  this  system  is  only  of 
value  as  a  convenient  way  of  expressing  the  result  of  observa¬ 
tion.  Such  was  the  view  of  those  who,  while  they  adopted 
Aristotle’s  principles,  were  aware  that  the  astronomical  system 
with  which  he  was  satisfied,  and  of  which  he  has  given  an 
account  in  the  twelfth  book  of  the  Metaphysics,  was  wholly 
inadequate  as  a  representation  of  the  phenomena.  But  his 
more  strenuous  adherents  went  further,  and  followed  Aver- 
roes  in  speaking  with  much  contempt  of  Ptolemy  and  of  his 


DESCRIPTIO  GLOBI  INTELLECTUALS. 


719 


system ;  an  excess  of  zeal  which  Melancthon,  in  the  spirit  of 
conciliation  which  belongs  to  his  gentle  nature,  has  quietly 
condemned.1 

Out  of  this  antinomy,  if  the  word  may  he  so  used,  sprang 
several  attempts  to  replace  the  Ptolemaic  system  by  a  construc¬ 
tion  which  should  be  in  accordance  both  with  the  phenomena 
and  with  Aristotle.  Of  these  the  best  known  is  the  Homo- 
centrica  of  Fracastorius.  As  the  name  implies,  all  the  orbs 
have  on  this  hypothesis  the  same  centre,  and  of  these  homo¬ 
centric  orbs  he  employs  seventy-seven.  But  a  fatal  objection 
to  this  and  all  similar  attempts  is  that  they  can  give  no  expla¬ 
nation  of  changes  in  apparent  distance.  Fracastorius  tries  to 
set  aside  this  objection  by  asserting  that  although  the  distance 
of  some  of  the  heavenly  bodies  from  the  earth  may  seem  to 
vary,  yet  it  never  does  so  in  reality,  the  apparent  variation 
being  caused  by  the  varying  medium  through  which  they  are 
seen. 

Though  this  explanation  is  wholly  unsatisfactory,  the  wish 
to  get  rid  of  eccentrics  and  epicycles  was  sufficiently  strong  to 
win  for  Fracastorius  a  much  more  favourable  reception  than  his 
complex  and  imperfect  hypothesis  deserved.  He  was  spoken  of 
as  a  man  who  had  succeeded  in  overcoming  the  divorce  which 
had  so  long  separated  astronomy  from  philosophy.2 

Of  the  similar  attempt  made  by  D’Amico  I  know  no  more 
than  what  is  mentioned  by  Spiriti  in  his  Scrittori  Cozentini. 

The  Ptolemaic  system  being  thus  treated  as  a  mere  hypo¬ 
thesis  by  the  followers  of  Aristotle,  for  of  course  the  astrono¬ 
mers  who  accepted  Purbach’s  theory  of  solid  orbs  must  have 
regarded  it  as  a  reality,  it  was  natural  that  Bacon  should  have 
thought  that  what  we  now  call  physical  astronomy,  that  is  the 
causal  explanation  of  the  phenomena,  ought  to  be  studied 
independently  of  this  system.  Whatever  it  had  accomplished 
might  be  as  well  done  without  it.  Spirals  and  dragons  would 
be°found  sufficient  to  represent  the  phenomena,  if  the  per¬ 
verse  love  of  simplicity  which  had  led  the  mathematicians  to 
confine  themselves  to  circles  and  combinations  of  circles  was 
once  got  rid  of.  Galileo’s  view  of  this  matter  is  however  un- 


1  See  Initia  Physical.  „T,  .  t. 

*  See  Flamintus.  [Carmin.  lib.  ii.  f.  30.  Ed.  Lntet.  per  N, col  Dmtem.)  It  is 
remarkable  that  Delambre  declares  that  he  cannot  see  why  Fracastorius  should  have 
thousht  his  own  system  better  than  the  old  one.  The  reason  is  perfectly  obvious  if  we 
consider  the  matter  in  connection  with  the  history  of  philosophy. 


720 


PREFACE  TO  THE 


doubtedly  the  true  one,  “  Le  linee  irregolari  son  quelle  che, 
non  avendo  determinazion  veruna  sono  infinite  e  casuali,  e 
percio  indefinibili,  ne  di  esse  si  puo  in  conseguenza  dimostrar 
proprieta  alcuna,  ne  in  somma  saperne  nulla ;  sicche  il  voler 
dire,  il  tale  accidente  accade  merce  di  una  linea  irregolare,  e  il 
medesimo  che  dire  io  non  so  perclie  ei  si  accagia.”1 

Bacon  was  not  the  first  who  proposed  to  sweep  away  from 
astronomy  the  mathematical  constructions  by  which  it  seemed 
to  be  encumbered.  We  find  in  Lucretius  nearly  the  same 
views  as  those  of  Bacon.  The  astronomers.  Bacon  often  says, 
insist  on  explaining  the  retardation  of  the  inferior  orbs  by 
giving  them  a  proper  motion  of  their  own,  opposite  to  that 
which  they  derive  from  the  starry  heaven  :  surely  it  would  be 
simpler  to  say  that  all  the  orbs  move  in  the  same  direction  with 
unequal  velocities  ;  the  inequality  depending  on  their  remote¬ 
ness  from  the  prime  mover. 

Compare  with  this  the  following  lines  of  Lucretius : — 

“  Quanto  quasque  magis  sint  terrain  sidera  propter, 

Tanto  posse  minus  cum  coeli  turbine  ferri : 

Evanescere  enim  rapidas  illius,  et  acreis 
Imminui  subter,  vireis;  ideoque  relinqui 
Paullatim  solem  cum  posterioribu’  signis, 

Inferior  multum  quum  sit  quam  fervida  signa : 

Et  magis  hoc  lunaui ;  ”  &c.2 

But  it  was  probably  not  from  Lucretius  that  Bacon  derived  this 
way  of  considering  the  matter.  For  Telesius,  whom  Bacon 
esteemed  “  the  best  of  the  novelists,”  and  whose  pastoral  philo¬ 
sophy,  as  he  has  not  unhappily  called  it,  was  contented  with 
vague  speculations  as  to  the  causes  of  phenomena  without  any 
accurate  knowledge  of  their  details,  had  suggested  to  his  fol¬ 
lowers  that  it  was  nowise  necessary  to  resolve  the  motion  of  the 
sun  into  the  motion  of  the  starry  heaven  and  the  motion  of  his 
own  orb,  and  that  on  the  contrary  this  composition  of  motions 
is  unintelligible.  You  may  see,  he  affirms,  with  your  own 
eyes  the  way  in  which  the  sun,  moving  with  one  motion  only, 
advances  continually  from  east  to  west,  and  alternately  towards 
the  north  and  south ;  all  that  is  necessary  is  to  admit  that  the 
poles  on  which  he  revolves  are  not  constantly  at  the  same  dis- 


1  Saggiatore,  ii.  p.  187. 


2  Lucret.  v.  622. 


DESCRIBXIO  GL0B1  irsTELRECTUALIS.  721 

tance  from  the  poles  of  heaven,  but  on  the  contrary  are  always 
receding  from  or  advancing  towards  them.1 

Amongst  those  who  called  themselves  Telesians  the  view 
here  suggested  received  a  fuller  development ;  they  adopted 
the  doctrine  of  Alpetragius,  a  Latin  translation  of  whose  The- 
orica  Planetarum  was  published  at  Venice  in  1531.  Alpe¬ 
tragius  professes  that  he  found  the  complication  of  the  Pto¬ 
lemaic  system  intolerable,  and  that  the  foundation  of  his  own 
is  much  simpler.  “  Apparet  sensu  quod  quilibet  planeta  re- 
volvitnr  singulo  die  super  circulis  aequidistantibus  ab  sequi- 
noctiali ;  attamen  diuturnitate  temporis  et  revolutione  pianette 
multis  revolutionibus  ex  periodis  diurms,  videtur  ille  planeta 
moveri  a  puncto  in  quo  visus  est  primum  sequinoctialis  et 
respectu  motus  similis  ei  postponi  in  longitudine  et  declinare  a 
suo  primo  loco  in  latitudine,”  of  which  the  reason  is  that  it  does 
not  really  revolve  in  circles  parallel  to  the  equator,  “  sed  est 
revolutio  girativa  dicta  laulabina  ex  declinatione  pianette  a  loco 
suo  in  latitudine.” 2  Of  this  the  reason  is  twofold  :  the  planet’s 
orb  moves  more  slowly  than  the  prime  mover  in  consequence 
of  its  essential  inferiority,  an  inferiority  which  increases  in  the 
case  of  different  planets  with  their  nearness  to  the  earth ;  and 
its  poles  revolve  on  two  small  circles  parallel  to  the  equator, 
Alpetragius  goes  on  to  apply  these  hypotheses  to  each  of  the 
planets.  It  is  needless  to  point  out  of  how  little  value  his 
speculations  necessarily  are.  Such  as  they  are  however,  the 
Telesians,  as  we  learn  from  Tassoni 3,  were  content  to  accept 
them.  Of  the  astronomical  writings  of  the  Telesians  I  have 
not  been  able  to  find  any  account.  None  of  those  who  are 
mentioned  by  Spirit!  appear  to  have  published  anything  on 
the  subject.  However  this  may  be,  the  authority  of  Tassoni 
is  sufficient  to  show  that  the  school  of  Telesius  rejected  the 
Ptolemaic  system  and  especially  the  notion  that  the  planets 
&c.  have  a  proper  motion  from  west  to  east;  and  that  their 
views  are  therefore  in  accordance  with  those  which  Bacon 
propounds  in  the  Thema  Cceli,  so  far  at  least  as  relates  to  the 
general  conception  of  the  planetary  motions. 

Patricius,  on  whom  the  influence  of  Telesius  is  manifest,  and 
who  furnished  Bacon  with  many  of  the  facts  contained  in  the 


1  Telesius,  De  Rer.  Nat.  iv.  25. 

*  Pensieri  diversi,  ii.  4.  (Venice,  1636.) 


2  Alpetragius,  fo.  14.  v. 


722 


PREFACE  TO  THE 


following  treatises,  also  rejected,  and  more  contemptuously  than 
Telesius,  the  common  astronomical  hypotheses.  The  planetary 
motions,  their  stations  and  regressions  are,  he  says,  explained 
by  astronomers  by  the  help  of  epicycles  and  eccentrics ;  but 
we  ascribe  them  to  the  natures  and  spirits  of  the  planets,  and 
in  a  higher  degree  to  their  souls  and  minds.  Of  this  idle 
talk  Gilbert  remarks  that  it  destroys  the  study  of  astronomy. 

“  Quid  autem,”  he  observes,  “  turn  postea  spectabit  otiosus  in- 
cassum  philosophus,  opinione  sua  satiatus,  coelum  sine  usu  sine 
motuum  prcevidentia :  ita  nullius  usus  erit  ilia  scientia.”  1  But 
Patricius’s  opinions  on  astronomy  could  clearly  not  be  of  much 
value,  seeing  that  he  was  sufficiently  ignorant  to  blame  astro¬ 
nomers  for  not  taking  into  account  the  distance  of  the  place 
where  their  observations  are  made,  from  the  centre  of  the  earth; 
and  speaks  of  this  omission  as  “  a  most  evident  fallacy a 
remark  which  proves  that  he  had  either  never  heard  of  the 
correction  for  parallax,  or  having  heard  of  it  was  unable  to 
understand  its  nature. 

From  him,  however,  Bacon  derived  some  of  the  most  re¬ 
markable  statements  in  the  Descriptio  Globi  Intellectuals ; 
particularly  the  incredible  account  of  the  mutations  which 
Venus  underwent  in  1578.  That,  setting  aside  Patricius’s 
loose  way  of  speaking,  the  real  phenomenon  was  simply  that 
Venus  was  visible  before  sunset,  is  probably  the  safest  expla¬ 
nation  of  the  whole  story ;  of  which  I  have  found  no  mention 
elsewhere.  Thus  much  however  is  certain,  that  there  could 
have  been  no  such  peculiarity  in  her  appearance  as  to  suggest 
to  well-informed  persons  the  notion  that  she  had  undergone 
any  real  change,  since  in  the  controversy  whether  there  were 
any  evidence  of  corruption  or  generation  in  the  heavens  a  fact 
like  this  could  not  have  been  passed  over. 

Of  the  discoveries  announced  by  Galileo  in  the  Sydereus 
Nuncivs  Bacon  does  not  speak  at  much  length,  though  it  is 
difficult  not  to  believe  that  he  was  led  to  say  so  much  of  astro¬ 
nomical  theories  by  the  interest  which  these  discoveries  must 
have  excited  when  they  were  first  made  known.  The  disco¬ 
very  of  Jupiter’s  satellites,  the  resolution  into  stars  of  the 
nebula  Praesepe,  and  the  irregularities  in  the  moon’s  surface, 


1  Physiol.  Nov.  ii.  9. 


DESCRIPT10  GLOBI  INTELLECTU AXIS. 


723 


are  all  mentioned  in  the  following  tract ;  but,  as  I  have  said, 
somewhat  briefly.1 

It  is  remarkable  that  neither  in  the  following  tracts  nor  in 
his  subsequent  writings  has  Bacon  mentioned  the  discoveries  of 
Kepler.  The  treatise  De  Stella  Martis  was  published  in  1609, 
and  became  known  in  England  at  least  as  early  as  1610. 
Harriot,  it  appears  from  Professor  Rigaud’s  account  of  his 
papers,  was  then  in  correspondence  with  him,  and  repeated  his 
calculations.  That  Bacon  was  acquainted  with  his  writings 
we  can  hardly  believe ;  they  bear  so  directly  on  the  questions 
which  he  has  discussed  that  he  could  scarcely  have  neglected 
to  notice  them,  had  he  known  them  even  by  report.  In  the 
very  first  page  of  Kepler’s  great  work  we  find  a  quotation 
from  Peter  Ramus,  declaring  that  he  would  resign  his  profes¬ 
sorship  in  favour  of  any  one  who  should  produce  an  astronomy 
without  hypotheses.  To  this  Kepler  subjoins  an  apostrophe  to 
Ramus,  telling  him  that  it  is  well  that  death  had  relieved  him 
of  the  necessity  of  redeeming  his  pledge,  and  vindicating  Coper¬ 
nicus  from  the  charge  of  having  explained  the  phenomena  of  as¬ 
tronomy  by  unreal  hypotheses.  The  same  subject  is  resumed 
in  the  preface,  and  elsewhere  throughout  the  book.  Again,  in 
another  point  of  view,  it  makes  Bacon’s  complaints  that  astro¬ 
nomers  cling  superstitiously  to  perfect  circles  appear  somewhat 
out  of  date,  to  find  that  before  the  time  at  which  he  wrote 
the  man  who  confessedly  both  by  his  genius  and  his  official 
position  stood  at  the  head  of  the  astronomers  of  Europe  and, 
so  to  speak,  represented  them,  had  succeeded  in  saving  the 
phenomena  more  accurately  than  had  been  done  before,  by 
means  of  ellipses.  A  great  change  had  just  taken  place  ;  two 
most  remarkable  laws,  the  foundations  of  modern  physical  as¬ 
tronomy,  had  just  been  propounded,  namely  the  law  of  elliptic 
motion,  and  that  of  the  equable  description  of  areas ;  and  the 
whole  state  of  the  question  with  respect  to  the  truth  or  false- 


i  The  interest  which  these  discoveries  excited  must  have  been  very  great.  Sir 
William  Lower  writes  to  Harriot,  “  I  gave  your  letter  a  double  welcome  both  because 
it  came  from  you  and  contained  news  of  that  strange  nature  .  .  .  Me  hinks  my 

diligent  Galileos  hath  done  more  in  his  threefold  discovery  than  Magellane  m  opening 
the  straits  to  the  South  Sea,  or  the  Dutchmen  that  were  eaten  by  bears  in  Nova 
Zembla  ”  The  news  had  just  reached  him.  His  date  is  “  the  longest  day  of  1610. 
It  had  taken  rather  more  than  than  three  months  to  travel  from  Italy  to  Wales.— 
Professor  Rigaud's  Supplement,  See.,  p.  26. 


47  Bacon  III 


724 


PREFACE  TO  THE 


hood  of  the  Copernican  system  was  thus  changed.  In  truth 
this  system  was  inextricably  connected  not  only  with  Kepler’s 
results,  but  with  his  method.  In  his  dedication  to  the  Emperor 
he  says,  “  Locum  (that  is,  the  place  of  Mars)  indagine  cinxi, 
curribus  magnae  Matris  Telluris  in  gyrum  circumactis.”  He 
means  by  this  that  he  used  observations  of  Mars  made  when 
in  the  same  point  of  his  orbit,  the  earth  being  at  the  time  of 
the  different  observations  in  different  points  of  hers.  The  same 
idea  of  the  connexion  of  the  Copernican  hypothesis  with  Kep¬ 
ler’s  method,  is  expressed  in  one  of  the  complimentary  stanzas 
prefixed  to  the  book  :  — 

Coelos  Keplerus  terrarum  oppugnat  alumnus  : 

De  scabs  noli  quaerere :  terra  volat. 

In  one  of  Kepler’s  letters  to  David  Fabricius,  nothing  can  be 
more  decided  than  his  rejection  of  the  notion  that  all  motions 
of  the  heavenly  bodies  are  in  perfect  circles.  “  Quod  ais  non 
dubium  quin  omnes  motus  fiant  per  circulum  perfectum,  si  de 
compositis  (id  est  de  realibus)  loqueris,  falsum :  fiunt  enim 
Copernico,  ut  dixi,  per  orbitam  ad  latera  circuli  excedentem, 
Ptolemaeo  et  Braheo  insuper  per  spiras.  Sin  autem  loqueris  de 
componentibus,  de  fictis  igitur  hoc  est  de  nullis  loqueris.  Nihil 
enim  in  coelo  circumit  prteter  ipsum  corpus  planeta;,  nullus  orbis, 
nullus  epicyclus :  quod  Braheansc  Astronomne  initiatus  igno- 
rare  non  potes.”  And  it  is  interesting  to  observe  how  clearly 
he  distinguishes  between  the  real  motions  and  the  component 
elements  into  which  they  may  be  resolved. 

Until  the  language  of  modern  analysis  had  enabled  us  to 
express  the  nature  and  properties  of  curves  merely  quantitively, 
without  reference  to  genesis  or  construction,  it  was  difficult  to 
attain  to  a  clear  way  of  thinking  as  to  the  relation  which 
astronomical  hypotheses  bear  to  reality.  In  order  to  define 
the  motion  which  actually  takes  place,  it  was  necessary  to  refer 
to  simpler  motions  which  have  only  an  abstract  or  ideal  ex¬ 
istence.  But  then  it  was  asked,  how  can  the  result  be  real  if 
the  elements  are  not  so  ?  In  this  point  of  view  the  unpictu- 
resqueness  of  symbolical  language,  though  it  has  led  to  other 
inconveniences,  has  delivered  us  from  a  great  deal  of  confused 
thinking.  If  Poinsot’s  illustration  of  the  motion  of  a  rigid 
body  by  means  of  a  central  ellipsoid  rolling  on  a  fixed  plane, 
had  been  proposed  at  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century, 


DESCRIPTIO  GLOBI  INTELLECTUALIS. 


725 


most  people  would  have  said  that  the  hypothesis  was  absurd, 
though  it  might  correspond  to  the  phenomena. 

To  take  the  matter  more  generally,  it  must  be  remembered 
that  positive  truth  or  falsehood  belongs  only  to  the  region  of 
the  actual  and  individuated.  To  say  that  two  and  three  make 
five  is  not  to  deny  that  four  and  one  do  so  too,  although 
if  I  assert  that  of  five  houses,  first  three  were  built  and  then 
two  added,  I  contradict  the  assertion  that  four  were  built  at 
first  and  that  only  one  is  of  later  date.  Not  merely  in  the  re¬ 
lation  between  cinematical  or  formal  and  physical  astronomy, 
but  generally,  the  question  whether  an  hypothesis  be  true  or 
false  does  not  arise  unless  it  is  presented  as  a  causal  explana¬ 
tion.  Thus  when  Berosus  taught  that  one  half  of  the  moon  is 
luminous,  and  that  her  phases  arise  from  this  half  being  always 
turned  towards  the  sun  in  virtue  of  their  mutual  sympathy, 
both  being  bright,  the  explanation  is  unexceptionable,  except 
so  far  as  relates  to  the  efficient  cause.  One  half  of  the  moon 
always  is  bright ;  and  always  is  turned  to  the  sun ;  and  this 
Berosus  saw  as  clearly  as  we  do.  It  is  in  this  way  that  false 
hypotheses  are  transformed  into  true  ones ;  not  by  the  trans¬ 
formation  of  anything  false  into  truth,  but  by  the  severance  of 
the  causal  or  real  element  from  that  which  is  neither  true  nor 
false,  namely  the  abstract  conception.  But  the  interest  of  the 
subject  has  led  me  to  dwell  on  it  at  too  much  length. 

It  is  curious  to  observe  that  in  the  interval  between  the 
composition  of  the  following  tracts  and  that  of  the  De  Aug¬ 
ments  Bacon’s  leaning  against  the  Copernican  system  became 
more  decided,  though  in  the  same  interval  the  system  had 
received  an  accession  of  strength,  of  which  doubtless  he  was  not 
aware,  in  the  discovery  of  Kepler’s  third  law.1  This  law,  con¬ 
necting  as  it  does  the  planets  with  the  sun  by  an  uniform 


>  This  discovery  was  made,  as  Kepler  has  informed  us,  on  the  15th  of  May,  1618 
In  Professor  Rigaud’s  account  of  Harriot's  papers,  published  in  1 833,  it  is  mentioned 
that  Harriot,  who  was  apparently  the  first  person  to  determine  the  periods  of _Jup.ter ^s 
satellites  committed  an  error  of  calculation,  in  consequence  of  which  that  of  the  first 
MteluteU  gfven  at  about  half  its  real  length,  but  that  Harriot,  even  before  the  publica¬ 
tion  in  1614  of  Marius’s  Mundus  Jovialis,  seems  to  have  suspected  his  error.  The 
Professor  enquires  why  he  did  not  try  his  result  by  means  of  Kepler  s  third  'aw,  as  we 
know  that  he  was  a  student  of  the  work  in  which  this  law  is  stated  ;  forgetting  t  t 
only  the  first  two  laws  were  given  in  the  De  Stella  Martis,  and  that  the  interval 
referred  to  between  1610  and  1614,  Harriot  could  no  more  have  known  of  Kepler  9 
third  law  than  of  Newton’s  rrineipia.  But  it  is  really  curious  that  Kepler  does  not 
seem  to  have  applied  his  law  to  the  satellites.  The  application  is  said  to  have  been 
first  made  by  Vendelinus.  Sec  Narrien,  Hut.  of  Astronomy ,  p.  398. 


726 


PREFACE  TO  THE  DESC.  GLOBI  INT. 


relation  which  is  fulfilled  also  by  the  earth,  is  in  some  respects 
the  most  remarkable  of  the  three,  and  points  the  most  directly 
to  the  sun  as  the  great  centre  of  our  system.  No  doubt  neither 
this  law,  nor  all  three  together,  amounts  to  a  positive  demon¬ 
stration  :  it  has  sometimes  been  forgotten  that  after  all  they 
are  but  approximations  to  tbe  truth ;  but  of  all  approximations 
these  laws  are  the  most  remarkable,  and  it  would  be  very  dif¬ 
ficult  to  doubt,  even  without  the  knowledge  we  now  possess, 
that  they  are  grounded  on  a  physical  basis.  This  basis  is  their 
correspondence  with  a  causal  or  physical  approximation.  They 
would  be  absolutely  true  if  the  lesser  bodies  of  the  solar  system 
did  not  attract  one  another,  and  if  all  were  attracted  by  the 
sun  as  if  he  and  they  were  physical  points.  It  would  be 
possible  to  crowd  together  a  number  of  epicycles  whereby  the 
orbit  of  the  earth  would  be  better  represented  than  on  the 
elliptic  hypothesis ;  but  such  a  system  would  have  no  physical 
significance.  No  doubt  too,  all  the  laws  might  be  true  and 
yet  the  earth  at  rest ;  but  we  could  not  adopt  such  an  opinion 
without  doing  violence  to  all  our  ideas  of  symmetry  and  har- 
mony, — ideas  which  influence  our  judgments  of  natural  things 
more  than  we  are  aware  of.  Such  a  doctrine  would  be  felt 
“  primam  violare  fidem.”  We  may  well  believe  that  had  Bacon 
been  acquainted  with  the  discoveries  of  Kepler,  he  would  not 
only  have  been  impressed  by  their  astronomical  importance, 
but  have  felt  the  full  force  of  the  lesson  which  they  convey. 
He  would  have  felt  that  they  constituted  a  sufficient  reason 
for  transferring  the  allegiance  which  had  been  paid  to  Mother 
Earth  to  a  nobler  object  more  justly  entitled  to  the  homage 
which  she  had  so  long  received.  We  now  know  that  neither 
Earth  nor  Sun  is  the  true  Ilestia  of  the  old  Philosopheme. 
We  know  too,  that  in  all  the  orbs  of  heaven  that  we  can  see 
or  dream  of,  there  can  be  nothing  fully  entitled  to  the  appella¬ 
tion,  —  nothing  wholly  fixed,  or  wholly  unperturbed.  Happy 
for  us  if  we  feel  also  that  there  is  a  Sun  of  suns  whose  absolute 
existence  transcends  our  conceptions  of  space  and  time.1 

1  Deus,  sine  qualitate  bonus,  sine  quantitate  magnus,  sine  indigentia  creator,  sine 
situ  prasens,  sine  habitu  omnia  continens,  sine  loco  ubique  totus,  sine  tempore  sempi- 
ternus,  sine  ulla  mutatione  mutabilia  faciens,  nihilque  patiens.  —  St.  Augustine,  Z)e 
Trin. 


727 


DESCRIPTIO 

GLOBI  INTELLECTUAL! S. 


CAPUT  I. 

Partitio  universalis  Humance  Doctrines  in  Historiara,  Poesin, 
Philosophiam,  secundum  triplicem  facultatem  mentis,  Memo- 
riam,  Phantasiam,  liationem ;  quodque  eadem  partitio  com- 
pet.at  etiam  in  Theologicis :  cum  idem  sit  vas  ( nempe  intellectus 
humanus )  licet  materia  et  insinuatio  sint  diver sa. 

Paktitionem  Doctrinas  Human®  earn  deligimus,  quae  triplici 
facultati  intellectus  respondeat.  Tres  itaque  ejus  partes  a  nobis 
constituuntur :  Historia,  Poesis,  Philosophia.  Historia  ad 
Memoriam  refertur :  Poesis  ad  Phantasiam :  Philosophia  ad 
liationem.  Per  Poesin  autem  nihil  aliud  intelligimus  hoc  loco, 
quam*  historiam  fictam.  Historia  proprie  individuorum  est; 
quorum  impressiones  sunt  mentis  humanae  primi  et  antiquissimi 
hospites ;  suntque  instar  primae  materia;  scientiarum.  In  his 
individuis,  atque  in  hac  materia,  mens  humana  assiduo  se 
exercet,  interdum  ludit.  Nam  scientia  omnis,  mentis  et  exer- 
citatio  et  opificium ;  poesis  ejusdem  lusus  censeri  possit.  In 
philosophia  mens  mancipatur  rebus ;  in  poesi  solvitur  a  nexu 
rerum,  et  expatiatur,  et  fingit  quae  vult.  Haec  vero  se  ita  habere 
facile  quis  cernat,  qui  simpliciter  tantummodo  et  pingui  qua- 
dam  contemplatione  mtellectualium  origines  petat.  Etenim 
individuorum  imagines  excipiuntur  a  sensu,  et  in  memoria 
figuntur.  Abeunt  autem  in  memoriam  tanquam  integrae,  eodem 
quo  occurrunt  modo.  Has  rursus  retrabit  et  recolit  mens  \ 
atque  (quod  officium  ejus  proprium  est)  portiones  earum  com- 
ponit  et  dividit.  Habent  enim  individua  singula  aliquid  inter 
se  commune,  atque  aliud  rursus  diversum  et  multiplex.  Ea 
vero  compositio  atque  divisio  vel  pro  arbitrio  mentis  fit,  vel 
proac  invenitur  in  rebus.  Quod  si  fiat  pro  arbitrio  mentis. 


728 


DESCRfPTIO  GLOB!  INTELLECTUALS. 


atque  transferuntur  portiones  illae  ad  placitum  in  similitndinem 
quandam  individui,  phantasiae  opus  est,  quae  nulla  naturae  aut 
materiae  lege  et  necessitate  astricta,  ea  quae  in  rerum  natura 
minime  conveniunt  conjungere,  quae  vero  nunquam  separantur 
discerpere  potest ;  ita  tamen  ut  intra  primas  illas  ipsas  indivi- 
duorum  portiones  coerceatur.  Nam  eorum  quae  nulla  ex  parte 
se  sensui  obtulerunt,  non  est  phantasia,  ne  somnium  profecto. 
Quod  si  eaedem  individuorum  portiones  componantur  et  di- 
yidantur  pro  ipsa  rerum  evidentia  et  prout  vere  in  natura  se 
produnt  aut  saltern  pro  captu  cujusque  se  prodere  notantur,  eae 
partes  rationis  sunt :  atque  universa  hujusmodi  dispensatio  ra- 
tioni  attribuitur.  Ex  quo  liquido  constat,  ex  tribus  hisce  fonti- 
bus  esse  tres  illas  emanationes  Historiae,  Poesis,  et  Philosophise; 
neque  alias  aut  plures  esse  posse.  Nam  sub  philosophise 
nomine  complectimur  omnes  artes  et  scientias,  et  quicquid 
denique  a  singularum  rerum  occursu  per  mentem  in  generales 
notiones  collectum  et  digestum  est.  Neque  alia  censemus  ad 
Doctrinam 1  partitione,  quam  ilia  superiore,  opus  esse.  In- 
formationes  enim  oraculi  et  sensus,  et  re  proculdubio  et  modo 
insinuandi  differunt ;  sed  tamen  spiritus  humanus  unus  atque 
idem  est :  perinde  ac  si  diversi  liquores,  atque  per  divisa  in¬ 
fundibula,  tamen  in  unum  atque  idem  vas  recipiantur.  Quare 
et  Theologiam  ipsam  aut  ex  historia  sacra  constare  asserimus, 
aut  ex  praeceptis  et  dogmatibus'divinis,  tanquam  perenni  quadam 
philosophia.  Ea  vero  pars  quae  extra  hanc  divisionem  cadere 
videtur  (quae  est  prophetia)  et  ipsa  historiae  species  est,  cum 
praerogativa  divinitatis  in  qua  tempora  conjunguntur,  ut  nar- 
ratio  factum  praecedere  possit ;  modus2  autem  enuntiandi  et 
vaticiniorum  per  visiones  et  dogmatum  ccelestium  per  parabolas 
participat  ex  poesi. 

CAPUT  II. 

Partitio  Historice  in  Naturalem  et  Civilem ;  Ecclesiastica  et 
Literaria  sub  Civili  comprehensa.  Partitio  Historice  Naturalis 
in  Historiam  Generationum,  Prceter-generationum,  et  Artium, 
ex  triplici  statu  naturae ,  liberae  videlicet,  aberrantis,  et  con- 
strictae. 

Historia  aut  Naturalis  est,  aut  Civilis.  In  Naturali  naturae 
res  gestae  et  facinora  memorantur ;  in  Civili,  hominum.  Elu- 

1  So  in  the  original.  It  should  be  Theologica.  See  the  heading  of  the  chapter,  and 
compare  De  Aug.  ii,  1.  —  J.  S. 

3  moduui  in  the  original. — J.  S. 


DESCRIPTIO  GLOBI  INTELLECTUALIS. 


729 


cent  proculdubio  divina  in  utrisque,  sed  magis  in  humanis,  ut 
etiam  propriara  in  historia  speciem  constituant,  quam  Sacram 
aut  Ecclesiasticam  appellare  consuevimus.  Itaque  earn  Civili 
attribuimus  ;  atprimode  Naturali  dicemus.  Naturalis  Historia 
rerum  singularium  non  est ;  non  quod  perperam  a  nobis  positum 
sit  historiam  versari  in  individuis,  quae  loco  et  tempore  circum- 
scribuntur.  Nam  proprie  ita  se  res  habet.  Sed  cum  promiscua 
sit  rerum  naturalium  similitudo,  adeo  ut  si  unum  noris  omnia 
noris,  superfluum  quiddam  esset  et  infinitum  de  singulis  dicere. 
Itaque  sicubi  absit  ilia  promiscua  similitudo,  recipit  etiam  hi¬ 
storia  naturalis  individua  ;  ea  scilicet  quorum  non  est  numerus, 
aut  natio  quredam.  Nam  et  solis,  et  lunao,  et  terra,  et  similium, 
quae  unicae  sunt  in  specie  sua,  rectissime  conscribitur  historia ; 
nec  minus  eorum  quae  insigniter  a  specie  sua  deflectunt,  et 
monstrosa  sunt;  quandoquidem  in  illis,  descriptio  et  cognitio 
ipsius  speciei  nec  sufficit  nec  competit.  Itaque  hjcc  duo  indivi- 
duorum  genera  historia  naturalis  non  rejicit :  ut  plurimum  autem 
(quemadmodum  dictum  est)  in  speciebus  versatur.  At  parti- 
tionem  historic  naturalis  moliemur  ex  vi  et  conditione  ipsius 
naturae,  quae  in  triplici  statu  posita  invenitur,  et  tanquam  regi¬ 
men  subit  trinum.  Aut  enim  libera  est  natura  ac  sponte  fusa 
atque  cursu  consueto  se  explicans,  cum  scilicet  ipsa  natura 
per  se  nititur,  nullatenus  impedita  aut  subacta,  ut  in  ccelis, 
animalibus,  plantis,  et  universo  natura  apparatu;  aut  rursus 
ilia  a  pravitatibus  et  insolentiis  materiaa  contumacis  et  re- 
bellis  atque  ab  impedimentorum  violentia  de  statu  suo  plane 
convellitur  et  detruditur,  ut  in  monstris  et  heteroclitis  natu¬ 
ra  ;  aut  denique  ab  arte  et  ministerio  humano  constringitur  et 
fingitur  et  plane  transfertur  et  tanquam  novatur,  ut  in  arti- 
ficialibus.  Etenim  in  artificialibus  natura  tanquam  facta  vi- 
detur,  et  conspicitur  prorsus  nova  corporum  facies  et  veluti 
rerum  universitas  altera.  Itaque  tractat  historia  naturalis  aut 
libertatem  naturae,  aut  errores,  aut  vincula.  Quod  si  cuiquam 
molestum  sit  Artes  dici  Natura  Vincula,  cum  potius  liberatores 
et  vindices  censeri  debeant,  quod  naturam  in  nonnullis  suae  in- 
tentionis  compotem  faciant,  impedimentis  in  ordinem  redactis ; 
nos  vero  hujusmodi  delicias  et  pulchra  dictu  nil  moramur ;  id 
tantum  volumus  et  intelligimus,  naturam  per  artem,  tanquam 
Proteum,  in  necessitate  poni  id  agendi  quod  absque  arte  actum 
non  fuisset :  sive  illud  vis  vocetur  et  vincula,  sive  auxilium 
et  perfectio.  Partiemur  itaque  Historiam  Naturalem  in  Histo- 


730 


DESCRIPTIO  GLOBI  INTELLECTUALS. 


riam  Generationum ;  Historiam  Praetergenerationum ;  et  Hi¬ 
storiam  Artium,  quam  etiam  Mechanicam  et  Experimentalem 
appellare  consuevimus.  Libenter  autem  Historiam  Artium  ut 
historic  naturalis  speciem  constituimus ;  quia  inveteravit  pror- 
sus  mos  disserendi  et  opinio,  ac  si  aliud  quippiam  esset  ars  a 
natura,  ut  artificialia  a  naturalibus  segregari  debeant,  tanquam 
toto  genere  discrepantia :  unde  et  illud  mali,  quod  plerique 
historic  naturalis  scriptores  perfunctos  se  putant,  si  historiam 
animalium  aut  plantarum  aut  mineralium  confecerint,  omissis 
artium  mechanicarum  experimentis  (quae  longe  raaximi  ad  phi- 
losophiam  momenti  sunt);  turn  etiam  illabitur  animis  homi- 
num  subtilius  aliud  malum  ;  nempe  ut  ars  censeatur  solummodo 
ut  additamentum  quoddam  naturae;  cujus  scilicet  ea  sit  vis,  ut 
naturam  vel  inchoatam  perficere  vel  inclinatam  emendare  pos- 
sit,  minime  vero  radicitus  transmutare  atque  in  imis  concu- 
tere  ;  quod  plurimum  rebus  humanis  desperationis  intulit.  At 
contra  illud  penitus  animis  hominum  insidere  debuerat,  artifici¬ 
alia  a  naturalibus  non  forma  aut  essentia,  sed  efficiente  tantum, 
differre  ;  homini  vere  in  naturam  plane  nullius  rei  potestatem 
esse,  prseterquam  motus :  ut  corpora  scilicet  naturalia  aut  ad- 
moveat,  aut  amoveat ;  reliqua  naturam  intus  per  se  transigere. 
Itaque  ubi  datur  debita  admotio  corporum  naturalium  aut 
remotio,  omnia  potest  homo  atque  ars ;  ubi  non  datur,  nihil. 
Rursus  autem,  modo  corporum  fiat  debita  ilia  admotio  aut 
remotio  in  ordine  ad  aliquem  effectum,  sive  hoc  per  hominem 
et  artem  fiat  sive  naturaliter  absque  homine,  parum  refert ; 
neque  hoc  illo  fortius  est :  veluti  si  quis  ex  aspersione  aquae 
simulachrum  iridis  super  parietem  excitet,  non  minus  obsequente 
utitur  natura,  quam  cum  idem  fit  in  aere  ex  nube  roscida : 
contra  vero,  cum  aurum  invenitur  in  arenulis  1  purum,  aeque 
sibi  ipsi  ministrat  natura,  ac  si  aurum  purum  per  fornacem  et 
ministerium  hominis  excoqueretur.  Aliquando  autem  ministe- 
rium  ex  lege  universi  aliis  animalibus  deputatur :  neque  enim 
minus  artificiale  quiddam  est  mel,  quod  fit  mediante  industria 
apis,  quam  saccharum,  quod  hominis :  atque  in  manna  (quod 
similis  est  generis)  natura  seipsa  contenta  est.  Itaque  cum 
una  atque  eadem  sit  natura,  ejus  autem  vis  per  omnia  valeat, 
neque  unquam  ilia  a  seipsa  desciscat,  omnino  tanquam  ex  aequo 
subordinata  tantum  ad  naturam  poni  debent  hasc  tria,  Cursus 


1  renulis  in  tile  original. — J.  S. 


DESCRIPTIO  GLOBI  INTELLECTUALS. 


731 


naturae  ;  Exspatiatio  naturae ;  et  Ars  sive  additus  rebus  Homo ; 
ideoque  in  historia  naturali  ea  omnia  una  et  continua  narratio- 
num  serie  involvi  par  est :  quod  etiam  Caius  Plinius  magna  ex 
parte  fecit ;  qui  historiam  naturalem  pro  dignitate  complexus 
est,  sed  complexam  indignissime  tractavit.  Atque  hsec  sit  Na- 
turalis  Historiae  partitio  prima. 

CAPUT  III. 

Partitio  Historic  Naturalis,  ex  usu  et  fine  suo ;  quodque  finis 
longe  nobilissimus  Histories.  Naturalis  sit  ministratio  prima  ad 
condendam  Philosophiam ;  et  quod  hujusmodi  historia  (quae 
scilicet  sit  in  ordine  ad  eum  finem )  desideretur. 

CiETERUM  Historia  Naturalis  ut  subjecto  triplex  (quemadmo- 
dum  diximus),  ita  usu  duplex  est.  Adhibetur  enim  aut  propter 
cognitionem  rerum  ipsarum  qua;  historiae  mandantur,  aut  tan- 
quam  materia  prima  Philosophise.  Nobilissimus  autem  finis 
historise  naturalis  is  est ;  ut  sit  inductionis  verse  et  legitimse 
supellex  atque  sylva;  atque  satis  trahat  ex  sensu  ad  instruen- 
dum  intellectum.  Ilia  enim  altera,  quse  aut  narrationum 
jucunditate  delectat  aut  experimentorum  usu  juvat,  atque 
hujusmodi  voluptatis  aut  fructus  gratia  qusesita  est,  inferioris 
profecto  notse  est  et  genere  ipso  vilior,  prae  ea  cujus  ea  est  vis 
et  qualitas,  ut  propria  sit  parasceve  ad  condendam  philosophiam. 
Hsec  enim  demum  ea  est  historia  naturalis  quse  verse  et  activse 
philosophise  solida  et  seterna  basis  constituitur,  quseque  lumini 
naturae  puro  et  minime  phantastico  primam  accensionem  prsebet; 
cujus  quoque  neglectus,  et  Genius  non  placatus,  acies  illas  lar- 
varum  ac  veluti  regna  umbrarum  quse  in  philosophiis  volitare 
cernuntur,  cum  maxima  et  calamitosa  operum  sterilitate,  nobis 
pessimo  fato  immisit.  Affirmamus  autem  et  plane  testamur,  his¬ 
toriam  naturalem,  qualis  in  ordine  esse  debeat  ad  istum  finem,  non 
haberi,  sed  desiderari,  atque  inter  omissa  poni  oportere.  Neque 
vero  aciem  mentis  alicujus  perstringant  aut  magna  antiquorum 
nomina  aut  magna  novorum  volumina,  ut  querelam  istam  nos- 
tram  minus  justam  cogitet.  Satis  enim  scimus  haberi  historiam 
naturalem,  mole  amplam,  varietate  gratam,  diligentia  ssepius 
curiosam.  Attamen  si  quis  ex  ea  fabulas,  et  antiquitatem,  atque 
authorum  citationes  et  suffragationes,  lites  item  inanes  et  contro- 
versias,  philologiam  denique  et  ornamenta  eximat  (quse  ad  con- 
vivales  sermones  hominumquc  doctorum  noetes  potius  quarn  ad 


732 


DESCRIPTIO  GLOBI  INTELLECTUALIS. 


instituendam  philosophiam  sunt  accommodata),  profecto  ad  nihil 
magni  res  recidat.1  Itaque  thesaurus  quidam  potius  ad  elo- 
quentiam  a  nonnullis  quam  solida  et  fida  rerum  narratio  quaeri 
et  parari  videtur.  Prasterea,  non  multum  ad  rem  faciat  memo- 
rare  aut  nosse  florum  iridis  aut  tulupae,  aut  etiam  concharum 
aut  canum  aut  accipitrum,  eximias  varietates.  Hsec  enim  et 
liujusmodi  nil  aliud  sunt  quam  naturae  lusus  quidam  et  lascivia, 
et  prope  ad  individuorum  naturam  accedunt.  Itaque  habent 
cognitionem  in  rebus  ipsis  exquisitam ;  informationem  vero  ad 
scientias  tenuem  et  fere  supervacuam.  Atque  haec  sunt  tamen 
ilia  in  quibus  naturalis  historia  vulgaris  se  jactat.  Cum  autem 
degeneraverit  historia  naturalis  ad  aliena,  et  rursus  luxuriata 
sit  in  superfluis  ;  tamen  e  contra  magnae  utique  et  solid®  ejus- 
dem  partes  aut  prorsus  prastermissae  sunt,  aut  negligenter  et 
leviter  tractate.  Universa  vero  inquisitione  sua  et  congerie 
nullo  modo  ad  eum  quem  diximus  finem  (condendae  scilicet 
philosophise)  apta  et  qualificata  reperitur.  Id  in  membris 
ipsius  optime  apparebit,  atque  ex  comparatione  ejus  his  tori  se 
cujus  descriptiones  hominibus  sub  oculos  jam  proponemus,  ad 
earn  quae  habetur. 


CAPUT  IV. 

Incipit  tractatus  qualis  esse  debeat  historia  desiderata  ;  nempe 
Historia  Naturalis  ad  condendam  Philosophiam.  Id  ut 
clarius  explicetur,  primo  subjungitur  partitio  Historic  Ge- 
nerationum.  Ejus  constituuntur  partes  quinque.  Prima, 
coelestium,  Secunda,  meteororum ;  Tertia,  terrse  et  maris, 
Quarta,  collegiorum  majorum,  sive  elementorum  aut  massa- 
rum.  Quinta,  collegiorum  minorum  sive  specierum.  Histo¬ 
ria  vero  virtutum  primarura  rejicitur,  donee  explicatio  primee 
illius  partitionis  Generationum,  Prsetergenerationum,  et  Ar- 
tium,  sit  absoluta. 

Quanquam  vero  e  fide  nostra  esse  censemus,  hujus  ipsius  hi¬ 
storic  quam  desideramus  confectionem  non  aliis  relinquere,  sed 
nobis  ipsis  desumere,  propterea  quod  quo  magis  haec  res  omnium 
industriae  patere  videatur,  eo  major  subest  metus  ne  ab  insti¬ 
tute  nostro  aberrent ;  ideoque  earn  ut  tertiam  Instaurationis 
nostras  partem  designavimus ;  tamen  ut  institutum  nostrum  de 
explicationibus  sive  repraesentationibus  omissorum  perpetuo 

1  So  in  the  original.  It  should  probably  be  recidet.  —  J.  S. 


DESCRIPTIO  GLOBI  INTELLECTUALS. 


733 


servemus,  atque  etiam  si  quid  nobis  humanitus  accident,  ut 
aliquid  in  tuto  positum  sit,  sententiam  nostram  et  consilia  de 
bac  re  jam  hoc  loco  subjungere  visum  est.  Historic  Genera- 
tionum,  sive  Natur®  Solut®,  quinque  partes  constituimus.  E® 
sunt  historia  .ZEtheris.  Historia  Meteororum  et  Ilegionum  quas 
vocant  Aeris.  Etenim  tractum  sublunarem  ad  superficiem  us¬ 
que  terr®  et  corpora  in  eo  locata,  histori®  meteororum  attri- 
buimus.  Etiam  cometis  cujuscunque  generis  (utcunque  se 
habeat  rei  veritas)  tamen  ordinis  causa  locum  inter  meteora 
assignamus.  Tertio  subit  historia  Terr®  et  Maris,  qu®  con- 
juncta  globum  constituunt  unicum.  Atque  hucusque  rerum 
natura  distribuitur  ex  locis  et  locatis :  reliqu®  du®  partes  sub- 
stantias  rerum  distinguunt,  vel  massas  potius.  Congregantur 
enim  corpora  connaturalia  ad  majores  et  minores  massas :  qu® 
Collegia  rerum  majora  et  minora  appellare  consuevimus,  ha- 
bentque  in  politia  mundana  rationes  inter  se  tanquam  tribus 
et  famili®.  Itaque  quarto  ordine  ponitur  historia  Elemento- 
rum  sive  Collegiorum  Majorum  ;  quinto  et  ultimo  historia  Spe- 
cierum  sive  Collegiorum  Minorum.  Elementa  enim  eo  sensu 
accipi  volumus,  ut  intelligantur  non  exordia  rerum,  sed  tantum 
corporum  connaturalium  mass®  majores.  Majoritas  autem  ilia 
accidit  propter  texturam  materi®  facilem,  simplicem,  obviam  et 
paratam;  cum  species  a  natura  parce  suppeditentur,  propter 
texturam  dissimilarem,  atque  in  plurimis  organicam.  Virtutum 
vero  illarum,  qu®  in  natura  censeri  possint  tanquam  Cardinales 
et  Catholic®,  Densi,  Rari,  Levis,  Gravis,  Calidi,  Frigidi,  Con- 
sistentis,  Fluidi,  Similaris,  Dissimilaris,  Specificati,  Organici, 
et  similium,  una  cum  motibus  ad  ilia  facientibus,  uti  Antitypi®, 
Nexus,  Coitionis,  Expansionis,  et  reliquorum  (quorum  historiam 
omnino  congeri  et  confici  volumus,  etiam  priusquam  ad  opus 
intellectus  deveniatur)  virtutum  et  motuum  historiam,  ejusque 
conficiend®  modum,  turn  tractabimus,  postquam  explicationem 
triplicis  illius  partitionis,  Generationum,  Pr®tergenerationum, 
et  Artium  absolverimus.  Neque  enim  earn  scilicet  intra  tri- 
plicem  illam  nostram  partionem  inclusimus,  cum  non  proprie  sit 
historia,  sed  inter  historiam  et  philosophiam  veluti  terminus 
medius.  Jam  vero  de  Historia  Ccelestium,  et  deinceps  de  reli- 
quis  dicemus  atque  pr®cipiemus. 


734 


DESCRIFTIO  GLOBI  JNTELLECTUALIS. 


CAPUT  V. 

Resumitur  tractanda  Historic/.  Ccelestium ;  qualis  et  esse  debeat 
in  genere,  et  quod  legitima  liujusce  histories  ordinatio  versetur 
in  triplici  genere  prceceptorum  ;  videlicet,  de  Fine,  de  Materia , 
ac  de  Modo  conficiendce  hujusmodi  histories. 

Historiam  Coelestium  simplicem  esse  volumus,  ne>e  dogma- 
tibus  imbutam  ;  sed  veluti  suspensa  vi  et  doctrina  theoriarum  ; 
quaeque  solummodo  phenomena  ipsa  sincera  complectatur  et 
separata,  quae  jam  dogmatibus  fere  concreverunt ;  denique  quae 
narrationes  proponat  eo  prorsus  modo,  ac  si  nihil  ex  artibus 
astronomic  et  astrologiae  decretum  esset,  sed  experimenta 
tantum  et  observationes  exacte  collecta  et  perspicue  descripta 
forent.  In  quo  genere  historic  nihil  adhuc  invenitur,  quod 
nostro  respondeat  voto.  Hujusmodi  quiddam  tantummodo 
cursim  et  licenter  attigit  Caius  Plinius  :  sed  optima  foret  ea 
historia  ccelestium,  quae  ex  Ptolemaeo  et  Copernico  et  doctio- 
ribus  1  astronomic  scriptoribus  exprimi  et  erui  possit,  si  artem 
experimento  plane  spolies,  adjunctis  etiam  recentiorum  obser- 
vationibus.  Quod  si  cui  mirum  videatur,  nos  tanto  labore 
parta,  aucta,  emendata,  rursus  ad  primam  imperitiam  et  nu- 
darum  observationum  simplicitatem  retrahere  velle ;  nos  vero 
nulla  cum  priorum  inyentorum  jactura,  tamen  longe  majus  opus 
movemuS ;  neque  enim  calculos  aut  prcdictiones  tantum  medi- 
tamur,  sed  philosophiam ;  earn  scilicet,  que  de  superiorum 
corporum  non  motu  solummodo  ej  usque  periodis,  sed  substantia 
quoque  et  omnimoda  qualitate,  potestate,  atque  influxu,  intel¬ 
lectual  humanum  informare,  secundum  rationes  naturales  atque 
indubitatas  absque  traditionum  superstitione  et  levitate  possit; 
atque  rursus  in  motu  ipso  invenire  atque  explicate,  non  quid 
pbenomenis  sit  consentaneum,  sed  quid  in  natura  penitus  re- 
pertum  atque  actu  et  reipsa  verum  sit.  Facile  autem  quis 
cernat,  et  eos  quibus  terrain  rotari  placet,  et  eos  contra  qui 
primum  mobile  et  veter em  constructionem  tenuerunt2,  cqua 
fere  et  ancipiti  phenomenorum  advocatione  niti.  Quin  et  ille 
novc  constructionis  nostra  ctate  author,  qui  solern  secundi 
mobilis,  quemadmodum  terram  primi  mobilis,  centrum  con- 
stituit,  ut  planetc  in  propriis  suis  conversionibus  circa  solem 
choreas  ducere  videantur  (quod  ex  antiquioribus  nonnulli 

1  doctoribus  in  the  original. — J.  S. 

2  Compare  Redargutio  Philosophiarum ,  p.  57 1  note  1. — J.  S . 


DESCRIPTIO  GLOBI  INTELLECTUALS. 


735 


de  Venere  et  Mercurio  suspicati  sunt),  si  cogitata  ad  exi- 
tum  perduxisset,  belle  profecto  rem  conficere  potuisse  vide- 
tur.1  Neque  vero  nobis  dubium  est,  quin  et  alii®  hujusmodi 
constructiones  ingenio  et  acri  cogitatione  adinveniri  possint. 
Neque  illis  qui  ista  proponunt  admodum  placet,  hsec  qua  ad- 
ducunt  prorsus  vera  esse,  sed  tantummodo  ad  computationes  et 
tabulas  conficiendas  commode  supposita.  At  nostra  ratio  alio 
spectat;  non  enim  concinnationes,  quae  varise  esse  possunt,  sed 
veritatem  rei  quasrimus,  quae  simplex  est.  Ad  hoc  vero  histo- 
ria  phaenomenorum  sincera  viam  aperiret2,  infecta  dogmate 
obstruct.  Neque  illud  tacemus,  nos  in  hac  ipsa  historia  coe- 
lestium  ad  normam  nostram  facta  et  congesta,  spem  per  se 
ponere  veritatis  circa  coelestia  inveniendae ;  sed  multo  magis  in 
observatione  communium  passionum  et  desideriorum  materiae 
in  utroque  globo.  Etenim  ista  aethereorum  et  sublunarium  qua; 
putantur  divortia,  commenta  nobis  videntur  et  superstitio  cum 
temeritate ;  cum  certissimum  sit  complures  effectus,  veluti  ex- 
pansionis,  contractionis,  impressionis,  cessionis,  congregationis 
ad  massas,  attractionis,  abactionis,  assimilationis,  unionis,  et  si- 
milium,  non  solum  hie  apud  nos,  sed  et  in  fastigiis  coeli  et  in 
visceribus  terrae  locum  habere.  Atque  non  alii  interpretes 
magis  fidi  adhiberi  aut  consuli  possunt,  ut  intellectus  humanus 
et  ad  profunda  terrae,  quae  omnino  non  cernuntur,  et  ad  alta 
coeli,  quae  plerunque  fallaciter  cernuntur,  penetret.  Itaquo 
optime  antiqui,  qui  Proteum  ilium  multiformem,  etiam  vatem 
termaximum  fuisse  retulerunt ;  qui  futura,  praeterita,  et  oc¬ 
culta  praesentium  novisset.  Nam  qui  materiae  passiones  catho- 
licas  novit,  atque  per  haec  novit  quid  esse  possit,  non  poterit 
non  nosse  etiam  quid  fuerit,  quid  sit,  et  quid  futurum  sit, 
secundum  summas  rerum.  Itaque  plurimum  spei  et  praesidii 
ad  contemplationem  coelestium  in  physicis  rationibus  colloca- 
mus :  per  physicas  rationes  intelligendo,  non  eas  quae  vulgo  esse 
putantur,  sed  tantum  doctrinam  circa  illos  appetitus  materia;, 
quos  nulla  regionum  aut  locorum  diversitas  distrahere  aut  dis- 
terminare  queat.  Neque  propterea  (ut  ad  propositum  rever- 
tamur)  ulli  diligentiae  parci  volumus,  qua;  circa  phaenomenorum 
ipsorum  coelestium  narrationes  et  observationes  possit  impendi. 
Nam  quanto  uberior  suppetat  apparentiarum  hujusmodi  copia, 
tanto  omnia  erunt  et  magis  in  promptu  et  firmiora.  De  quo 

1  The  reference  is  to  Tycho  Brahe,  and  by  nonnulli  ex  antiquis  Bacon  probably 
meant  Martianus,  Capella,  and  Vitruvius. 

2  So  in  the  original.  It  should  probably  be  aperiet.  —  J.  S. 


736 


DESCRIPTIO  GLOBI  INTELLECT  UALIS. 


antequam  plura  dicamus,  est  plane  quod  gratulemur  et  me- 
chanicorum  industriae,  et  doctorum  quorundam  hominum  curae 
et  alacritati,  quod  jam  nuper  per  instrumentorum  opticorum 
veluti  scaphas  et  naviculas  nova  tentari  coeperint  cum  coele- 
stibus  phaenomenis  commercia.  Atque  hoc  inceptum  et  fine 
et  aggressu  nobile  quoddam  et  humano  genere  dignum  esse 
existimamus :  eo  magis  quod  hujusmodi  homines  et  ausu  lau- 
dandi  sint  et  fide ;  quod  ingenue  et  perspicue  proposuerunt 
quomodo  singula  illis  constiterint.  Superest  tantum  constantia 
cum  magna  judicii  severitate,  ut  et  instrumenta  mutent,  et 
testium  numerum  augeant,  et  singula  et  saepe  experiantur  et 
varie,  denique  ut  et  sibi  ipsi  objiciant  et  aliis  patefaciant 
quicquid  in  contrarium  objici  possit,  et  tenuissimum  quemque 
scrupulum  non  spernant;  ne  forte  illis  eveniat,  quod  Demo- 
crito  et  aniculae  suae  evenit  circa  ficus  mellitas,  ut  vetula  esset 
philosopho  prudentior,  et  magnae  et  admirabilis  speculationis 
causae  subesset  error  quispiam  tenuis  et  ridiculus.  At  ista 
tanquam  praefati  in  genere,  accedamus  ad  descriptionem  histo¬ 
ric  coelestium  magis  explicatam ;  ut  ostendamus  quae  et  qualia 
circa  coelestia  quaeri  oporteat.  Primo  igitur  quaestiones  natu- 
rales,  aut  saltern  ex  iis  nonnullas  easque  praecipuas  propone- 
mus :  iis  usus  humanos  quales  verisimile  est  ex  coelestium 
contemplatione  educi  posse  adjiciemus ;  haec  utraque  tanquam 
historic  scopum ;  ut  quibus  histoi'iam  coelestium  componerc 
curae  erit  norint  quid  agatur,  easque  qucstiones  una  cum  ope- 
ribus  illis  et  affectis  habeant  in  animo  et  intueantur ;  unde 
talem  instituant  et  parent  liistoriam,  qualis  ad  judicia  hujus¬ 
modi  quaestionum,  et  praebitionem  hujusmodi  fructus  et  utili- 
tatum  erga  genus  humanum,  sit  accommodata.  Quaestiones 
autem  intelligimus  ejus  generis,  quae  de  facto  naturae  quaerant, 
non  de  causis.  Hoc  enim  pertinet  proprie  ad  historiam.  De- 
inde  distincte  monstrabimus  in  quibus  Historia  Coelestium  con- 
sistat,  quaeque  ejus  sint  partes;  quae  res  sint  apprehendendc  aut 
exquirendae,  quae  experimenta  sint  comparanda  et  procuranda, 
quae  observationes  adhibendae  et  pensitandce,  proponentes  tan¬ 
quam  Topica  quaedam  inductiva,  sive  Articulos  ad  interrogandum 
de  coelestibus.  Postremo  praecipiemus  nonnulla  non  solum  de  eo 
quod  quaeri  oporteat,  sed  et  de  hoc,  quomodo  quaesita  debeant 
pensitari,  etiam  exhiberi  atque  in  literas  referri,  ne  primae  in- 
quisitionis  diligentia  pereat  in  successione,  aut,  quod  pejus  est, 
infirmis  et  fallacibus  initiis  nitantur  progressus  qui  sequentur. 


DESCR1PTI.0  GLOBI  INTELLECTUALIS. 


737 


In  summa,  dicemus  et  ad  quid  quceri  debeat  circa  coelestia,  et 
quid,  et  quomodo. 


CAPUT  YI. 

Quod  quastiones  philosophic^  circa  coelestia,  etiam  qua  preeter 
opinionem  sunt,  et  quodammodo  dura,  recipi  debeant :  propo- 
nuntur  vero  quinque  quastiones  circa  systema  ipsum  ;  videlicet, 
an  sit  systema ;  et,  si  sit,  quod  sit  centrum  ejus,  et  qualis  pro- 
funditas,  et  qualis  connexio,  et  qualis  partium  collocatio. 

Existimabimur  autem  plerisque  proculdubio  reliquias  quae- 
stionum  veterum,  jam  pridem  quasi  tumulo  conditas  et  sepultas, 
rursus  eruere,  et  fere  manes  earum  evocare,  iisque  novas  in- 
super  quaestiones  adspergere.  Sed  cum  ea  qu®  adhuc  habetur 
circa  coelestia  philosophia  nihil  habeat  firmitudinis ;  cumque 
illud  nobis  perpetuo  ratum  et  fixum  sit,  omnia  novo  legitim® 
inductionis  judicio  sistere  ;  cumque  si  forte  quaestiones  aliqu®  a 
tergo  relinquantur,  tanto  minus  operse  et  diligenti®  consumetur 
in  historia,  propterea  quod  supervacuum  fortasse  videbitur  ea 
inquirere  de  quibus  qu®stio  non  fuerit  mota;  necesse  habemus 
quastiones,  quas  ubique  porrigit  rerum  natura,  in  manus  acci- 
pere.  Quin  quo  minus1  certi  sumus  de  qu®stionibus  per  viam 
nostram  determinandis,  eo  nos  minus  difficiles  pr®bemus  in  iis- 
dem  recipiendis.  Exitum  enim  rei  videmus.  Prima  igitur  ea 
qu®stio  est,  An  sit  systema  ?  Hoc  est,  An  mundus  sive  univer- 
sitas  rerum  sit  globosa  secundum  totum,  cujus  sit  centrum 
aliquod  ?  An  potius  globi  particulars  terrae  et  astrorum  spar- 
gantur ;  et  singuli  suis  haereant  radicibus,  absque  systemate  et 
medio  sive  centro  communi  ?  Atque  certe  jactavit  schola  De- 
mocriti  et  Epicuri,  authores  suos  mcenia  mundi  diruisse.2  Ne- 
que  tamen  id  prorsus  secutum  est  ex  iis,  quae  ab  illis  dicta  sunt. 
Nam  Democritus  cum  materiam  sive  semina  copia  infinita, 
attributis  et  potestate  finita,  eademque  agitata,  nec  ab  aeterno 
quovis  modo  locata,  posuisset,  vi  ipsa  illius  opinionis  adductus 
est,  ut  mundos  multiformes,  ortui  et  interitui  obnoxios,  alios 
melius  ordinatos,  alios  male  h®rentes,  etiam  tentamenta  mundo- 
rum  et  intermundia  statueret.  Sed  tamen  ut  hoc  receptum 

1  So  in  the  orignal. — J.  S. 

2  See  Lucretius,  i.957.,  for  the  inflnitude  of  the  universe;  and  compare  his  praise 
of  Epicurus  : — 

“  vivida  vis  animi  pervicit  et  extra 
Processit  longe  flammantia  mcenia  mundi.” 

De  Rer.  Nat.  i.  73. 


738 


DESCRIPTIO  GLOBI  INTEELECTUALIS. 


fuisset,  nihil  officiebat  quin  ilia  pars  materiae  quae  deputata  est 
huic  ipsi  mundo,  qui  nostro  generi  est  conspicuus,  obtinuerit 
figuram  globosam.  Necesse  enim  fuit  ut  singuli  ex  illis  mundis 
figuram  aliquam  accepissent.  Etsi  enitn  in  infinito  medium 
aliquod  esse  nequeat,  tamen  in  partibus  infiniti  rotunda  figura 
subsistere  potest,  non  minus  in  mundo  aliquo  quam  in  pila. 
Verum  Democritus  sector  mundi  bonus  fuit,  in  integralibus  au- 
tem  mundi  etiam  infra  mediocres  philosophos.  At  opinio  ilia 
de  qua  nunc  loquimur,  quae  destruebat  et  confundebat  systema, 
fuit  Heraclidis  Pontici,  et  Ecphanti,  et  Nicetae  Syracusani,  et 
praecipue  Philolai,  atque  etiam  nostra  setate  Gilberti,  et  omnium 
(praster  Copernicum)  eorum  qui  terram  planetam  et  mobilem, 
et  tanquam  unum  ex  astris,  crediderunt.1  Atque  ilia  opinio 
hanc  vim  habet,  ut  planetae  et  stelfie  singulae,  atque  etiam  alias 
innumerae  quae  conspectum  nostrum  ob  distantiam  fugiunt, 
necnon  aliae  quae  nobis  sunt  invisibiles  propter  naturam  non  lu- 
centem  sed  opacam,  suos  quaeque  sortitae  globos  et  formas  pri- 
marias,  per  expansionem  istam  quam  suspicimus  immensam, 
sive  vacui  sive  corporis  cujusdam  tenuis  et  fere  adiaphori,  tan¬ 
quam  insulae  in  pelago  immenso  spargantur  et  pendeant,  atque 
super  centrum  non  commune  aliquod,  sed  quaeque  globi  sui 
proprii  volent ;  alias  simpliciter,  aliae  cum  motu  nonnullo  centri 
progressive.  Atque  illud  maxime  durum  est  in  hac  opinione, 
quod  tollunt  quietem  sive  immobile  e  natura.2  Yidetur  autem, 
quemadmodum  sunt  in  universo  corpora  quae  rotant,  id  est, 
motu  feruntur  infinito  et  perpetuo,  ita  et  ex  opposito  debere 


1  All  the  persons  here  mentioned  affirmed  that  the  earth  moved,  but  their  opinions 
are  not  accurately  represented.  Thus  Ecphantus  and  Heraclides  denied  that  the  earth 
changes  its  place.  According  to  them  it  moves,  but  ov  fxqv  76  per afiariKus  (  Plutarch , 
De  Placit.  Philos,  iii.  13.):  and  with  respect  to  Ecphantus  we  are  expressly  told  by 
the  pseudo-Origen,  Philos,  c.  15.,  that  he  affirmed  r^v  7 rjv  fieo-oy  k6<t/jlov  tciveitrOai 
TT€pl  rh  avrris  nevrpov,  us  irpbs  h.varoX'fjy:  so  far  was  he  from  rejecting  the  notion 
of  a  uiagos  or  system.  Philolaus  undoubtedly  admitted  the  motion  of  the  earth 
through  space,  and  so  probably  did  Nicetas,  or  rather  Hicetas ;  but  neither  of  them 
rejected  the  notion  of  a  system.  For  Philolaus,  see  Boeckh’s  Philolaus  and  the  second 
dissertation  De  Platon? co  Systemate.  The  Philolaic  system  (although  Martin  appears 
to  doubt  it)  was  probably  the  same  as  that  of  the  Pythagoreans  in  general.  According 
to  it,  neither  the  earth  nor  the  sun  are  at  rest,  but,  with  the  planets,  revolve  about  a 
central  fire,  the  light  from  which  is  reflected  to  us  from  the  sun.  It  never  reaches  us 
directly,  because  between  us  and  it  revolves  the  Antichthon,  which  is  either  a  sepa¬ 
rate  planet,  or  simply  the  other  side  of  the  earth,  for  the  point  does  not  seem  quite 
settled.  The  passage  in  the  text  is  apparently  taken  from  Gilbert,  De  Mugnete, 
vi.  3.  Heraclides,  though  he  did  not  believe  in  the  earth’s  moving  through  space,  yet 
affirmed,  as  did  also  the  Pythagoreans,  that  each  of  the  heavenly  bodies  constitutes  a 
k6o’(aos  in  itself.  See  Stobaens,  Ec.  Phys.  i.  25.  On  the  other  hand,  Philolaus  and 
Ecphantus  distinctly  asserted  the  unity  of  the  universe.  See  Stobaeus,  ubi  supra, 
i.  16.  and  23. 

2  Yet  Bacon  would  have  found,  by  referring  to  Cicero,  that  Nicetas  at  least  denied 
that  any  part  of  the  universe  except  the  earth  is  in  motion. 


DESCRIPTIO  GLOBI  INTELLECTUALIS.  739 

esse  corpus  aliquod  quod  quiescat :  quibus  interponitur  media 
natura  eorum  quae  feruntur  recta,  cum  motus  rectus  partibus 
globorum  conveniat,  et  rebus  exulantibus  extra  patrias  suas, 
quae  ad  globos  connaturalitatis  suae  movent,  ut  cum  iis  unitae 
ipsae  quoque  aut  rotent  aut  quiescant.  Yerum  huic  quaestioni 
(nempe  an  sit  systema)  finem  dabunt  ea  quae  circa  motum  terrae, 
an  scilicet  terra  stet  aut  rotet  ?  atque  circa  substantiam  astrorum, 
an  sit  solida  aut  Jlammea,  et  circa  aetbera  sive  spatia  cceli  inter- 
stellaria,  an  sint  corporea  aut  vacua,  decerni  poterunt.  Nam  si 
terra  stet,  et  cceli  motu  diurno  circumvolvantur,  proculdubio  est 
systema ;  quod  si  terra  rotet,  tamen  non  prorsus  evincitur  non  esse 
systema,  propterea  quod  aliud  possit  poni  centrum  systematis, 
videlicet  sol,  aut  aliud  quippiam.  Pursue,  si  unicus  globus  ter¬ 
ras  sit  densus  et  solidus,  videtur  materia  universi  coire  et  densari 
ad  centrum  illud :  quod  si  inveniantur  luna  aut  alii  ex  planetis 
constare  etiam  ex  materia  densa  et  solida,  videntur  ex  eo  coire 
densa  non  ad  centrum  aliquod,  sed  sparsim  et  quasi  fortuito. 
Postremo,  si  ponatur  vacuum  coacervatum  in  spatiis  interstella- 
ribus,  videntur  globi  singuli  habere  circa  se  effluvia  tenuiora,  et 
deinde  vacuum.1  Quod  si  et  ilia  spatia  corpore  replentur, 
videtur  esse  unio  densorum  in  medio,  et  rejectio  tenuiorum  ad 
circumferentiam.  Plurimum  autem  confert  ad  scientias,  nosse 
conjugationes  quaestionum,  propterea  quod  in  aliquibus  inveni- 
tur  historia  sive  materia  inductiva  ad  eas  dirimendas,  in  aliqui¬ 
bus  non  item.  Dato  vero  systemate,  proxime  accedit  quasstio 
ea  secunda,  quod  sit  centrum  systematis  ?  Enimvero  si  aliquis  ex 
globis  locum  centri  occupare  debeat,  occurrunt  globi  imprimis 
duo,  qui  naturam  medii  sive  centri  praeferre  videntur.  Terra 
et  Sol.  Pro  Terra  suffragantur  aspectus  noster  et  inveterata 
opinio,  atque  illud  omnium  maxime,  quod  cum  densa  coeant  in 
ano-ustum,  rara  in  latum  diffundantur  (area  autem  omnis  circuli 
contrahatur  ad  centrum),  videtur  sequi  quasi  necessario,  ut 
angustiae  circa  medium  mundi  statuantur,  ut  proprius  locus  et 
tanquam  unicus  ad  corpora  densa.  Pro  Sole  autem  facit  ratio 
ilia,  quod  cujus  partes  sunt  in  systemate  maximae  et  potissi- 
mae,  ei  is  locus  assignari  debeat  ex  quo  ipse  in  universum 
systema  maxime  agere  et  se  communicare  possit.  Quando 
vero  is  sit  sol,  qui  mundum  vivificare  plurimum  videatur,  im- 
pertiendo  calorem  et  lucem  ;  rite  omnino  atque  ordine  videri 

1  Compare  Gilbert,  Physiol,  ii,  27. 


48  Bacon  III 


740 


DESCRIPTIO  GLOBI  INTELLECTUALIS. 


possit  collocatus  in  medio  mundi.  Accedit  et  illud,  quod  sol 
manifeste  habeat  assectatores  Venerem  et  Mercurium1,  etiaiu 
ex  sententia  Tychonis  planetas  reliquos ;  adeo  ut  plane  videatur 
sol  centri  naturam  sustinere  posse,  et  vices  gerere  in  aliquibus  ; 
eo  propius  abest,  ut  universi  centrum  constitui  possit;  qute 
Copernici  assertio  fuit.  Yeruntamen  in  systemate  Copernici 
multa  et  magna  inveniuntur  incommoda ;  nam  et  quod  triplici 
motu  terram  oneravit2,  incommodum  magnum,  et  quod  soleui  a 
ccetu  planetarum  divulsit,  cum  quibus  tot  habet  passiones  com¬ 
munes,  similiter  durum  ;  et  quod  tantum  immobilis  introduxit  in 
naturam,  ponendo  solem  et  Stellas  immobiles,  prsesertim  corpora 
maxime  omnium  lucida  et  radian tia;  et  quod  lunam  terrse  tan- 

1  It  is  difficult  to  see  why  Bacon  should  speak  of  this  as  manifest ;  the  theory  that 
Mercury  and  Venus  are  satellites  of  the  sun  constitutes  a  distinct  system,  often  called 
the  Egyptian.  See  with  respect  to  it  Martin,  Etudes ,  &c.,  vol.  ii.  p.  129.  According  to 
Gassendi,  Copernicus  was  much  struck  by  the  passage  of  Martian  us  Capella  in  which 
this  system  is  mentioned.  Apelt  has  remarked  that  the  Copernican  system  includes 
two  distinct  elements  :  the  first  the  reference  of  the  motion  of  the  planets  to  the  sun 
as  a  common  centre  ;  the  second  the  doctrine  of  the  motion  of  the  earth.  The  first 
was  common  to  Copernicus  with  Tycho  Brahe ;  the  second  was  his  own  exclusively. 
Tycho’s  system,  as  Apelt  well  observes,  is  the  natural  transition  from  Ptolemy’s  to  the 
Copernican,  and  must  of  necessity  have  been  arrived  at  as  soon  as  the  true  distances 
between  the  sun  and  the  planets  were  introduced  into  the  Ptolemaic  hypothesis. 
Thus  Tycho’s  system  is  a  step  backwards,  although  it  saved  the  phenomena  as  well  as 
that  of  Copernicus  ;  but,  as  Apelt  goes  on  to  remark,  Tycho  was  an  observer,  and  Coper¬ 
nicus  a  philosopher,  who  sought  not  merely  for  an  astronomical  hypothesis,  but  for  a 
new  idea  of  the  universe.  Copernicus  says  of  himself,  that  he  had  set  the  sun,  the 
great  light  of  the  universe,  in  the  midst  of  the  temple  of  nature,  and  as  on  a  kingly 
throne.  No  man  less  deserved  to  be  spoken  of  as  a  merely  calculating  astronomer. 
Bacon’s  difficulty,  that  in  the  Copernican  system  the  moon  revolves  about  the  earth, 
had  been  felt  by  others.  Galileo,  at  the  end  of  the  Sydereus  Nuncius,  points  out  the 
analogy  of  this  hypothesis  with  what  he  had  discovered  to  be  the  case  with  respect  to 
Jupiter  and  his  satellites,  remarking  that  it  removed  the  difficulty  in  question. 

8  Copernicus  conceived  the  earth’s  motion  round  the  sun  to  be  as  if  the  earth  were 
rigidly  attached  to  the  line  which  joins  them  Thus  the  motion  round  the  sun  re¬ 
sults  from  the  composition  of  two  simpler  motions,  namely  that  of  the  earth’s  centre 
and  the  change  of  the  direction  of  its  axis.  The  second  of  these  components  is  eli¬ 
minated  from  the  hypothesis  by  supposing  that  the  earth,  besides  the  motion  round 
the  sun  and  about  its  own  axis,  has  a  third  motion,  namely  a  change  in  the  direction 
of  its  axis  equal  and  opposite  to  that  which  results  from  the  motion  round  the  sun. 
Galileo  showed,  by  an  illustrative  experiment,  that  this  kind  of  motion  was  in  reality 
only  an  unnecessary  complication  ;  and  Gilbert  also  makes  the  same  remark.  See  the 
Saggiatore,  ii.  304.,  and  the  Physiol.  Nova.  In  Germany  the  same  thing  was  remarked 
by  Rothman ;  but  I  am  not  aware  whether  he  or  Gilbert  was  the  first  person  to  intro¬ 
duce  the  simplification,  which  is  indeed  obvious.  Nevertheless  the  notion  of  a  triple 
motion  long  adhered  to  the  Copernican  hypothesis.  See  Paradise  Lost,  viii.  130. 
Of  course  the  earth’s  axis  really  has  a  third  motion  which  gives  rise  to  the  phenomena 
of  precession  and  mutation  ;  but  this  is  exceedingly  slow.  In  justice  to  Copernicus  it 
should  be  added,  that  though  his  notion  of  an  annual  third  motion  was  unnecessary, 
yet  he  employed  it,  and  in  a  correct  manner,  to  explain  precession.  Boeckh’s  notion 
that  the  movement  of  the  fixed  stars  in  the  theory  of  Philolaus  was  introduced  for  the 
same  purpose,  does  not  seem  to  be  well  made  out.  No  doubt,  as  the  earth  revolved 
everyday  round  Hestia,  the  fixed  stars  might  have  been  allowed  to  remain  at  rest ; 
but  we  have  a  remarkable  example  of  a  similar  pleonasm  in  the  astronomical  theory  of 
Cardinal  Cusanus.  See  the  fragment  of  Cusanus  first  published  by  Clemens  in  1843 : 
it  is  given  in  extenso  in  Apelt  on  the  Reformation  of  Astronomy,  p.  23. 


DESCRIPTIO  GJ.OBI  INTELLECTUAUS. 


741 


quara  in  epicyclo  adhferere  volnit ;  et  alia  nonnulla  qu?e  ille 
sumit,  ejus  sunt  viri  qui  quidvis  in  natura  fingere,  modo  calculi 
bene  cedant,  nihil  putet.  Quod  si  detur  motus  terra,  magis 
consentaneum  videatur,  ut  tollatur  oinnino  systema,  et  spargantur 
globi,  secundum  eos  quos  jam  nominavimus,  quam  ut  constitua- 
tur  tale  systema  cujus  sit  centrum  sol.  Idque  consensus  secu- 
lorum  et  antiquitatis  potius  arripuit  et  approbavit.  Nam  opinio 
de  motu  terra  nova  non  est,  sed  ab  antiquis  repetita,  quemad- 
modum  diximus ;  at  ilia  de  sole  ut  sit  centrum  mundi  et  im¬ 
mobile,  prorsus  nova  est  (excepto  uno  versiculo  male  traducto) ', 
et  primo  a  Copernico  introducta.  Sequitur  tertia  quastio  de  pro- 
funditate  systematis;  non  ut  aliqua  ejus  mensura  capiatur  per- 
fecta,  sed  ut  in  certo  ponatur,  an  ccelam  stellatum  sit  instar  unius 
regionis,  sive  ut  vulgo  loquuntur,  orbis  ?  an  vero  stellce  JixcB  quas 
vocant,  sint  alien  aliis  sublimiores  immensa  quadam  profunditate  ? 
Neque  enim  ullo  modo  fieri  potest,  ut  ilia  sint  paris  altitudinis, 
si  hoc  intelligatur  exacte ;  Stella  enim  proculdubio  non  sunt 
sita  tanquam  in  piano,  qua  habeant  dimensionem  quandam 

’  Bacon  alludes  to  Job,  ix.  6.  On  this  verse,  “  Qui  commovet  terram  de  loco  suo  et 
column®  ejus  concutiuntur,”  Didaeusa  Stunica,  in  his  Commentary  on  Job,  published 
in  1584,  founded  an  argument  in  favour  of  the  Copernican  hypothesis,  alledging  that 
no  text  could  be  found  in  which  the  earth’s  motion  is  as  distinctly  denied  as  it  is  here 
asserted: — “  Nullus  dabitur  scriptur®  sacrosanct®  locus  qui  tam  aperte  dicat  terram 
non  moveri  quam  hie  moveri  dicit” — Stunica  on  Job ,  p.  41.  (I  quote  from  the 
•edition  of  1591).  This  argument  of  Stunica’s  seems  to  have  attracted  some  attention. 
Galileo  mentions  it  in  his  letter  to  the  Grand  Duchess  Christina,  which  was  written 
about  1615.  See  the  new  edition  of  his  works  (Florence,  1843),  ii.  p.  52.  The  pas¬ 
sage  of  Stunica’s  Commentary  in  which  it  occurs  is  inserted  in  Salisbury’s  Mathema¬ 
tical  Collections  and  Translations  (1661),  which  contains,  beside  a  translation  of  the 
Dialogi  dei  Sistemi ,  translations  of  certain  tracts  on  the  religious  question  involved  in 
the  Copernican  controversy.  —  1  am  not  sure,  though  versiculus  is  an  odd  expression 
for  anything  except  a  verse  in  the  Bible,  that  M.  Bouillet  is  not  right  in  thinking  that 
the  reference  is  to  what  is  said  of  Philolaus  by  Plutarch,  De  Placit.  Phil.,  which  (as 
A  pelt  has  remarked)  Copernicus  has  always  mistranslated,  confounding  the  central 
fire,  the  seat  of  the  gods,  with  the  sun.  See  Apelt’s  Reformation  of  Astronomy,  1852, 
p.  128. 

Apelt  altogether  agrees  with  Bacon  as  to  the  complete  originality  of  Copernicus,  and, 
apparently  forgetting  what  is  said  of  Aristarchus  by  Archimedes  and  others,  says  that 
the  idea  of  the  annual  movement  of  the  earth  sprang  out  of  the  mind  of  Copernicus, 
as  Minerva  from  the  head  of  Jupiter.  But  yet,  as  Humboldt  has  remarked,  he  may- 
have  been  acquainted  with  the  doctrine  of  Aristarchus.  See  Cosmos ,  vol.  ii.  p.  349. 
Bacon  was  not,  or  he  would  not  have  said  that  the  immobility  of  the  sun  was,  “  ex¬ 
cepting  one  versicle,”  a  wholly  new  doctrine. 

A  third  hypothesis  as  to  Bacon’s  meaning  is  that  he  refers  to  some  passage  in 
which  the  sun  is  spoken  of  as  rb  fxeaov,  as  Boeckh  has  pointed  out  in  his  Commendutio 
Academica  altera  de  Platonico  Systemate ,  & c.  The  sun  is  sometimes  called  yeaij  on  mu¬ 
sical  grounds,  and  sometimes  spoken  of  as  i ueaov  itdvrwv,  simply  because  it  occupies  a 
middle  place  among  the  planets.  Such  a  passage  occurs  in  the  Placit.  Phil. ;  and  it  is 
perhaps  to  this  that  Bacon  refers.  Compare  Martin,  Etudes  sur  le  Timet ,  vol.  ii.  pp. 
103.  and  128.  I  have  not  seen  Grnppe’s  recent  work  on  the  Cosmical  System  of  the 
Ancients.  The  notion  that  Plato  was  the  first  proposer  of  the  Copernican  system  seems 
altogether  unfounded.  According  to  Apelt,  Gruppe  relies  on  a  passage  in  the  seventh 
book  of  the  De  Leg i bus. 


742 


DESCRIPTIO  GLOBI  1NTELLECTU AL1S. 


tantum  in  superficie  instar  macularum  aut  bullarum,  sed  sunt 
illae  globi  integri,  magni  atque  profundi.  Itaque  cum  tam  dis- 
paris  reperiantur  esse  magnitudinis,  omnino  necesse  est  ut  aliae 
promineant  vel  sursum  versus  vel  deorsum,  nec  fieri  potest 
ut  aut  per  superiora  aut  inferiora  una  conjungantur  superficie. 
Hoc  vero  si  fiat  in  partibus  stellarum,  temerarium  plane  esset 
asserere,  etiam  in  corpore  integro,  stellas  non  esse  alias  aliis 
altiores ;  sed  ut  hoc  verum  sit,  tamen  asseri  potest  crassities 
quaedam  definita  (licet  insignis)  ejus  regionis  quae  vocatur  sphaera 
sive  coelum  stellatum,  quae  hujusmodi  prominentias  et  altitudinis 
gradus  quodammodo  terminet:  videmus  enim  ex  apogaeis  et 
perigaeis  planetarum,  singulis  eorum  coelis  competere  crassitiem 
notabilem,  per  quae  ascendant  et  descendant.  At  quaestio  ista 
tantum  eo  spectat,  utrum  stellae  aliae  sint  super  alias,  tanquam 
planeta  super  planetam,  et  quasi  in  diversis  orbibus.  Atque 
haec  quaestio  illi  alteri  quaestioni,  de  motu  aut  statu  terrae,  simi¬ 
liter  affinis  est.  Nam  si  stellae  moveantur  motu  diurno  circa 
terrain,  quandoquidem  eae  universae  pari  incitatione  et  uno 
veluti  spiritu  agantur,  (cumque  in  planetis  plane  constet,  prout 
variatur  in  sublimitate  et  humilitate  situs,  ita  etiam  variari  in 
celeritate  et  tarditate  motus)  probabile  est  stellas,  velocitate 
cursus  pares,  etiam  in  una  regione  aetheris  locari,  cujus  licet 
crassities  sive  profunditas  ponatur  esse  magna,  tamen  non  sit 
tanta  ut  faciat  ad  discrimen  incitationis  sive  celeritatis  in  motu  ; 
sed  ut  per  earn  regionem  universam  omnia  putentur  tanquam 
vinculo  connaturalitatis  devincta  pariter  rotare,  vel  saltern  cum 
discrepantia  tali,  quae  ad  aspectum  nostrum  propter  distan- 
tiam  deferri  non  possit.  Quod  si  terra  moveatur,  stellas  vel 
stare  poterunt,  quod  Copernico  placuit,  aut,  quod  longe  magis 
verisimile  est,  et  a  Gilberto  introductum,  illae  poterunt  singulae 
rotare  super  centrum  suum  in  loco  suo,  absque  aliquo  motu 
centri  sui,  quemadmodum  et  ipsa  terra ;  si  modo  ilium  motum 
diurnum  terra;  ab  adscititiis  illis  duobus  motibus,  quos  Coper¬ 
nicus  superaddidit,  sejungas.1  Utrum  vis  autem  horum  si  fiat, 
nihil  prohibet,  quin  stellae  aliae  supra  alias  sint  donee  aspectum 
nostrum  effugiant.  Quarta  proponitur  quaestio  de  nexu  sive 
connexione  systematis.  Atque  de  natura  et  essentia  corporis  vel 

1  “  Manifestum  ergo  est  quod  sydera  omnia  tanquam  in  distinctis  reposita  locis  in 
ipsis  conglobantur,  quae  eentris  propriis  nituntur  et  circa  ipsa  confluunt  partes  eorum 
omnes.  Quod  si  motum  habent,  erit  ille  potius  circa  proprium  cujusque  centrum,  ut 
terra:  motus,  aut  centri  progressione  in  orbem,  ut  Lunae ;  non  erit  ill  tam  numerosa 
soiuta  grege  circularis  motus.”—  GUbertus ,  Ih  Maynele,  vi.  3. 


DESCRIPTIO  GLOBI  INTELLECTUALS. 


743 


rei  quae  aether  purus  censetur,  et  astris  interjacet,  postea  in- 
quiremus.  Nunc  tantum  de  cohaerentia  systematis  dicemus. 
Ejus  rei  ratio  est  triplex.  Aut  enim  datur  vacuum,  aut  conti- 
guum,  aut  continuum ;  itaque  primo  quasritur,  an  sit  vacuum, 
coacervatum  in  spatiis  inter stellaribus  ?  Id  quod  Gilbertus 
diserte  posuit l,  atque  etiam  antiquorum  nonnulli  ex  iis  qui 
globos  spargi  sine  systemate  opinati  sunt  innuere  videntur ; 
praesertim  ii  qui  astrorum  corpora  compacta  asseruere.  Opinio 
tabs  est :  Globos  universos,  tarn  astra  quam  terram,  ex  materia 
solida  et  densa  constare :  illos  autem  in  proximo  circumdari 
genere  quodam  corporum,  quae  sint  ipsi  globo  aliquatenus  con- 
naturalia,  sed  tamen  magis  imperfecta,  languida,  et  attenuata, 
quseque  nil  aliud  sint  quam  globorum  ipsorum  effluvia  et 
emanationes ;  qualia  sunt  vapores  et  halitus,  atque  adeo  aer 
ipse,  si  conferantur  terras :  baec  effluvia  ad  distantiam  circa 
unumquemque  globum  non  magnam  pertingere :  reliquum  in¬ 
tervallum  (quod  longe  amplissimum  est)  inane  esse.  Cui  opi- 
nioni  illud  fidem  astruere  possit,  quod  ex  tarn  immensa  di- 
stantia  corpora  astrorum  conspiciuntur.  Si  enim  universum 
illud  spatium  plenum  esset,  prassertim  corporum  quae  procul- 
dubio  raritate  et  densitate  valde  inaequalia  sunt,  tanta  foret 
radiorum  refractio,  ut  ad  visum  nostrum  pertingere  non  pos- 
sint ;  quam  si  longe  maxima  ejus  spatii  pars  vacua  sit,  facilius 
sane  perferri  consentaneum  est.  Atque  revera  haec  quasstio 
magna  ex  parte  pendebit  ex  quasstione  quam  statim  adducemus 
de  substantia  stellarum.  An  sit  densa,  vel  tenuis  et  explicata  ? 
Nam  si  substantia  earum  sit  solida,  videbitur  utique  natura 
circa  globos  eorumque  confinia  tantummodo  fere  occupata  esse 
et  sobcita ;  spatia  vero  interjacentia  deserere  et  tanquam  prae- 
termittere.  Itaque  non  absimile  vero  fuerit,  globos  circa  cen¬ 
trum  spissiores,  circa  superficiem  laxiores,  in  ambientibus  et 
effluviis  quasi  deficientes,  in  vacuo  tandem  terminari.  Contra, 
si  natura  astrorum  sit  tenuis  et  flammea,  apparebit  naturam 
Tenuis  non  esse  solummodo  Den  si  decrementum,  sed  per  se 
potentem  et  primariam,  non  minus  quam  naturam  solidi ;  eam- 
que  et  in  stelbs  ipsis  et  in  aethere  et  in  aere  vigere,  ut  vacuo 
illo  coacervato  non  sit  opus.  Pendebit  quoque  ista  quaestio  de 
vacuo  in  spatiis  interstellaribus  ex  quasstione  ilia,  qua?  pertinet 
ad  principia  naturae,  An  detur  vacuum?  Neque  tamen  hoc 


1  Gilbert,  Physiol.  Nova,  L  22.,  particularly  at  p.  68. 


744 


DESCRIPTIO  GLOBI  INTELLECTUALS. 


ipsum  nisi  adhibita  distinctione.  Aliud  enim  est  negare  va¬ 
cuum  simpliciter,  aliud  negare  vacuum  coacervatum.  Longe 
enim  firmiores  sunt  eae  rationes,  quae  adduci  possunt  ad  astru- 
endum  vacuum  intermistum  ad  laxamentum  corporum,  quam 
quae  asserunt  vacuum  coacervatum,  sive  in  spatiis  majoribus. 
Neque  hoc  solum  vidit  Hero1,  vir  ingeniosus  et  mechanicus, 
sed  etiam  Leucippus  et  Democritus,  inventores  opinionis  de 
vacuo,  quam  Aristoteles  argutiis  quibusdam  obsidcre  et  ex- 
pugnare  conatur;  qui  duo  philosophi  acutissimi  certe  et  cele- 
berrimi,  ita  vacuum  intermistum  dant,  ut  vacuum  coacervatum 
tollant.  Ex  sententia  enim  Democriti  vacuum  terminatur  et 
circumscribitur,  ut  ultra  certos  fines  non  detur  distractio  sive 
divulsio  corporum,  non  magis  quam  compulsio  aut  compactio.2 
Licet  enim  in  iis  quae  ex  Democrito  habemus  hoc  nunquam 
diserte  positum  sit,  tamen  hoc  dicere  videtur,  cum  corpora 
aeque  ac  spatia  infinita  constituit;  ea  usus  ratione,  aliter  (si 
spatium  scilicet  infinitum,  corpora  finita  essent)  corpora  nun¬ 
quam  haesura.  Itaque  propter  co-infinitatem  materia;  cum  spa- 
tio,  necessario  compingitur  vacuum  ad  terminos  certos,  quae 
videtur  ejus  fuisse  opinio  vera  et  recte  intellecta,  ut  scilicet 
constituatur  finis  quidam  explicationis  sive  expansionis  corpo¬ 
rum  per  vacuum  copulatum ;  neque  vacuum  detur  solitarium, 
aut  corpore  non  obsessum.  Quod  si  non  detur  vacuum  instar 
solutionis  continuitatis  in  systemate,  tamen  cum  tanta  in- 
veniatur  in  partibus  et  regionibus  systematis  corporum  diver- 
sitas,  ut  sint  tanquam  alterius  gentis  et  patriae,  oritur  quaestio 
secunda  quae  ad  connexionem  systematis  pertineat;  ea  est,  an 
(Ether  purus  sit  unus  perpetuus  sive  continuus  Jiuor,  an  vero 
constet  ex  pluribus  contiguis?  Neque  vero  nostrum  est  de  ver¬ 
bis  argutari,  sed  intelligimus  per  contiguum,  corpus  quod  su- 
perjacet  nec  miscetur :  neque  rursus  intelligimus  contignationem 
duram,  qualem  vulgus  astronomorum  comminiscitur,  sed  qua- 
lem  possint  recipere  fluores,  ac  si  argento  vivo  supernataret 
aqua,  aquae  oleum,  oleo  aer.  Nemini  enim  dubiurn  esse  potest, 
quin  in  immenso  illo  tractu  aetheris  puri  sint  eximiae  differentiae 
quoad  raritatem  et  densitatem  et  alia  non  pauca;  sed  utro  libet 
dato  (id  est,  continuo  sive  contiguo)  hoc  fieri  potest.  Nam 
satis  constat,  nec  in  mari  ipso  aquam  in  summo  et  aquam  in 
imo  ejusdem  esse  consistentiae  et  saporis ;  in  aere  vero,  inter 


1  See  Hero.  Spiritalia,  Proem. 


2  See  Lucretius,  i.  983.  et  seq. 


DESCRIPTIO  GLOBI  INTELLECTUALS. 


745 


aerem  terras  conterminum  et  aerem  superiorem  plurimum 
interest,  et  tamen  unus  et  integer  est  et  perpetuus  fluor. 
Itaque  deducitur  quaestio  ad  hoc,  utrum  differentia  in  tractu 
atheris  puri  se  insinuent  gradatim  et  fluxu  quodam  continuo  ;  an 
constituantur  et  distribuantur  ad  certos  et  notabiles  limites,  ubi 
corpora  conjunguntur  quae  non  sint  commiscibilia,  quemadmodum 
apud  nos  aer  incumbit  aqnce.  Enimvcro  simplicius  contem- 
planti  videtur  totum  istud  purum  et  liquidum  corpus  in  quo 
globi  terrae  et  astrorum,  tanquam  in  vastissimo  pelago,  pendent 
et  natant,  quodque  .interjunctum  illis  globis  quanto  ipso  et 
spatio  quod  occupat  globorum  mensuras  quasi  innumeris  par- 
tibus  superat,  esse  indivisa  qusedam  res  et  summe  unita. 
Verum  naturam  diligentius  intuenti  illud  plane  constabit, 
consuesse  naturam  ad  spatia  nonnulla  per  gradus,  deinde  su- 
bito  per  saltus  procedere,  atque  hunc  processum  alternare. 
Aliter,  si  quis  vere  introspiciat,  nulla  possit  constitui  fabrica 
rerum,  nulla  figura  organica,  si  per  gradus  insensibiles  perpetuo 
procederetur.  Itaque  processus  ille  per  gradus  intermundiis 
competere  possit,  non  mundo,  ad  cujus  constructionem  necesse 
est  longe  dissimilia  discludi  alia  ab  aliis,  et  tamen  approximari. 
Itaque  terram  et  aquas  excipit  et  contingit  aer,  corpus  longe 
diversum,  et  tamen  in  proximo  locatum ;  non  primo  limus, 
deinde  vapor  aut  nebula,  dein  aer  purus ;  sed  confestim  aer 
absque  medio.  In  aere  vero  et  sethere  (ilia  enim  duo  con- 
jungimus)  dispertitio  maxime  omnium  insignis  et  radicalis  sumi 
posse  videtur,  ex  natura  magis  aut  minus  susceptiva  naturae 
stellaris.  Itaque  tres  secundum  genera  videntur  esse  regiones 
maximae  notabiles  a  globo  terrae  ad  fastigia  coeli;  nimirum 
tractus  aeris,  tractus  coeli  planetarum,  et  tractus  coeli  stellati. 
Atque  in  infimo  tractu  natura  stellaris  non  consistit ;  in  medio 
consistit,  sed  coit  ad  globos  singulos ;  in  supremo  spargit  se  per 
globos  plurimos,  adeo  ut  per  summitates  ejus  videatur  transire 
quasi  in  empyreum  integrum.  Neque  interim  obliviscendum 
ejus  quod  paulo  ante  diximus,  consuesse  naturam  processum 
graduatum  et  persultorium  alternare,  adeo  ut  regionis  primae 
confinia  communicent  cum  secunda,  et  secundae  cum  tertia. 
INam  et  in  aere  sublimiore,  postquam  aer  coeperit  esse  ab 
efUuviis  terrae  defoecatior  et  a  coelestium  magis  attenuatus, 
tentat  et  experitur  consistere  flamma;  ut  in  cometis  humili- 
oribus  fit,  qui  sunt  media!  cujusdam  naturae  inter  naturam 
stellareui  consistentem  et  evanidam ;  et  rui'sus  videtur  ccclum 


746 


DESCRIPTIO  GLOBI  INTELLECTUALIS. 


circa  solem  fortasse  stellescere,  et  transire  incipere  in  naturam 
coeli  stellati.  Nam  possint  ill*  maculae  quae  in  sole  observa- 
tione  certe  fida  et  diligenti  deprehensae  sunt,  esse  rudimenta 
quaedam  materiae  stellaris ;  at  in  coelo  J ovis  etiam  stellae  ab¬ 
solute  et  perfect*  conspiciuntur,  licet  propter  parvitatem 
absque  commoditate  perspicillorum  invisibiles 1 ;  et  rursus  in 
summitatibus  coeli  stellati  ex  innumeris  micationibus  etheris 
inter  Stellas  numeratas  (cujus  alias  cause  satis  frigide  reddi 
solent)  videtur  natura  stellaris  magis  fundi  et  continuari.2 
Yerum  de  his  in  questionibus  quas  mox  proponemus  de 
substantia  et  astrorum  et  coeli  interstellar*  plura  dicemus. 
Hec  enim  que  dixiinus  pertinent  tantum  ad  questiones  de 
nexu  systematis.  Superest  quinta  questio  de  collocatione  par- 
tium  systematis,  sive  de  ordine  ccelorum.  Atque  dato  quod  non 
sit  systema,  sed  sparguntur  globi ;  aut  dato  quod  sit  systema, 
cujus  sit  centrum  sol;  aut  etiamsi  videant  astronomi  de  aliquo 
novo  systemate ;  tamen  manet  utique  inquisitio,  quis  planeta  ad 
alium  planetarn  sit  magis  propinquus  aut  remotus ;  et  similiter 
qui  planeta  magis  aut  minus  elongetur  a  terra  aut  etiam  a  sole. 
Quod  si  recipiatur  systema  veterum,  non  videtur  causa  cur 
magnopere  insistatur  inquisitioni  nove  de  quatuor  coelis  supe- 
rioribus,  Stellarum  Fixarum  scilicet,  Saturni,  Jovis,  et  Martis. 
Nam  de  eorum  positura  atque  ordine,  et  seculorum  consensus 
euffragatur,  nec  phenomenon  ullum  adversatur ;  atque  rationes 
motuum  (unde  sumitur  de  altitudinibus  ccelorum  precipua 
probatio)  accommodate  sunt,  et  nusquam  turbant.  Yerum 
de  Sole,  Venere,  et  Mercurio,  et  Luna  etiam,  secundum 
systema  veterum  dubitatum  est  ab  antiquis 3 ;  atque  apud 

1  invisiles  in  the  original. — J.  S. 

2  See  the  Sydereus  Nuncius  of  Galileo,  which  had  just  appeared  when  this  tract  was 
written ;  and  compare  the  following  passage  in  the  letter  of  Sir  Wm.  Lower  to  Harriot, 
written  when  he  had  first  heard  of  Galileo’s  discoveries.  “  We  Traventane  philoso¬ 
phers  were  a  consideringe  of  Kepler’s  reasons  by  which  he  indeavers  to  overthrow 
Nolanus  and  Gilbert’s  opinions  concerninge  the  immensitie  of  the  spheare  of  the  starres 
....  Said  I  (havinge  heard  you  say  often  a3  much)  what  is  [if?]  in  that  huge  space 
betweene  the  starres  and  Saturne,  ther. remaine  ever  fixed  infinite  numbers  which  by 
reason  of  their  lesser  magnitudes  doe  flie  our  sighte  .  .  .  what  if  about  Tj  it  &c., 
ther  move  other  planets  also  which  appear  not.  Just  as  I  was  saying  this  comes  your 
letter,  which  when  I  had  redd,  Loe,  quod  I,  what  I  spoke  probablie,  experience  hath 
made  good.”  The  name  “  Traventane”  is  taken  from  his  house  Traveuti.  It  pro¬ 
bably  alludes  to  the  title  Consentine  philosophers,  affected  by  the  disciples  of  Telesius. 
Bruno  affected  to  talk  of  the  Nolan  philosophy. 

3  It  was  doubted  whether  the  orbs  of  Venus  and  Mercury  are  superior  to  the  sun’s 
or  inferior  to  it.  The  former  was  the  older  hypothesis  and  is  preferred  by  Plolemy  ; 
who  however  remarks  that  some  had  dissented  from  it..  See  the  Megal.  Syntaxis,  iv.  1. 
Bacon’s  information  is  apparently  derived  from  Patricius,  Pancosmia,  13. 


DESCRIPTIO  GLOBI  INTEI.LECTUAUS. 


747 


recentiores  quoque  de  Yenere  et  Mercurio  ambigitur,  liter 
planeta  sit  alter o  superior.  Nam  pro  Yenere  ut  sit  superior, 
stat  ilia  ratio,  quod  tardius  nonnihil  movet ;  et  pro  Mercurio, 
quod  alligatur  ad  distantiam  propiorem  a  sole,  unde  quis  asse- 
rat  debere  eum  proxime  ad  solem  collocari.  De  luna  vero 
nemo  unquam  dubitavit,  quin  locata  sit  proxime  ad  terrain, 
licet  variatum  sit  de  appropinquatione  ejus  ad  solem.  Neque 
serio  contemplantem  fugere  debet  aliud  genus  quasstionis,  per- 
tinens  ad  constitutionem  systematis;  h®c  est,  utruin  planeta 
alter  alterum  per  vices  supergrediatur  quandoque,  et  quandoque 
rursus  subeat ;  id  quod  de  Yenere  per  demonstrationes  quas- 
dam  non  indiligentes  evinci  videtur,  ut  ilia  aliquando  in- 
veniatur  super  solem  locata,  aliquando  subter.  Atque  omnino 
recte  quseritur,  utrum  apogceum  humilioris  planeta  peri  gaum 
superioris  non  secet,  ejusque  fines  subintret.  Restat  ultima 
qu®stio  de  collocatione  partium  sgstematis,  hoc  est,  utrum  sint 
plura  et  diversa  centra  in  systemate,  et  plures  t.anquam  chorea  : 
cum  pr®sertim  non  solum  Terra  primi  mobilis,  Sol  (ex  sententia 
Tychonis)  secundi  mobilis,  verum  etiam  Jupiter  minorum  et 
nuperorum  illorum  erronum  1  ex  Galil®o  centrum  constituatur. 
Atque  h®  sunt  queestiones  ill®  quinque,  qu®  de  systemate  ipso 
proponend®  videntur.  An  sit  videlicet  sgstema ;  et  quod  sit 
centrum  ejus  ;  et  quanta  profunditas  ;  et  qualis  nexus  ejus  ;  et 
quis  ordo  in  collocatione  partium. 

De  extimis  vero  coeli,  et  coelo  aliquo  empyreo,  theses  aut 
qu®stiones  non  conficimus.  Neque  enim  istarum  rerum  est 
historia,  aut  extat  ph®nomenon  ullum.  Itaque  qu®  de  iis 
sciri  possunt,  ea  per  consecutionem  tantum,  ac  nullatenus  per 
inductionem  sciri  possunt.  Erit  igitur  tabs  inquisitionis  et 
tempus  congruum,  et  ratio  et  modus  quidam.  De  coelis  vero  et 
spatiis  immateriatis,  religioni  omnino  standum  et  permittendum. 
Qu®  enim  a  Platonicis  et  nuper  a  Patritio  2  (ut  diviniores  sci¬ 
licet  habeantur  in  philosophia)  dicuntur,  non  sine  superstitione 
manifesta  et  jactantia  et  quasi  mente  turbata,  denique  ausu 
nimio,  fructu  nullo,  similia  Yalentini  iconibus3  et  somniis;  ea 

1  errorum  in  the  original :  silently  corrected  by  M.  Bouillet. — J.  S. 

2  Patritius,  or  rather  Patriciu9,  from  whom  much  of  the  latter  part  of  the  present 
tract  is  taken,  wa9  born  at  Cherso  in  1529,  and  died  in  1597.  He  wrote  a  treatise  on 
philosophy —  Nova  de  Universis  Philosophia  —  [which  was  published  in  1591].  It 
is  an  attempt,  of  no  great  value,  to  conciliate  Plato  and  Aristotle.  In  the  last  book, 
entitled  Pancoamia,  there  is  some  interesting  information  touching  theories  of  the  tides. 

3  [aconibus  in  the  original. ]  Valentinus  is  the  alchemist  Basil  Valentine.  He  is  said 


748 


DESCRIPTIO  GLOBI  INTELLECT UALIS. 


nos  pro  rebus  commentitiis  et  levibus  habemus.  Nullo  modo 
enim  ferenda  est  Morise  apotheosis,  tanquam  Divi  Claudii :  1 
quin  pessimum  est,  et  plane  pestis  et  tabes  intellectus,  si  vanis 
accedat  veneratio. 


CAPUT  VIL 

tSequuntur  qucEstiones  de  substantia  ccelestimn ;  qualis,  vide¬ 
licet,  sit  substantia  ccelestium  in  genere  comparata  ad  corpora 
sublunaria;  et  qualis  substantia  aetheris  iuterstellaris  com¬ 
parata  ad  corpus  stellas ;  et  qualis  sit  substantia  astrorum 
ipsorum  comparata  ad  invicem,  et  comparata  ad  ignem  nos¬ 
trum,  et  in  natura  propria ;  et  qualis  sit  substantia  galaxice 
et  macularum  nigrarum  in  hemisphaario  antarctico  ?  Turn 
proponitur  qucestio  prima,  An  sit  heterogeuea  inter  coclestia  et 
sublunaria,  et  qualis  ea  esse  possit  ? 

Absolutis  quaestionibus  de  systemate,  pergendum  ad  quaestio- 
nes  de  substantia  ccelestium.  Nam  de  substantia  coelestium 
inquirit  praecipue  philosophia,  et  de  causis  motus  eorum :  de 
motu  ipso  vero  et  ejus  accidentibus,  astronomia:  de  influxu  et 
potestate,  utraque.  Debuerat  autem  esse  cautum  inter  astro- 
nomiam  et  philosophiam,  ut  astronomia  praeferat  hypotheses 
quas  maxime  expeditae  ad  compendia  calculorum ;  philosophia 
vero  quae  proxime  accedunt  ad  veritatem  naturae.  Atque  in- 
super,  ut  astronomiae  hypotheses  ad  commoditatem  suam,  rei 
veritati  nullo  modo  praej  udicent,  vicissim  ut  philosophise  decretal 
talia  sint,  quae  sint  super  phsenomena  astronomiae  omnino  expli- 
cabilia.  At  nunc  contra  fit,  videlicet  ut  astronomiae  figmenta  in 
philosophiam  invecta  sint,  eamque  corruperint ;  et  philosopho- 
rum  speculations  circa  coelestia  sibi  tantum  placeant,  et  astro- 
nomiam  fere  deserant,  coelestia  generaliter  intuentes,  verum  ad 
phaenomena  particularia  atque  eorum  causas  nullo  modo  se 
applicantes.  Itaque  cum  utraque  scientia  (qualis  nunc  habctur) 
sit  res  levis  et  perfunctoria,  fortius  omnino  figendus  est  pes ;  ac 
si  ista  duo,  quse  propter  angustas  hominum  contemplationes,  et 
nsum  professorium  per  tot  secula  disjungi  consueverunt,  una 


to  have  been  a  Benedictine  of  the  congregation  of  St.  Peter’s  at  Erfurdt,  and  to  have 
lived  in  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century.  But  it  seems  that  the  writings  which 
bear  his  name  are  spurious.  See  Sprcngel.  Hist.  Med.  iii.  p  267.,  and  Morhof,  Polyhistor , 
i.  p.  84.,  who  mentions  that  Placcius,  in  the  Pse.it don.  Catalog is  disposed  to  deny  the 
existence  of  any  such  person,  and  does  not  believe  that  his  name  could  be  found  either 
in  the  provincial  catalogue  of  Benedictines  at  Erfurdt,  or  in  the  general  one  at  Rome. 

1  See  the  Ludus  de  Uorte  Claudii  Cccsaris  of  Seneca. 


DESCRIPTIO  GLOBI  INTELLECTUALIS. 


749 


atque  eadem  res  sint,  atque  in  unum  scientiee  corpus  conflata. 
Itaque  proponitur  prima  ea  quaestio,  An  substantia  ccelestium  sit 
lieterogenea  ad  substantial n  inferiorum  ?  Nam  Aristotelis  teme- 
ritas  et  cavillatio  nobis  coelum  peperit  phantasticum,  ex  quinta 
essentia,  experte  mutationis,  experte  etiam  caloris.1  Atque 
misso  in  prsesenti  sermone  de  quatuor  elementis,  qme  quinta 
essentia  ilia  supponit ;  erat  certe  magnse  cujusdam  fiducite, 
cognationem  inter  elementaria,  qute  vocant,  et  coelestia  prorsus 
dirimere,  cum  duo  ex  elementis,  aer  videlicet  e-t  ignis,  cum 
stellis  et  tethere  tarn  bene  conveniant ;  nisi  quod  moris  erat  illi 
viro  ingenio  abuti,  et  sibi  ipsi  negotium  facessere,  et  obscuriora 
malle.  Neque  tamen  dubium  est,  quin  regiones  sub  luna  positaa 
et  supra,  una  cum  corporibus  quax  sub  iisdein  spatiis  continentur, 
multis  et  magnis  rebus  dilferant.  Neque  rursus  hoc  certius  est 
quam  illud,  corporibus  utriusque  regionis  inesse  complures 
communes  inclinationes,  passiones,  et  motus,  ut,  salva  natures 
imitate,  ista  distinguere  potius  debeamus  quam  discerpere. 
Quod  vero  attinet  ad  illam  heterogeniax  partem,  ut  coelestia 
ponantur  eeterna,  inferiora  corruptibilia 2 ;  videtur  sententia  ilia 
sub  utraque  parte  fallere,  quod  nec  coelo  ea  competat  seternitas 
quam  fingunt,  neque  terras  ea  mutabilitas.  Siquidem  de  terra 
vere  rem  reputanti  judicium  minime  faciendum  ex  illis  qute 
nobis  sunt  conspicua,  cum  nihil  ex  corporibus  quae  oculus 
humanus  videt  erutum  sit  aut  ejectum  ex  magis  profundo  quam 
spatio  fortasse  trium  milliarium  ad  plurimum  ;  quod  res  nihili 
est,  collatum  ad  ambitum  globi  terrestris  universi.  Itaque 
nihil  obstat  quin  intima  terrse  pari  praedita  sint  aeternitate  ac 
ipsum  coelum.  Enimvero  si  terra  pateretur  mutationes  in  pro¬ 
fundo,  fieri  non  potest  quin  consequentiae  earum  mutationum, 
etiam  in  nostra  regione  quam  calcamus,  majores  casus  pariturae 
fuissent  quam  fieri  videmus.  Etenim  earum  quae  nobis  se  dant 
conspiciendas  mutationum  hie  versus  superficiem  terrae,  fere  se 
ostendit  quasi  semper  simul  causa  aliqua  manifesta  desuper 
imposita,  ex  tempestatibus  cocli,  per  imbres,  fervores,  et  similia ; 
ut  terra  ipsa  ex  se  et  vi  propria  nulli  admodum  mutationi  causam 


1  Aristotle  affirmed  that  the  light  and  heat  referred  to  the  heavenly  bodies  arises 
from  the  mechanical  action  on  the  air  due  to  their  motion. — Be  Cato,  ii.  7. 

“  Quintessentia  accipitur  a  Peripatetieis  pro  Crelo,  quia  iis  Ccelum  neque  est  cali- 
dum  nei)ue  frigidum  neque  humidum  neque  siccum,  seu  pro  essentia  sincera  et  pura  ut 
natura  ictheria.  Alias,  coelestis  substantia,  sic  dicta  quia  est  aliquid  praeter  elementa 
nec  in  crasi  horum  ortum. ’* — Godin ,  Lex,  Phil,  in  voce  Essentia. 

2  Aristot.  ubi  supra. 


750 


DESCRIPTIO  GLOBI  INTELLECTUALS. 


praebere  videatur.  Quod  si  concedatur  (quod  certe  verisimile 
est)  etiam  terram  ipsam,  non  solum  ccelestia,  in  regiones  ae- 
ris  agere,  aut  frigora  exspirando,  aut  ventos  emittendo,  aut 
hujusmodi  alia;  tamen  et  ista  omnis  varietas  referri  potest 
ad  regiones  terrae  ex  propinquo,  in  quibus  plurimas  evenire 
mutationes  et  vices  nemo  sanus  negaverit.  Yerum  faten- 
dum  omnino  est,  ex  phaenomenis  terrae  longe  maxime  pene- 
trare  in  profundum  terrae  motus,  et,  quae  ejus  sunt  generis, 
eruptiones  aquarum,  eructationes  ignium,  hiatus  et  abruptio¬ 
ns  terrarum,  et  similia ;  quae  tamen  ipsa  videntur  non  in- 
surgere  ex  longinquo,  cum  plurima  ipsorum  parvum  aliquod 
spatium  in  superficie  terrae  occupare  soleant.  Quanto  enim 
latius  spatium  in  facie  terrae  occupat  terrae  motus,  sive  aliud 
quippiam  hujusmodi,  tanto  magis  radices  et  origines  ejus  ad 
viscera  terrae  penetrare  putandum  est;  et  quanto  angustius, 
minus.  Quod  si  quis  asserat  ‘,  fieri  quandoque  terrae  motus 
qui  amplos  et  spatiosos  regionum  tractus  quatiant,  prorsus  ita 
est.  At  illi  certe  raro  eveniunt,  suntque  ex  casibus  majoribus. 
Itaque  aequiparari  possunt  cometis  sublimioribus,  qui  et  ipsi 
infrequentes  sunt.  Neque  enim  id  agitur,  ut  terrae  simpliciter 
asseratur  aeternitas,  sed  ut  illud  appareat  (quod  initio  diximus) 
inter  coelum  et  terram,  quatenus  ad  constantiam  et  mutationem, 
non  multum  interesse.2  Neque  operae  pretium  est  argutari  de 
aeternitate  ex  rationibus  motus :  quemadmodum  enim  motus 
circularis  terminis  non  indiget,  ita  nec  quies;  atque  aeque 
susceptivum  est  aeternitatis,  ut  densa  in  loco  et  congregatione 
magna  connaturalitatis  suae  consistant,  quam  ut  tenuia  rotent : 
cum  partes  avulsae  amborum  ferantur  recta.  Etiam  illud  in 
argumentum  sumi  potest,  quod  terrae  interiora  corruptioni 
magis  obnoxia  non  sint  quam  ipsum  coelum ;  quod  ibi  aliquid 
deperire  solet,  ubi  aliquid  refici  potest.  Cum  vero  imbres,  et 
quae  de  alto  decidunt,  quae  faciem  superiorem  terrae  renovant, 
nullo  modo  penetrare  possint  ad  interiora  terrae,  quae  tamen 
ipsa  stant  mole  sua,  et  quanto  suo  ;  necessario  fieri  ut  nihil  de- 
perdatur,  quando  nihil  adsit  quod  succedat.  Postremo,  muta- 
bilitas  quae  in  extimis  terrae  deprehenditur,  videtur  et  ipsa  per 
accidens  esse.  Nam  incrustatio  ilia  parva,  quae  ad  milliaria 
pauca  deorsum  extendi  videtur  (intra  quos  terminos  praeclarae 

1  afferut  in  the  original ;  which  has  in  this  part  many  misprints. _ J.  S. 

2  Compare  Telesius,  De  Rerum  Nat,  i.  11.:  “Sol  modo  terraque .  .  .  nec  fieri 
unquam  nec  immutari  videntur.” 


DESCRIPTIO  GLOBI  INTELLECTUALIS. 


751 


ills®  officinss  et  fabricse,  plantarum  nempe  et  mineralium,  con- 
cluduntur)  nullam  fere  reciperent  varietatem,  multo  minus  tain 
pulchra  et  elaborata  artificia,  nisi  ea  pars  terras  a  ccelestibus 
pateretur  et  perpetuo  vellicaretur.  Quod  si  quis  existimet 
calorem  et  vim  activam  solis  et  coelestium  universas  terra 
crassitudinem  transverberare  posse,  is  superstitiosus  et  fana- 
ticus  censeri  possit ;  cum  liquido  pateat  quam  parvo  objectu 
ea  retundi  et  cohiberi  possint.  Atque  de  constantia  terra 
hactenus :  videndum  jam  de  mutabilitate  coelestium. 

Primo  igitur  non  ea  utendum  est  ratione,  mutationes  in  coelo 
non  fieri,  quia  sub  aspectum  nostrum  non  veniunt.  Aspectum 
enim  frustrat  et  loci  distantia,  et  lucis  sive  excessus  sive  de- 
fectus,  et  corporis  subtilitas  aut  parvitas ;  neque  enim  scilicet 
si  oculus  in  circulo  lunae  positus  esset,  hie  quae  apud  nos  in 
superficie  terras  fiunt  mutationes,  veluti  inundationes,  terra 
motus,  asdificia,  structuras  aut  moles,  cernere  posset ;  quas 
parvae  festucae  rationem  non  exasquant  ad  tantam  distantiam. 
Neque  ex  eo,  quod  coelum  interstellare  diaphanum  sit,  et  stellae 
noctibus  serenis  easdem  numero  et  facie  cernuntur,  quis  facile 
pronunciet  universum  corpus  astheris  limpidum,  purum,  et  im- 
mutabile  esse.  Nam  et  aer  innumeras  varietates  suscipit, 
aestus,  frigoris,  odorum,  et  omnigenas  mistura  cum  vaporibus 
subtilioribus,  neque  propterea  exuit  diaphanum ;  similiter  nec 
imagini  aut  faciei  illi  coeli  credendum.  Nam  si  magnas  illae 
nubium  moles  quas  coelum  interdum  involvunt,  et  solis  et 
astrorum  conspectum  tollunt  a  nobis  propter  propinquitatem 
ipsarum  ad  visum  nostrum,  in  superioribus  coeli  partibus  pen- 
derent,  neutiquam  illae  faciem  coeli  sereni  mutarent:  nam  nec 
ipsas  cerni  possent  propter  distantiam,  nec  ullam  eclipsin  facere 
in  astris,  propter  corporum  parvitatem  respectu  magnitudinis 
astrorum.  Quin  et  corpus  ipsum  lunae,  nisi  qua  parte  lumen 
excipit,  faciem  coeli  non  mutat;  ut,  si  lumen  illud  abesset, 
tantum  corpus  nos  latere  plane  posset.  At  contra  liquido 
patet  ex  massis  corporum  quae  mole  et  magnitudine  spatiorum 
distantiam  vincere,  et  propter  materiam  luminosam  aut  splen- 
didam  visum  nostrum  lacessere  possint,  admirandas  in  coelo 
accidere  mutationes  atque  insolentias.  Id  enim  perspicitur  in 
cometis  sublimioribus,  iis  nimirum  qui  et  figuram  stellae  in- 
duerunt  absque  coma,  neque  solum  ex  doctrina  parallaxium1 

1  Galileo  (in  the  opening  of  his  first  lecture  on  the  new  star  in  1604)  “  showed 
from  the  absence  of  parallax,  that  the  new  star  could  not  be,  as  the  vulgar  hypothesis 


752 


DESCR1PTIO  GLOBI  INTELLECTUALS. 


supra  lunam  collocati  esse  probantur,  sed  configurationem 
etiam  certam  et  constantem  cum  stellis  fixis  habuerunt,  et 
stationes  suas  serVarunt,  neque  errones  fuerunt ;  quales  setas 
nostra  non  semel  vidit,  primo  in  Cassiopea itemm  non  ita 
pridem  in  Ophiucho.  Quod  vero  hujusmodi  constantia  quae 
conspicitur  in  cometis  fiat  ob  sequacitatem  ad.aliquod  astrum, 
(quas  Aristotelis  opinio  fuit,  qui  similem  rationem  esse  posuit 
comet®  ad  astrum  unicum  et  galaxi®  ad  astra  congregata, 
utrumque  falso),  id  jam  olim  explosum  est,  non  sine  nota  in¬ 
genii  Aristotelis,  qui  levi  contemplatione  hujusmodi  res  con- 
fingere  ausus  est.2  Neque  vero  ista  mutatio  in  coelestibus  circa 
Stellas  novas,  locum  tenet  solummodo  in  iis  stellis  quae  videntur 
esse  naturae  evanidae,  sed  etiam  in  iis  quas  morantur.  Nam  et 
in  Stella  ilia  nova  Hipparcbi3,  apparitionis  mentio  facta  est 
apud  veteres,  disparitionis  nequaquam.4  Etiam  conspici  nuper 
coepit  stella  nova  in  pectore  Cygni,  quae  jam  per  duodecim 
annos  integros  duravit5,  aetatem  comet®  (qualis  habetur)  longo 
intervallo  supergressa,  nec  adhuc  diminuta  aut  adornans6  fugam. 
Neque  illud  rursus  proprium  et  perpetuum  est,  ut  veteres 
stell®  mutationem  prorsus  non  patiantur,  sed  tantum  stell® 
recentioris  epipliani®,  in  quibus  nil  mirum  si  mutatio  eveniat, 
cum  ipsa  generatio  et  origo  ipsarum  immemorialis  non  sit. 
Missa  enim  Arcadum  fabula  de  prima  epiphania  lun®,  qua  se 
jactant  illi  fuisse  antiquiores7,  non  desunt  exempla  in  rerum 
memoria  satis  fida,  cum  sol  per  tres  vices,  absque  incidentia 
eclipsis  aut  interpositione  nubium,  aere  liquido  et  sereno, 
prodiit  vultu  mutato  per  multos  dies,  neque  tamen  similiter 
affectus,  semel  luce  exili,  bis  subfusca.  Talia  enim  evenerunt 
anno  DCCXC,  per  septendecim  dies,  et  temporibus  Justiniani 


represented,  a  mere  meteor  engendered  in  our  atmosphere  and  nearer  the  earth 
than  the  moon,  but  must  be  situated  among  the  most  remote  heavenly  bodies.” — Life 
of  Galileo,  L.  U.  K.  p.  16.  —  J.  S. 

1  A  new  star  was  observed  in  Cassiopeia  by  Cornelius  Gemma  and  Tycho  Brahe  in 
1572  ;  it  disappeared  in  1574.  The  star  in  Ophiuchus  was  observed  by  Kepler  in 
1604,  and  disappeared  about  the  end  of  1605.  Compare  with  the  argument  in  the 
text,  Galileo,  Dialogi  dei  Sistemi. 

2  See  Aristot.  Meteorol.  i.  8.  *  Hippachi  in  original. — J.S. 

4  See  Pliny,  ii.  24. 

s  This  star,  which  is  of  variable  magnitude,  was  first  observed  by  Jansen  in  1600, 
so  that  the  Vescriplio  Globi  Intellect ualis  must  have  been  written  in  1612. 

4  So  in  original.  —  J.  S. 

7  Orta  prior  Luna(de  se  si  credltur  ipsi) 

A  magno  tellus  Arcade  nomen  habet.  Ovin,  Fasti,  i.  469. 

See. for  a  dissertation  on  this  mythical  story,  Heyne,  Opusc.  ii.  332.,  and  a  communi¬ 
cation  from  Professor  Franz  given  in  the  fourth  volume  of  Humboldt’s  Cosmos. 


DESCRIPTIO  GLOB1  INTELLECTUALS. 


753 


per  annum  dimidium1,  et  post  mortem  Julii  C®saris  per  com- 
plures  dies.  Atque  Julian®  illius  obtenebrationis  manet  testi¬ 
monium  illud  insigne  Virgilii : 

Ille  etiam  extincto  miseratus  Caesare  Romarn, 

Cum  caput  obscura  nitidum  ferrugine  texit, 

Impiaque  seternam  timuerunt  secula  noctem.2 

Yarronis  vero,  hominis  in  antiquitate  peritissimi,  narratio  qu® 
invenitur  apud  Augustinum3  de  Stella  Veneris, —  illam  scilicet 
tempore  Ogygis  regis  mutavisse  colorem,  magnitudinem,  et 
figuram,  —  dubi®  fidei  esse  potuit,  ni  simile  eventum  celebri 
spectaculo  ®tate  nostra  mdlxxviii  recurrisset.  Nam  turn  quo- 
que  per  annum  integrum  novatio  facta  est  memorabilis  in  stella 
Veneris,  qu®  conspiciebatur  magnitudine  et  splendore  insolitis, 
rubedine  Martem  ipsum  superabat,  et  figuram  s®pius  mutabat, 
facta  quandoque  triangularis,  quandoque  quadrangularis,  etiam 
rotunda,  ut  in  ipsa  massa  et  substantia  prorsus  pati  videretur.4 

'  These  phenomena  are  mentioned  in  juxtaposition  by  Patricius,  Pancosmia, 
p  111.,  from  whom  Bacon  probably  derived  his  knowledge  of  them.  For  the  darkness 
in  790  Patricius  quotes  Paul  the  Deacon,  and  for  that  in  Justinian’s  time  Peter  Mes- 
sias  or  Mexia,  who  was  almost  a  contemporary  of  his  own.  The  original  authority 
for  it  is  Procopius,  Bell.  Vandal,  ii.  14.  It  is  to  this  darkening  of  the  sun  that  Bacon 
refers  in  the  phrase  “  semel  luce  exili.”  Compare  a  list  of  seventeen  examples  of 
obscuration  of  the  sun’s  light  in  the  third  volume  of  Humboldt’s  Cosmos.  He  does 
not  mention  that  which  took  place  in  790  ;  and  the  obscuration  in  the  time  of  Justi¬ 
nian  is  said  on  the  authority  of  Abul-Faragius  to  have  lasted  14  months.  Humboldt 
compares  it  to  that  which  took  place  iu  1783. 

2  Virg.  Georg,  i.  469.  See  Pliny,  ii.  30.,  and  the  other  authorities  mentioned  in 
Heyne's  Virgil  ad  loc. 

3  St.  August.  De  Civit.  Dei,  xxi.  8. 

‘  Patricius  was  Bacon’s  authority  for  this  story.  After  mentioning  what  Augustine 
repeats  from  Varro,  he  goes  on  thus  :  “  Quae  res  sevo  etiam  nostro  accidit  anno 
m.  d  lxx.  viii.  Romaeque  visum  id  est  die  xvi  Novembris.  In  Germania  vero  die  De- 
cembris  xxvi.  Perque  totum  eum  annum,  sub  vesperam,  sole  nondummerso  visa  est 
magnitudine  insolita,  figura  vero  modo  triangula,  modo  quadrangula,  modo  rotunda, 
et  splendore  maximo,  et  rubedine  majore  quam  sit  Martis  rubedo.  Cursum  tamen  non 
mutavit.” — Patricius,  Pancosmia,  p.  107.  This  is  given  as  evidence  against  the 
Aristotelian  doctrine  of  the  immutability  of  the  heavens ;  and  that  it  is  not  mentioned 
by  Galileo  and  the  other  writers  who  so  constantly  refer  to  the  new  stars  in  Cassio¬ 
peia  and  Serpentarius  for  similar  evidence  seems  to  show  that  the  story  has  no  other 
foundation  than  that  Venus  was  then  visible  before  sunset.  The  story  would,  if  true, 
have  been  a  better  proof  of  a  change  in  the  superlunary  heavens  than  the  new  stars, 
seeing  that  it  could  not  be  said  that  Venus  was  a  merely  sublunary  meteor.  So  won¬ 
derful  a  fact  ought  not  to  have  been  quoted  on  the  authority  of  a  loose  and  somewhat 
rhetorical  writer  like  Patricius.  [We  must  not  forget  however  that  this  is  an  un¬ 
finished  work,  not  published,  nor  prepared,  nor  perhaps  intended,  for  publication  by  the 
writer.  —  /.  S.  ] 

It  isi  possible  that  Patricius’s  story  may  be  connected  with  the  phenomenon  observed 
in  China  in  1578,  and  which  is  thus  mentioned  in  Biot’s  extracts  from  the  annals  of 
the  Ming  dynasty.  “  1578.  22  Fevrier  (periode  Wanli  6m“  anuee  1“*  lune  jour 
Woutchin )  ii  parut  une  etoile  grande  comme  le  soieil.” 

Humboldt  observes  that  it  is  extraordinary  that  no  mention  was  made  in  the  16th 
century  by  European  astronomers  of  this  phenomenon.  It  seems  that  Bacon  has 


754 


DESCRIPTIO  GLOBI  1NTELEECTUALIS. 


Quin  etiam  stella  ilia  ex  veteribus  quae  in  coxa  Caniculte  sita 
est,  quam  ipse  se  vidisse  dicit  Aristoteles  comae  nonnihil  ha- 
bentem  eamque  comam,  praesertim  obiter  intuenti,  vibrantem, 
mutata  jam  videtur  et  comam  deposuisse,  cum  nihil  ejusmodi 
jam  nostra  aetate  deprehendatur.1  Adde  etiam  quod  complures 
mutationes  coelestium,  praesertim  in  stellis  minoribus,  ex  neg- 
lectu  observationum  facile  praeterlabuntur,  et  nobis  pereunt. 
At  promptum  erit  sciolo  alicui  ista  ad  vapores  et  dispositionem 
medii  referre  :  sed  mutationes  quae  corpus  astri  alicujus  con- 
stanter  et  aequabiliter  et  diu  obsidere  deprehenduntur  et  una 
cum  astro  circumvolvi,  omnino  in  astro  ipso,  aut  saltern  in 
aethere  propinquo  statui  debent,  non  in  regionibus  aeris  inferi- 
oribus  ;  cujus  rei  etiam  argumentum  sumitur  plane  validum, 
quod  hujusmodi  mutationes  raro  Hunt,  et  longis  intervallis 
annorum ;  quae  autem  in  aere  fiunt  per  interpositionem  vapo- 
rum,  frcquentius.  Quod  si  quis  judicium  faciat  ex  ordine  coeli 
atque  motus  ipsius  aequabilitate,  coelum  immutabile  esse ;  atque 
certitudinem  illam  periodorum  et  restitutionum  sumat  in  aeter- 
nitatis  tesseram  non  dubiam,  cum  substantiae  corruptibili  vix 
competere  videatur  motus  constantia ;  is  paulo  attentius  dispi- 
cere  debuerat,  istam  reditionem  rerum  per  vices  et  tanquam  in 
orbem  per  tempora  certa,  etiam  hie  infra  apud  nos  reperiri  in 
nonnullis  ;  maxime  in  aestu  oceani :  differentiae  autem  minores 
quae  in  ccelestibus  esse  possunt,  et  periodis  et  restitutionibus 
suis  aspectum  nostrum  et  computationes  nostras  fugiunt. 
Neque  magis  motus  ille  circularis  coeli  in  argumentum  aeterni- 
tatis  sumi  potest ;  quod  scilicet  lationis  circularis  non  sit  termi¬ 
nus  2 ;  motus  autem  immortalis  substantiae  immortali  convenit. 
Nam  etiam  cometae  inferiores  subter  lunam  locati  rotant, 
idque  ex  vi  propria ;  nisi  quis  forte  credere  malit  commentum 
illud  de  alligatione  ad  astrum.  Enimvero  si  placeat  argumen- 
tari  de  ajternitate  coelestium  ex  motu  circulari,  id  ad  universi- 
tatem  coeli  trahi  debuit,  non  ad  partes  coeli ;  etenim  aer,  mare, 
terra,  massis  aeterna,  partibus  caduca.  Quin  potius  contra, 
non  ita  bene  ominari  licet  de  aeternitate  coeli  ex  motu  illo  rota¬ 
tions  ;  quia  ille  ipse  motus  non  est  perfectus  in  coelo,  nec 
restituit  se  exacte  in  circulo  integro  et  puro,  sed  cum  declina- 


mistaken  Patricius’s  expression  “  totum  eum  annum which  appears  to  mean,  not 
that  the  phenomenon  lasted  a  year,  but  that  it  was  visible  to  the  end  of  the  year  in 
which  it  appeared.  See  Connaissancea  des  Temps  for  1 846. 

1  Aristot.  Meteorol.  i.  6. 


2  Arist  De  Ccelo,  i.  9. 


DESCRIPTIO  GLOBI  INTELLECT U ALIS.  75o 

tionibus,  sinuationibus,  et  spiris.  Porro  si  quis  illud  quod 
diximus  de  terra  retorqueat  (videlicet  quod  mutationes  qua; 
in  ea  fiunt  per  accidens  fieri  disseruimus,  eo  quod  terra  patia- 
tur  a  coelo),  atque  asserat  contrariaru  esse  rationem  coeli,  cum 
coelum  nullo  modo  pati  possit  vicissim  a  terra,  quandoquidem 
omnis  emissio  a  terra  citra  coelum  desinat,  ut  probabile  sit 
coelum,  ultra  omnem  vim  inimicam  sepositum,  susceptivum  esse 
Eeternitatis,  cum  a  natura  opposita  minime  concutiatur  aut  labe- 
factetur  ;  is  non  contemnenda  qua;dam  objicit.  Neque  enim  ii 
sumus,  qui  Thaletis  simplicitatem  revereamur,  qui  ignes  coe- 
lestes  depascere  vapores  e  terra  et  oceano  sublimatos,  atque 
inde  ali  et  refici  opinatus  est 1 ;  (illi  vero  vapores  recidunt  fere 
simili  quanto  ac  adscenderunt,  neque  reficiendis  et  terras  et 
globis  coelestibus  ullo  modo  sufficiunt,  neque  prorsus  in  tarn 
altum  pervenire  possint);  sed  tamen  utcunque  terra;  effluvia 
materiata  longe  infra  coelum  se  sistant,  nihilominus  si  terra  sit 
primum  frigidum  ex  sententia  Parmenidis  et  Telesii,  non  facile 
quis  affirmet  aut  certo  ad  quam  altitudinem  vis  ilia  adver- 
satrix  et  rivalis  coeli  se  insinuet  seriatim  et  per  successionem, 
prcesertim  cum  tenuia  naturam  ea  impressionem  frigidi  et  calidi 
imbibant  et  longe  perferant.  Sed  tamen,  dato  quod  coelum 
non  patiatur  a  terra,  nil  obstat  quin  coelestia  a  se  invicem  pati 
possint  et  immutari,  sol  nimirum  a  stellis,  stella;  a  sole,  planet® 
ab  utrisque,  universe  ab  sethere  circumfuso,  praesertim  in  desi- 
nentiis  globorum.  Prseterea  videtur  opinio  de  asternitate  coeli 
magnas  vires  sumpsisse  ex  ipsa  machina  et  constructione  coeli, 
quam  astronomi  plurima  cum  satagentia  introduxerunt.  Cautum 
enim  magnopere  videtur  ex  ea  ut  coelestia  nil  patiantur  prin¬ 
ter  simplicem  rotationem,  in  cieteris  consistant  nec  perturben- 
tur.  Itaque  corpora  astrorum  in  orbibus  suis  tanquam  clavis 
fixa  posuerunt.  Singulis  autem  declinationibus,  sublationibus, 
depressionibus,  sinuationibus  ipsorum  tot  circulos  perfectos 
convenient^  crassitudinis  attribuerunt,  circulorum  eorum.et  con- 
cava  et  convexa  egregie  tornantes  et  polientes,  ut  in  eis  nil  emi- 
nens,  nil  asperum  inveniatur,  sed  alter  inter  alterum  receptus 
et  ob  lsevorem  exacte  contiguus  et  tamen  labi  facilis,  moveat 
placide  et  feliciter ;  quae  immortalis  scilicet  ingeniatio  summovet 
omnem  violentiam  et  perturbationem,  individuas  profecto  cor- 
ruptionis  prsenuntias.  Nam  certe  si  corpora  tanta  qualia  sunt 


1  Plutarch,  De  Placit.  Philosoph.  !.  3. 


49  Bacon  III 


756 


DESCRTPTIO  GLOBI  INTELLECTUALS. 


globi  astrorum,  sethera  secant ;  neque  tamen  perpetuo  meant  per 
easdem  tetheris  partes,  sed  per  partes  et  tractus  longe  diversos, 
cum  aliquando  superna  invadant,  aliquando  versus  terram  de¬ 
scendant,  aliquando  vertant  se  ad  austrum,  aliquando  ad  boream; 
periculum  est  proculdubio  ne  fiant  plurimae  in  coelo  impres- 
siones  et  concussiones  et  reciprocationes  et  fluctus,  atque  inde 
sequantur  condensationes  et  rarefactiones  corporum,  quae  ge- 
nerationibus  et  alterationibus  viam  prasstinent  et  prasstruant. 
Quandoquidem  vero  ex  rationibus  physicis,  atque  insuper  ex 
phtenomenis  ipsis,  plane  constabit  hoc  posterius  verum  esse, 
atque  commenta  ilia  priora  astronomorum  de  quibus  diximus 
(si  quis  sanam  mentem  sumat)  naturae  prorsus  illudere  vide- 
antur,  et  rerum  reperiantur  inania ;  consentaneum  est,  ut  etiam 
opinio  de  aeternitate  coelestium,  quae  cum  illis  conjuncta  est, 
idem  subeat  judicium.  Quod  si  quis  hie  religionem  opponat, 
illi  responsum  volumus,  ethnicam  jactantiam  tantummodo  istam 
aeternitatem  coelo  soli  attribuere,  Scripturas  Sacras  aeternitatem 
terras  et  coelo  ex  aequo.1  Neque  enim  legitur  solum,  Solem  et 
Lunam  ceternos  et  fideles  testes  in  coelo  esse 2  ;  sed  et  illud,  gene- 
rationes  aclvenire  et  migrare,  Terram  autem  in  aitcrnum  manere. 
De  natura  autem  labili  et  caduca  utriusque,  uno  simul  oraculo 
conclusum  est :  Ccelum  et  Terram  pertransire ;  verlum  autem 
Domini  non  pertransire.3  Deinde  si  quis  adhuc  instet,  negari 
tamen  non  posse  quin  in  ipsa  superficie  orbis  terrarum  et 
partibus  proximis  infinitas  fiant  mutationes,  in  coelo  non  item ; 
huic  ita  occurrimus ;  nec  nos  haec  per  omnia  aequare,  et  tamen 
si  regiones  (quas  vocant)  superiorem  et  mediam  aeris  pro 
superficie  aut  interiore  tunica  coeli  accipiamus,  quemadmodum 
spatium  istud  apud  nos,  quo  animalia,  plantas,  et  mineralia  con- 
tinentur,  pro  superficie  vel  exteriore  tunica  terras  accipimus; 
et  ibi  quoque  varias  et  multiformes  generationes  inveniri.  Ita- 
que  tumultus  fere  omnis  et  conflictus  et  perturbatio  in  confi- 
niis  tantum  coeli  et  terrae  locum  habere  videtur;  ut  in  rebus 

1  Lansberg  makes  a  curious  remark  as  to  the  difficulties  which  may  arise  from  a 
literal  interpretation  of  Scripture.  “  You  may  so  interpret  it,”  he  says,  “  as  to  make 
it  interfere  not  only  with  astronomy  but  with  geometry  ;  as  when  it  is  said  that  one 
of  the  ewers  in  the  Temple  was  ten  cubits  across  and  thirty  cubits  round.”  Campa- 
nella,  in  his  Apologia  pro  Galilteo,  tells  a  story  of  one  Uljsses  Albergettus,  who  wishing 
to  show  that  the  moon  shines  by  her  own  light,  quoted  the  text  <  Luna  non  dabit 
lumen  suum  “  faciens  vim  in  ly  suum.”—  Ly,  it  may  be  well  to  remark,  is  used  by 
the  schoolmen  as  rb  in  Greek  ;  probably  because  transcribers  were  often  ignorant  of 
Greek,  and  copying  by  eye  changed  the  form  of  what  they  did  not  understand. 

*  «•  manere,”  Ecclesiastes,  i.  4.  »  Matth  xxiv.  35. 


DESCRIPTIO  GEOBI  INTEELECTUAEIS. 


757 


civilibus  fit,  in  quibus  illud  frequenter  usu  venit,  ut  duorum 
regnorum  fines  continuis  incursionibus  et  violentiis  infestentur, 
dum  interiores  utriusque  regni  provinciae  diutina  pace  fruuntur, 
et  bellis  tantum  gravioribus  et  rarioribus  commoventur.  Quod 
vero  ad  illam  alteram  partem  heterogenese  coelestium  attinet 
(prout  asseritur  ab  Aristotele),  quod  calida  non  sint ne  forte 
8equatur  conflagratio  Heracliti,  sed  quod  calefaciant  per  acci- 
dens,  conterendo  et  diverberando  aerem;  nescimus  quid  sibi 
velit  hujusmodi  desertor  experientiae,  idque  contra  consensum 
veterum.  Sed  in  illo  minime  novum  est,  ut  unum  aliquid  ab 
experientia  abripiat,  et  statim  naturae  insultet,  pusillanimus 
fiimnl  et  audax.  Verum  de  hoc  mox  dicemus  in  quaestione, 
utrum  astra  sint  veri  ignes  ?  fusius  vero  et  accuratius  in  con- 
siliis  nostris  circa  Historiam  Virtutum,  ubi  origines  et  cunabula 
Calidi  et  Frigidi  tractabimus,  mortalibus  adhuc  incognita  et 
intacta.  Atque  quaestio  de  heterogenea  coelestium  ad  hunc 
modum  proposita  sit.  Damnare  enim  sententiam  Aristotelis 
absque  comperendinatione  res  fortasse  postulat,  sed  nostrum 
non  patitur  institutum. 

Altera  proponitur  quaestio,  Quale  sit  contentum  spatiorum 
inter  stellar  ium  ?  Ilia  enim  aut  vacua  sunt,  quod  Gilbertus  sensit ; 
aut  repleta  corpore  quod  sit  ad  astra  instar  aeris  ad  flammam, 
quod  familiariter  accedit  ad  sensum  ;  vel  repleta  corpore  homo- 
geneo  cum  ipsis  astris,  lucido  et  quodammodo  empyreo,  sed 
secundum  minus,  lucis  scilicet  non  tarn  praefulgidae  et  vibrantis: 
id  quod  sibi  velle  videtur  recepta  opinio,  quod  stella  sit  pars 
densior  sphaerae  su®.4  Nihil  autem  officit  quo  minus  lucidum 
sit  diaphanum  ad  transmittendam  lucem  magis  fortem.  Nam 
acute  notavit  Telesius  etiam  aerem  communem  continere  ali¬ 
quid  in  se  lucis,  eo  usus  argumento,  quod  sint  quaedam  anima- 
lia,  quae  noctu  vident,  quorum  scilicet  visus  ad  tenuem  hujus¬ 
modi  lucem  recipiendam  et  fovendam  sit  proportionates.® 
Nam  actum  lucis  absque  ulla  luce,  vel  ex  ipsa  spintus  visivi 
luce  interna  fieri,  minus  credibile  esse.  Sed  et  flamma  ipsa 
diaphana  conspicitur,  etiam  ad  transmittendam  speciem  cor¬ 
poris  opaci,  ut  in  filis  lucernarum  patet ;  multo  magis  ad  trans¬ 
mittendam  speciem  lucis  intensioris.  Etiam  ex  flammis  alia) 


1  They  are  the  cause  of  heat  by  their  motion  ami  the  consequent  friction  of  the 
air,  but  are  not  themselves  hot.  Aristot.  de  Ccelo,  ii.  7. 


1  Aristot.  ubi  supra. 


8  Telesius,  De  Rer.  Nat.  i.  3. 


758 


DESCRIPTIO  GEORI  1NTELLECTUAUS. 


aliis  sunt  pellucicliores.  Idque  accidit  vel  ex  natura  corporis 
inflammati,  vel  ex  copia.  Nam  flamma  sevi  aut  cer®  magis 
luminosa  est,  et  (si  ita  loqui  licet)  magis  ignea  ;  at  flamma  spiri- 
tus  vim  magis  opaca,  et  tanquam  aerea,  praesertim  si  in  parva 
sit  quantitate,  ut  flamma  seipsam  non  inspisset.  At  nos  hujus 
rei  etiam  experimentum  fecimus ;  videlicet  accipientes  cande- 
lam  ceream,  eamque  in  situla  erigentes  (situla  idcirco  usi 
metallica,  ut  corpus  candel®  a  flamma  qua;  circumfundenda 
erat  posset  muniri),  situlam  vero  in  patera  ubi  erat  parum 
spiritus  vini  collocantes,  tumque  primo  candelam,  deinde  spi- 
ritum  vini  accendentes ;  ubi  facile  erat  cernere  flammam  can- 
del®  coruscantem  et  candidam,  per  medium  flamma;  spiritus 
vini  infirm®  et  vergentis  ad  diaphanum.1  Atque  pari  ratione 
cernuntur  sapius  per  coelum  trabes  lucid®  lucem  manifestam 
ex  se  pr®bentes,  et  tenebras  noctis  insigniter  illustrantes ;  per 
quarum  corpora  tamen  datur  conspicere  astra.  Attamen  ista 
in®qualitas  stell®  et  ®theris  interstellaris  non  bene  definitur 
per  tenue  et  densum,  ut  stella  scilicet  sit  densior,  ®ther  tenuior. 
Nam  generaliter  hie  apud  nos  flamma  aere  est  corpus  subtilius, 
magis,  inquam,  expansum,  et  minus  habens  materi®  pro  spatio 
quod  occupat ;  quod  etiam  in  coelestibus  obtinere  probabile  est. 
Durior  vero  est  error,  si  stellam  sph®r®  partem  esse  intel- 
ligant  veluti  clavo  fixam,  et  ®thera  stell®  deferens.2  Hoc  enim 
fictitium  quiddam  est,  quemadmodum  et  orbium  contiguatio  ilia 
qu®  describitur.  Nam  corpus  stell®  in.cursu  suo  aut  ®thera 
secat,  aut  et  ®ther  ipse  rotat  simul  ®qualiter.  Si  enim  in®- 
qualiter  rotet,  etiam  stellam  secare  ®thera  necesse  est.  Fabrica 
autem  ilia  orbium  contiguorum,  ut  concavum  exterioris  orbis 
recipiat  convexum  interioris,  et  tamen  propter  l®vorem  u  tri¬ 
usque  alter  alterum  in  conversionibus  suis,  licet  in®qualibus, 
non  impediat,  realis  non  est ;  cum  perpetuum  et  continuum  sit 
corpus  ®theris,  quemadmodum  et  aeris ;  et  tamen  quia  magna 
reperiatur  in  utroque  corpore  diversitas,  quatenus  ad  raritatem 
et  alia,  regiones  ipsorum  docendi  gratia  rectissime  distinguantur. 

1  Compare  Sylva  Sylvarum  (31.). 

2  The  phrase  fixed  stars,  Sidera  infixa  eoelo,  was  originally  connected  with  the 
notion  of  the  stars  being  fastened  to  the  vault  of  heaven.  The  substitution,  as  Hum* 
boldt  has  remarked,  of  fixa  for  injixa  or  affixa ,  indicates  the  transition  to  our  notion 
of  fixed  stars,  which  relates  only  to  their  relative  immobility.  See  Cosmos,  vol.  iii., 
chapter  on  Fixed  Stars.  There  is  a  curious  passage  in  Acosta’s  History  of  the  Indies 
on  this  subject.  He  conceives  that  both  the  Milky  Way  and  what  are  commonly 
called  the  Coal  Bags  belong  to  the  substance  of  the  heaven  itself,  and  prove  by  their 
motion  that  the  heavens  turn  as  well  as  the  stars  [1.  2.], 


DESCRIPTIO  GLOBI  INTELLECTUALIS. 


759 


Itacjue  recipiatur  sexta 1  qutestio  secundum  hanc  nostram 
explicationem.  Sequitur  qutestio  altera  nec  ea  simplex;  de 
substantia  ipsorum  astrorum.  Primo  enim  quseritur,  An  sint 
alii  globi  sive  masses  ex  materia  solida  et  compacta,  preeter  ipsam 
terrain  ?  Sana  enim  mente  proponitur  ea  contemplatio  in 
libro  de  facie  in  orbe  lunte,  non  esse  verisimile,  in  dispersione 
materife  naturam  quicquid  compacti  corporis  erat  in  unicum 
terras  globum  conclusisse,  cum  tantus  sit  exercitus  globorum  ex 
materia  rara  et  explicata.2  Huic  vero  cogitationi  tam  immo¬ 
derate  indulsit  Gilbertus  (in  quo  tamen  habuit  prascursores  vel 
duces  potius  nonnullos  ex  antiquis),  ut  non  solum  terram  et 
lunam,  sed  complures  alios  globos,  solidos  et  opacos,  per  expan- 
eionem  coeli  inter  globos  lucentes  sparsos  asserat.3  Neque 
opinio  ejus  hie  stetit,  sed  et  globos  illos  lucentes  ad  aspectum, 
nimirum  solem  et  clarissima  quasque  astra,  ex  materia  quapiam 
solida,  licet  magis  splendida  et  aequali,  constitui  existimavit; 
lucem  primitivam  cum  lumine,  quod  ejus  censetur  imago,  con- 
fundens  (nam  et  nostrum  mare  ex  sese  lucem  ad  distans  pro- 
portionatum  ejaculari  censuit) ;  nullam  autem  conglobationem 
agnovit  Gilbertus,  nisi  in  materia  solida,  cujus  corpora  ilia 
circumfusa  rara  et  tenuia,  effluvia  quasdam  tantum  essent  et 
tanquam  defectiones;  et  deinde  vacuum.  Yerum  diligentissimi 
cujusque  et  maxime  sobrii  investigatoris  naturae  animum  per- 
stringere  posset  cogitatio  ilia  de  Luna,  quod  sit  ex  materia  so¬ 
lida.  Nam  et  lucem  reverberat,  nec  lucem  transmittit,  et  pro- 
priae  lucis  tanquam  expers  est,  et  plena  est  inaequalitatis ;  quae 
omnia  solidorum  sunt.  Videmus  enim  aethera  ipsum  et  aerem, 
quae  tenuia  sunt  corpora,  solis  lucem  excipere,  sed  minime  re- 
flectere ;  quod  luna  facit.  Solis  vero  radiorum  is  est  vigor, 
ut  densas  admodum  nubes,  quae  materiae  sunt  aqueae,  trajicere 

1  This  is  apparently  a  wrong  reading  for  ista.  The  phrase  “  ista  quaistio  recipiatur  ” 
occurs  with  variations  several  times  in  the  course  of  the  tract.  That  the  text  is 
wrong  appears  not  only  from  the  circumstance  that  the  question  Bacon  is  speaking  of 
is  the  seventh  and  not  the  sixth,  but  from  this  also,  that  he  clearly  does  not  intend  to 
say  “  Let  a  sixth  question  be  admitted,”  hut  “  Let  the  question  of  which  I  have  been 
speaking  be  admitted  ;  ”  a  reference  which  requires  the  demonstrative  pronoun. 

2  Plutarch,  De  Facie  in  Orbe  Lunae,  p.  924. 

3  “  Duo  sunt  globorum  genera,  lucentia  et  non  lucentia;  lucentia  Sol,  fix®  splen- 
didiores;  non  lucentia,  ut  tellus,  Luna,  Stella;  nebulosa;.”—  Gilbert,  Physiol.  Nov. 

’  Thales  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  person  who  asserted  that  the  moon  is  illu¬ 
minated  by  the  sun.  Ocellus,  and  perhaps  Heraclides,  sa’d  that  she  consists  of  earth 
surrounded  by  a  mist.  Diogenes  Apolloniates,  probably  following  Anaxagoras,  affirmed 
that  along  with  the  visible  stars  revolve  in  the  heavens  aipavus  Mffoi,  which  occasionally 
fall  to  the  earth.  Stobaius,  Eclog.  I’hys.  i.  25. 


760 


DESCRIPTIO  GLOBI  1NTELRECTUALIS. 


et  penetrare  possit ;  lunam  tamen  neutiquam.  At  lux  lunae 
ipsiu3  in  eclipsibua  aliquibus  cernitur  nonnulla,  licet  obscura  ; 
in  noviluniis  autem  et  setatibua  lunae,  nulla,  praeter  partem  ir- 
radiatam  a  sole.  Porro,  flammae  impurse  et  f feculent®  (ex  quo 
genere  substantiae  Empedocles  constare  lunam  opinatus  est1) 
sunt  certe  inaequales,  sed  tamen  eae  inaequalitates  non  locantur, 
sed  mobiles  plerunque  sunt ;  cum  maculae  m  luna  constan- 
tes  putentur.  Accedit  quoque  quod  maculae  illae  etiam  suas 
subinaequalitates  habere  deprehendantur  per  specilla  optica,  ut 
jam  plane  multipliciter  figurata  reperiatur  luna,  et  selenogra- 
phia  ilia  sive  typus  lunae,  quern  animo  agitabat  Gilbertus2, 
jam  ex  Galilaei  et  aliorum  industria  praesto  esse  videatur.  Quod 
si  luna  ex  materia  quapiam  solida  constitui  possit  ut  terrae 
affinis,  aut  faex  coeli  (hujusmodi  quaedam  jactantur),  videndum 
rursus  an  ilia  sit  in  hoc  genere  sola.  Nam  et  Mercurius  quan- 
doque  repertus  est  in  conjunctione  solis,  tanquam  macula  quae- 
dam,  sive  pusilla  eclipsis.  At  maculae  illae  nigricantes  quae  in 
hemisphaerio  antarctico  inveniuntur,  suntque  fixae,  non  secus 
ac  galaxia,  majorem  injiciunt  dubitationem  de  globis  opacis 
etiam  in  partibus  coeli  sublimioribus.3  Nam  quod  illud  in  causa 
sit,  quia  ccelum  in  illis  locis  sit  tenue  et  tanquam  perforatum,  id 
minus  verisimile  est ;  propterea  quod  hujusmodi  decrementum 
et  tanquam  privatio  rei  visibilis  ex  tanta  distantia  visum  nostrum 
nullo  modo  percutere  possit,  cum  etiam  reliquum  corpus  aetheris 
invisibile  sit,  nec  nisi  per  comparationem  ad  corpora  stellarum 
cernatur.  Illud  fortasse  magis  probabile  foret,  nigrores  illos 
[defectui]  4  luminis  imputare,  quia  rariores  inveniuntur  stellae 
circa  earn  partem  coeli,  quemadmodum  circa  galaxiam  cre- 
briores ;  ut  alter  locus  continenter  luminosus  videatur,  alter 
umbrosus.  Magis  enim  committi  videntur  ignes  coelestes  in 
antarctico  hemisphaerio,  quam  in  nostro ;  majores  siquidem 
Stellas  habeat,  sed  pauciores,  et  spatia  interstellaria  inajora. 
Yerum  ipsa  traditio  de  maculis  illis  non  admodum  fida  est, 
saltern  non  tam  magna  circa  earn  observationem  adhibita  est 
diligentia,  ut  consequentiae  inde  deduci  adhuc  debeant.  Illud 

1  Empedocles  said  that  the  moon  was  aepa  ovvt<npap.p.tvov  ve^oetBi),  wernyyifra  inch 
irvpbs  ffi<rre  iri'p.fUKT0V,  SiirKoeiSij  Be  rip  irxhpa-ri.  —  Stobieus,  Eclog.  Physic,  i.  27. 

Heeren  remarks  that  Stobieus  is  the  only  author  by  whom  this  opinion  is  men¬ 
tioned. 

2  See  his  Physiologia  Nova,  ii.  14.,  and  the  map  of  the  moon  by  which  It  is  illus¬ 
trated. 

3  See  for  this  Patricius,  f.  90. ;  and  Acosta’s  History  of  the  Indies,  book  i.  chap.  2. 

*  This  word  was  supplied  in  Montagu’s  edition.  —  J.  S. 


DESCRIPT10  GLOBI  INTELLECT  DALIS. 


761 


magis  premit  inquisitionem  prsesentem,  quod  possint  esse  plu- 
res  globi  opaci  per  sethera  sparsi,  qui  omnino  non  cernuntur. 
Nam  et  luna  ipsa  in  primis  ortibus,  quatenus  illustratur  a  sole, 
visum  sane  ferit,  cornu  et  labro  illo  tenui  circuli  extimi,  in  pro- 
fundo  autem  minime,  sed  cemitur  eadem  specie  tanquam  reli- 
quus  aether:  et  stellulae  illae  erraticae  circa  Jovem  a  Galilaeo  (si 
fides  constet)  repertae,  merguntur  ad  visum  nostrum  in  pelago 
illo  aetheris,  tanquam  insulae  minores  et  non  conspicuae ;  similiter 
et  illae  stellulae  quarum  glomeratio  effecit  galaxiam,  si  singulae 
sparsim,  non  congregatae  confertim,  collocatae  essent,  prorsus  con- 
spectum  nostrum  effugerent ;  quemadmodum  et  complures  aliae, 
quae  noctibus  serenis,  praesertim  per  hiemem,  micant;  etiam 
nebulosae  illae  stellae  sive  foramina  ad  Praesepe  *,  jam  distinctae 
per  specilla  numerantur ;  quin  per  eadem  specilla  in  fonte  lucis 
omnium  purissimo  (solem  dicimus),  macularum  et  opaci  et  inae- 
qualitatis  scrupulus  nonnullus  objectus  esse  videtur.  Quod  si 
nihil  aliud,  certe  gradatio  ipsa  inter  astra  ccelestia  quoad  lucem, 
a  clarissimis  descendens  et  pertingens  ad  obscura  et  caliginosa, 
eo  rem  deducit,  ut  fidem  faciat  posse  esse  et  globos  omnino 
opacos.  Minor  enim  gradus  esse  videtur  a  Stella  nebulosa  ad 
opacam,  quam  a  stella  clarissima  ad  nebulosam.  Aspectus  au¬ 
tem  noster  plane  fallitur  et  circumscribitur.  Quicquid  enim 
spargitur  in  coelo,  neque  habet  magnitudinem  insignem  atque 
etiam  lucem  vividam  et  fortem,  latetr  nec  faciem  cceli  mutat. 
Neque  vero  imperiti  cujusquam  animum  percellat,  si  in  du- 
bium  veniat  utrum  globi  ex  materia  compacta  pensiles  sisti 
possint.  Nam  et  terra  ipsa  in  medio  aeris,  rei  mollissimse,  cir- 
cumfusi,  pensilis  natat ;  et  magnae  nubium  aquosarum  moles,  et 
grandinis  congeries,  haerent  in  regionibus  aeris,  et  inde  magis 


1  The  nebula  Praesepe  in  Cancer,  and  the  one  in  the  head  of  Orion,  were  the  two 
first  nebulae  ever  resolved  into  distinct  stars.  Galileo  gave  figures  of  them  as  they 
appeared  through  his  telescope  in  the  SydereuM  Nuncius.  What  Bacon  goes  on  to  say 
of  spots  in  the  sun  is  particularly  interesting.  Galileo  did  not  publish  on  the  subject 
befbre  1613;  so  that  Bacon’s  information  was  probably  not  derived  from  Galileo, 
though  it  is  believed  that  Galileo’s  first  observations  were  made  in  November  1610. 
The  earliest  account  which  is  known  to  have  been  printed  of  these  spots  is  that  of 
Fabricius,  whose  father’s  interesting  correspondence  with  Kepler  ha3  recently  been 
published.  His  tract  De  Maculis  in  Sole  observatis  was  published  at  Wittenberg, 
1611.  It  seems  difficult  to  decide  the  question  of  priority  of  observation  between  him 
and  Galileo.  Harriot  observed  the  spots  in  December  1610,  but  did  not  apparently 
know  what  to  make  of  the  appearance,  and  does  not  designate  the  phenomena  by  the 
specific  name  of  spots  until  December  1611,  before  which  time  their  existence  had  been 
fully  ascertained  by  others.  He  drew  a  picture  however  of  what  he  had  seen  on  the 
first  occasion,  of  which  a  facsimile  has  been  published  by  Professor  Rigaud,  to  whom 
I  am  indebted  for  most  of  the  substance  of  this  note.  See  his  Supplement  to  Bradley’s 
Works,  pp.  32.  35.  37. 


762 


DESCR1PTI0  GLOBI  INTEELECTITALIS. 


dejiciuntur  quam  descendunt,  antequam  terras  vicinitatem  per- 
sentiscant.  Itaque  optime  notavit  Gilbertus,  corpora  gravia 
post  longam  a  terra  distantiam  motum  versus  inferiora  paulatim 
exuere,  utpote  qui  a  nullo  alio  corporum  appetitu  quam  illo 
coeundi  et  se  congregandi  ad  terrain  (qua;  est  corporum  cum 
iisdem  connaturalium  massa)  ortum  habet,  atque  intra  orbem 
virtutis  su£B  terminatur.1  Nam  quod  de  motu  ad  terras  centrum 
asseritur,  esset  profecto  virtuosum  genus  nihili,  quod  tanta  ad 
se  raperet;  neque  corpus  nisi  a  corpore  patitur.  Itaque  quaestio 
ista  de  globis  opacis  et  solidis,  licet  nova  et  ad  opiniones  vul- 
gares  durior,  recipiatur ;  atque  una  conjungatur  quaestio  ilia 
vetus,  nec  tamen  decisa,  qua  ex  astris  lucem  promant  primitivam, 
atque  ex  sese,  et  qua  rursus  ex  iUustratione  solis,  quarum  altera 
consubstantialia  videntur  soli,  altera  luuse.  Denique  omnem 
inquisitionem  de  diversitate  substantia;  astrorum  ad  invicem, 
quae  multifaria  videtur,  cum  alia  rutila,  alia  plumbea,  alia  Can¬ 
dida,  alia  splendida,  alia  nebulosa  manifesto  et  constanter  cer- 
nantur,  ad  septimam  quasstionem  intelligimus  referri.  Altera 
quaestio  ea  est.  An  astra  sint  veri  ignes  ?  qua;  tamen  quaestio 
desiderat  prudentiam  quandam  intelligendi.  Aliud  est  enim 
dicere,  astra  esse  veros  ignes  ;  aliud,  astra  ( sint  licet  veri  ignes ) 
cunctas  exercere  vires,  atque  easdem  edere  actiones,  quas  ignis 
communis.  Neque  propterea  ad  ignem  aliquem  notionalem  aut 
pliantasticum  deveniendum  est,  qui  nomen  ignis  retineat,  pro- 
prietatee  abneget.  Nam  et  noster  ignis,  si  in  tali  quanto  quale 
est  quantum  a.stri  in  aethere  collocaretur,  differentes  datums 
fuerit  operationes  ab  iis  quae  reperiuntur  hie  apud  nos ;  cum 
entia  longe  diversas  nanciscantur  virtutes,  et  ex  quanto  suo  et 
ex  consitu  sive  collocatione  sua.  Etenim  mas^a;  majores,  hoc 
est  corpora  connaturalia  quae  congregantur  in  tali  quanto 
quod  habeat  analogiam  ad  summam  universi,  induunt  virtutes 
cosmicas,  quae  in  portionibus  suis  nullatenus  reperiuntur.  Nam 
oceanus,  qui  est  aquarum  congregatio  maxima,  fluit  et  refluit; 
at  stagna  et  lacus  minime.  Similiter  universa  terra  pendet., 
portio  terra;  cadit.  Collocatio  autem  entis  plurimi  ad  omnia 
momenti  est  et  in  portionibus  majoribus  et  minoribus,  propter 
contigua  et  adjacentia,  vel  arnica  vel  inimica.  At  multo  ma- 
jorem  etiam  evenire  necesse  est  actionum  diversitatem  inter 
ignem  astrorum  et  nostrum,  quia  non  tanturn  in  quanto  et  col- 


Gilbert,  Physiol.  Nova,  i.  21. 


DESCRIPTIO  GLOBI  INTELLECTUALS. 


763 


locatione,  sed  etiam  in  substantia,  aliquatenus  varietur.  Ignis 
enim  astrorum  purus,  integer,  et  nativus ;  at  ignis  noster  de- 
gener,  qui  tanquani  Yulcanus  in  terrara  dejectus  ex  casu  clau- 
dicat.  Si  quis  enim  advertat,  habemus  ignem  apud  nos  extra 
locum  suum,  trepidum,  contrariis  circumfusum,  indigum,  et 
stipem  alimenti  ut  conservetur  emendicantem,  et  fugientem. 
At  in  ccelo  existit  ignis  vere  locatus,  ab  impetu  alicujus  con- 
trarii  disjunctus,  constans  ex  se  et  similibus  conservatus,  et 
proprias  operationes  libere  et  absque  molestia  peragens.  Ita- 
que  nihil  opus  fuit  Patritio,  ut  formam  flammse  pyramidalem, 
qualis  apud  nos  invenitur,  salvaret,  comminisci  superiorem  par¬ 
tem  astri,  quae  versus  sethera  vertitur,  posse  esse  pyramidalem, 
licet  inferior  pars,  quse  a  nobis  conspicitur,  sit  globosa.1  Nam 
pyramis  ilia  flammse  per  accidens  est  ex  coactione  et  constri- 
ctione  aeris,  siquidem  flamma  circa  iomitem  suum  plenior,  ab 
inimicitia  aeris  sensim  constringitur  et  effingitur  in  formam 
pyramidis.  Itaque  in  flamma,  basis  flammse  lata  est,  vertex 
acutus ;  in  fumo,  contra,  inferius  acutum,  vertex  latus,  et 
tanquam  pyramis  inversa;  quia  aer  fumum  recipit,  flammam 
comprimit.  Quare  consentaneum  est  flammam  apud  nos  esse 
pyramidalem,  in  ccelo  globosam.  Similiter  et  flamma  apud  nos 
corpus  momentaneum  est,  in  sethere  permanens  et  durabilis. 
Attamen  et  apud  nos  flamma  et  ipsa  manere  possit  in  forma 
sua  et  subsistere,  nisi  a  circumfusis  perderetur;  quod  manite- 
stissimum  est  in  flammis  majoribus.  Omnis  enim  portio  flammse 
in  medio  flammse  sita,  et  flamma  undique  circumdata,  non  perit, 
sed  eadem  numero  manet  inextincta,  et  coelum  rapide  petens ; 
at  in  lateribus  laboratur  atque  abinde  orditur  extinctio.  Cujus 
rei  modus  (flammse  interioris  scilicet  permanentia  in  flgura 
globosa,  et  flammse  exterioris  vanescentia  et  pyramis)  in  flam- 
mis  bicoloribus  experimento  demonstrari  possit.  Quinetiam 
de  ipso  ardore  flammse  inter  ccelestem  et  nostram  plurimum 
variari  potest.  Nam  flamma  coclestis  libenter  et  placide  expli- 
catur,  tanquam  in  suo,  at  nostra  tanquam  in  alieno  compingitur 
et  ardet  et  furit.  Omnis  etiam  ignis  constipatus  et  incarceratus 
fit  ardentior.  Enimvero  et  radii  flammse  coelestis  postquam  ad 
corpora  densiora  et  magis  obstinata  pervenerint,  et  ipsi  leni- 
tatem  suam  deponunt,  et  fiunt  magis  adurentes.  Itaque  non 

1  “Astra  flamma;  si  sunt,  etsi  non  rotunda:  sint  etiamsi  sursum  tendant,  nihil  obstat 
quin  exemplo  nostrarum,  procul  aliquanto  spectata:,  et  rotunda:  appareant  ct  radiata:. 
— Put ri cuts,  Puncosmia ,  xv. 


764 


DESCRIPTIO  GLOBI  INTELLECTUALtS. 


debuit  Aristoteles  conflagrationem  Heracliti  orbi  suo  metuere, 
licet  astra  veros  igne8  statuisset.  Poterit  igitur  ista  quaestio 
recipi  secundum  hanc  explicationem.  Sequitur  altera  quaestio, 
An  astra  alantur ,  atque  etiam  an  augeantur,  minuantur,  gene- 
rentur,  extinguantur  ?  Atque  certe  ex  veteribus  aliquis  ob- 
servatione  quadam  plebeia  ali  astra  putavit,  instar  ignis,  atque 
aquas  et  oceanum  et  humiditatem  terra}  depascere  atque  ex 
vaporibus  et  halitibus  reparari.  Quae  certe  opinio  non  videtur 
digna  esse,  ut  quaestioni  materiam  subministret.  Nam  et  va- 
pores  hujusmodi  longe  citra  astrorum  altitudines  deficiunt ;  ne- 
que  illorum  tanta  est  copia,  ut  et  aquis  et  terra?  per  pluvias 
et  rores  reparandis,  atque  insuper  tot  et  tantis  globis  coelestibus 
reficiendis  sufficere  ullo  modo  queant ;  praesertim  cum  manife- 
stum  sit  terram  et  oceanum  humore  evidenter  per  multa  jam 
secula  non  decrescere,  ut  tantundem  reponi  videatur,  quantum 
exsorbetur.  Neque  etiam  ratio  alimenti  astris  tanquam  igni 
nostro  competit.  Ubi  enim  aliquid  deperit  et  decedit,  ibi  etiam 
reponitur  quippiam  et  assimilatur.1  Quod  genus  assimilationis 
ex  Tartarismis  est,  et  ex  contrariorum  aut  dissimilium  circum- 
fusione  ortum  ducit.  At  in  astrorum  mole  similari  et  interiore 
nil  tale  evenit,  non  magis  quam  in  visceribus  terrae,  quae  nec 
ipsa  aluntur,  sed  substantiam  suam  servant  secundum  identi- 
tatem,  non  secundum  assimilationem.  Attamen  de  extimis  oris 
corporum  sidereorum  recte  datur  quaestio,  Utrum  ea  uno  eodem- 
que  tenore  maneant,  aut  cethera  circumfusum  deprcedentur,  atque 
etiam  inficiant  ?  Quare  eo  sensu  de  alimoniis  astrorum  etiam 
quaeri  poterit.  De  augmentis  vero  et  diminutionibus  astrorum 
in  toto  suo,  recte  adjungitur  quaestio;  licet  rara  admodum 
fuerint  pbaenomena,  quae  illi  dubitationi  occasionem  praebere 
pos8int.  Primo  enim  exemplum  nullum,  neque  simile  aliquid 
inter  ea  quae  apud  nos  reperiuntur,  huic  quaestioni  patroci- 
natur  2 ;  cum  globus  noster  terrae  et  aquarum  non  videatur  sus- 
cipere,  secundum  totum  suum,  augmentationem  aut  diminu- 
tionem  evidentem  aut  insignem ;  sed  molem  suam  et  quantum 
suum  servare.  At  stellae  apparent  ad  aspectum  nostrum  inter- 
dum  majore,  interdum  minore  corpore.  Yerum  est;  sed  ilia 
majoritas  et  minoritas  stellae  vel  ad  longinquitatem  et  ad  vici- 
nitatem  refertur,  ut  in  apogaeis  et  perigaeis  planetarum,  vel  ad 

1  assimulatur  in  the  original ;  so  also  in  the  next  sentences  assimulationis  and 
assimulationem.  —  J.  S. 

2  patrocinantur  in  the  original  —  J,  S. 


DESCRIPTIO  GLOB1  1NTELLECTUALIS. 


765 


constitutionem  medii.  Quse  vero  fit  ex  constitutione  medii 
facile  dignoscitur,  quod  non  alicui  certae  stellae,  sed  omnibus 
ex  aequo  apparentiam  mutet,  ut  fit  noctibus  hiemalibus,  gelu 
intensiore,  quando  stellae  auctae  videntur  magnitudine,  quia  va- 
pores  et  parcius  surgunt  et  fortius  exprimuntur,  et  universum 
corpus  aeris  nonnibil  condensatur,  et  vergit  ad  aqueum  sive 
crystallinum,  quod  species  exhibet  majores.  Quod  si  forte 
fuerit  aliqua  particularis  interpositio  vaporum  inter  aspectum 
nostrum  et  astrum  certum,  quae  speciem  astri  ampliet  (quod 
in  sole  et  luna  frequenter  et  manifesto  fit,  et  in  reliquis  acci- 
dere  potest),  ea  apparentia  nec  ipsa  fallere  potest,  quia  mutatio 
ilia  magnitudinis  non  durat,  neque  sequitur  astrum  nec  cum 
corpore  ejus  movetur,  verum  astrum  ab  ea  cito  liberatur,  et 
solitam  recuperat  speciem.  Veruntamen  quamvis  ista  ita  se 
habeant,  tamen  cum  et  olim  temporibus  priscis  atque  etiam 
setate  nostra,  celebri  et  magno  spectaculo,  magna  novatio  facta 
fuerit  in  stella  Yeneris  et  magnitudine  et  colore,  atque  etiam 
figura ;  cumque  mutatio  quae  astrum  aliquod  certum  per- 
petuo  et  constanter  sequitur,  et  cum  corpore  ejus  circum- 
volvi  cernitur,  necessario  statui  debeat  in  astro  ipso,  et  non 
in  medio ;  cumque  ex  observationum  neglectu  multa  quae 
in  coelo  fiunt  conspicua  praetereantur  et  nobis  pereant ;  istam 
partem  quaestionis  nonae  recte  admitti  censemus.  Ejusdem 
generis  est  altera  pars  quaestionis,  Utrum  astra  per  longos 
seculorum  circuitus  nascantur  et  dissipentur  ?  nisi  quod  major 
suppetat  phaenomenorum  ubertas  quae  hanc  quaestionem  pro- 
vocat  quam  illam  de  augmentis  :  sed  tamen  in  uno  genere 
tantum.  Nam  quoad  veteres  stellas,  omni  seculorum  memoria, 
nec  alicujus  earum  ortus  primus  notatus  est  (exceptis  iis  quae 
Arcades  de  Luna  olim  fabulati  sunt),  nec  aliqua  ex  iis  desi- 
deratur.  Earum  vero  quae  cometae  habitae  sunt,  sed  forma  et 
motu  stellari,  et  prorsus  veluti  stellae  novae1,  et  apparitiones  vi- 

1  This  mode  of  speaking  of  the  new  stars  confirms  Professor  Rigaud’s  explanation  of 
a  curious  phrase  in  one  of  Sir  William  Lower’s  letters  to  Harriot.  “  His  elliptical  Iter 
planetarum,  methinkes,  shewes  a  way  to  the  solving  of  the  unknown  walks  of  comets 
(he  is  speaking  of  Kepler)  ;  “  for  as  his  ellipsis  in  the  earth’s  motion  is  more  a  circle, 
and  in  Mars  is  more  longe,  and  in  some  of  the  other  planets  may  be  longer  agame,  so 
in  thos  commets  that  appeare  fixed  the  ellipsis  may  be  neere  a  right  line.  The  Pro¬ 
fessor  remarks  that  he  may  possibly  allude  to  phenomena  like  the  new  star  ot  1S7  . 
It  is  this  letter  of  Sir  William  Lower's,  the  first  part  of  which  Baron  Zach  ascribed  to 
the  Earl  of  Northumberland,  an  error  which  is  repeated  by  Apelt  in  his  Reformation  of 
Astronomy.  See  Rigaud’s  Supplement  to  Bradley’s  Works,  pp.  43.  49. 

The  idea  that  the  new  star  of  1572  moved  alternately  towards  and  from  the  eaitn 
in  a  right  line,  was  proposed  by  John  Dee.  See  Narrien's  Hist,  of  Astronomy,  p.  384. 


766 


DESCRIPTIO  GLOBI  INTELLECTUALIS. 


dimus,  atque  etiam  ab  antiquis  accepimus,  et  disparitiones,  dum 
aliis  hominibus  tanquam  consumptas  visas  sunt,  aliis  tanquam 
assumptae  (utpote  quas  ad  nos  devectae  tanquam  in  perigasis, 
postea  ad  sublimiora  remearunt),  aliis  vero  tanquam  rarescentes 
existimatae  sunt  atque  in  astliera  solutae.  Verum  universam  istam 
quaestionem  de  stellis  no  vis  ad  eum  locum  rejicimus  ubi  de 
Cometis  dicemus.  Superest  quaestio  altera,  de  Galaxia  vide¬ 
licet,  An  Galaxia  sit  glomeratio  astrorum  minimorum,  aut  cor¬ 
pus  continuatum,  et  pars  cetheris,  mediae,  naturae  inter  cetheream  et 
siderearn  ?  Nam  opinio  ilia  de  exhalationibus  jamdiu  exhalavit, 
non  sine  nota  ingenii  Aristotelis,  qui  tale  aliquid  confingere 
ausus  est,  rei  tarn  constant!  et  fixae  imponendo  naturam  transito- 
riam  etvariam.1  Quin  et  finis  etiam  hujus  quaestionis,  prout  a 
nobis  proponitur,  adesse  jam  videtur,  si  iis  credimus  quae  Gali- 
laeus  tradidit,  qui  confusam  illam  lucis  speciem  in  astra  numerata 
et  locata  digessit.  Nam  quod  Galaxia  non  tollit  aspectum  astro- 
rum  quas  intra  ipsam  inveniuntur,  illud  certe  litem  non  dirimit, 
nec  rem  inclinat  in  alterutram  partem ;  id  tantummodo  fortasse 
abnegat,  non  collocari  Galaxiam  inferius  asthere  stellato.  Hoc 
enim  si  foret,  atque  insuper  corpus  illud  continuatum  Galaxias 
aliquam  haberet  profunditatem,  aspectum  nostrum  interceptum 
iri  consentaneum  esset.  Si  vero  pari  collocetur  altitudine  cum 
stellis  quae  per  earn  conspiciuntur,  nil  obstat  quin  stellas  spargi 
possint  in  ipsa  Galaxia,  non  minus  quam  in  reliquo  aethere. 
Itaque  et  istam  quaestionem  recipimus.  Atque  has  sex  quassti- 
ones  pertinent  ad  substantiam  coelestium ;  qualis  scilicet  sit 
substantia  coeli  in  genere,  et  qualis  aetheris  interstellaris,  et 
qualis  Galaxiae,  et  qualis  astrorum  ipsorum,  sive  conferantur 
ad  invicem,  sive  ad  ignem  nostrum,  sive  ad  corpus  proprium. 
At  de  numero,  magnitudine,  figura,  et  distantia  astrorum, 
p raster  phasnomena  ipsa  et  qusestiones  historicas,  de  quibus 
postea  dicetur,  problemata  philosophica  fere  simplicia  sunt. 
De  numero  scilicet  sequitur  quaestio  altera.  An  is  sit  numerus 
astrorum  qui  videtur,  quique  Hipparchi  diligentia  notatus  et  de- 
scriptus  est,  et  in  globi  ccelestis  modulum  conclusus?2  Nam  et 
satis  frigida  est  ratio  ea  quae  redditur  innumerae  illius  mul- 
titudinis  stellarum  occultarum  et  tanquam  invisibilium,  quas 
noctibus  serenis  praesertim  per  hiemem  conspici  solet ;  ut  illae 
apparentiae  scilicet  sint  non  stellas  minores,  sed  radiationes  tan- 


1  Arist.  Meteor,  i.  8. 


3  Namely,  a  thousand  and  twenty-two. 


DESCRIPTIO  GLOBI  INTELLECTUALS. 


767 


turn  et  micationes  et  tanquam  spicula  stellarum  cognitarum ; 
et  nova  jam  censa  sunt  plebecul®  coelestis  capita  a  Galilaso,  non 
solum  in  ilia  turma  qu®  Galaxi®  nomine  insignitur,  verum 
etiam  inter  stationes  ipsas  et  ordines  planetarum.  Stellas  autem 
invisibiles  fiunt,  aut  propter  corporis  parvitatem,  aut  propter 
opacitatem  (nam  tenuitatis  nomen  non  admodum  approbamus, 
cum  flamma  pura  sit  corpus  eximi®  tenuitatis),  aut  propter 
elongationem  et  distantiam.  De  auctario  autem  numeri  astro- 
rum  per  generationem  stellarum  novarum,  qiuestionem,  ut 
prius,  ad  locum  de  Cometis  rejicimus.  Quod  vero  ad  magnitu- 
dinem  astrorum  attinet,  ea  quae  est  secundum  apparentiam 
magnitudo  pertinet  ad  phenomena,  vera  autem  ad  inquisitionem 
philosophicam,  solo  illo  contenta  problemate  duodecimo1 :  Qua 
sit  vera  magnitudo  cujusque  astri,  vel  mensurata,  vel  saltern 
collata?  facilius  enim  est  inventu  et  demonstratu,  globum 
lunae  esse  globo  terras  minorem,  quam  globum  lun®  in  ambitu 
tot  millia  passuum  continere.  Itaque  tentandum  et  contenden- 
dum  ut  exact®  magnitudines  inveniantur ;  ill®  si  minus  haberi 
possint,  utendum  comparatis.  Capiuntur  autem  atque  conclu- 
duntur  magnitudines  ver®,  vel  ab  eclipsibus  et  umbris,  vel  ab 
extensionibus  tarn  luminis  quam  aliarum  virtutum  quas  corpora 
qu®que  pro  ratione  magnitudinis  longius  aut  propius  ejacu- 
lantur  et  diffundunt ;  vel  postremo  per  symmetriam  universi, 
qu®  portiones  corporum  connaturalium  ex  necessitate  quadam 
temperat  et  terminat.  Minime  vero  standum  iis  qu®  ab  astro- 
nomis  de  veris  magnitudinibus  astrorum  tradita  sunt  (licet 
videatur  esse  res  magn®  et  accurat®  subtilitatis)  satis  licenter 
et  incaute ;  sed  exquirend®  (si  qu®  se  ostendunt)  probationes 
maids  fid®  et  sincer®.  Magnitudo  vero  et  distantia  astrorum 
se  invicem  indicant  ex  rationibus  opticis ;  qu®  tamen  et  ips® 
excuti  debent.  Ista  autem  de  vera  magnitudine  astrorum 
qu®stio  numero  duodecima  est.  Sequitur  qu®stio  altera  de 
figura,  An  astra  sint  globi?  hoc  est,  coacervationes  materi®  in 
figura  solida  rotunda.  Yidentur  autem  ad  apparentiam  tres  se 
ostendere  figur®  astrorum  ;  globosa  et  crinita,  ut  sol ;  globosa 
et  angulata,  ut  stell®  (crines  vero  et  anguli  ad  aspectum  tantum 
referuntur,  forma  globosa  tantum  ad  substantiam) ;  globosa 
simpliciter,  ut  luna.  Neque  enim  conspicitur  stella  oblonga, 

'  This  problem  would  be  the  thirteenth  if  that  which  relates  to  the  number  of  the 
stars  is  included  in  the  enumeration.  I  am  therefore  inclined  to  think  that  it  is  not: 
the  reason  of  the  omission  being  that  it  is  matter  of  direct  observation. 


768 


DESCRIPTIO  GLOBI  INTELLECTUALIS. 


aut  triangularis,  aut  quadrata,  aut  alterius  figure.  Atque 
secundum  naturam  videtur  ut  massas  rerum  majores,  ad  conser- 
vationem  sui  et  veriorem  unionem,  se  congregent  in  globos. 
Decima  quarta  quaestio  pertinet  ad  distantiam ;  Quce  sit  vera 
distantia  alicujus  stellce  in  profundo  cceli  ?  Nam  distantias  plane- 
tarum  tarn  ad  invicem  quam  cum  stellis  fixis  laterales  sive  per 
ambitum  coeli  reguntur  a  motibus  earum.  •  Quemadmodum 
autem  superius  de  magnitudine  astrorum  diximus,  si  exacta 
magnitudo  et  plane  mensurata  haberi  non  possit,  utendum  esse 
magnitudine  comparata;  idem  de  distantiis  praecipimus;  ut  si 
exacte  capi  distantia  non  possit  (exempli  gratia  a  terra  ad  Sa- 
turnum,  vel  ad  Jovem),  tamen  ponatur  in  certo  Saturnum  esse 
Jove  sublimiorem.  Neque  enim  systema  coeli  quoad  interius, 
scilicet  ordo  planetarum  quoad  altitudines,  omnino  sine  contro- 
versia  est,  neque  quse  nunc  obtinuerunt,  olim  credita  sunt. 
Atque  etiam  adhuc  lis  pendet  de  Mercurio  et  Venere,  utra  sit 
sublimior.  Inveniuntur  autem  distantias  aut  ex  parallaxibus, 
aut  ex  eclipsibus,  aut  ex  rationibus  motuum,  aut  ex  apparentiis 
diversis  magnitudinum.  Etiam  alia  auxilia  buic  rei  compa- 
randa  sunt,  qua;  bumana  queat  industria  comminiscL  Prasterea 
crassitudines  sive  profunditates  splncrarum  pertinent  etiam  ad 
distantias. 


769 


THEMA  CCELI, 


Cum  vero  tanta  reperiantur  undequaque  incommoda,  satis 
habendum  si  asseratur  quippiam  quod  minus  durum  sit.  Con- 
stituemus  itaque  et  nos  Thema  Universi,  pro  modo  historic 
quae  nobis  hactenus  cognita  est ;  omnia  integra  servantes  judicio 
nostro,  postquam  historia  et  per  historiam  philosophia  nostra 
inductiva  magis  adulta  sit.  Proponemus  autem  primo  quaedam 
de  materia  coeleStium,  unde  motus  et  constructio  ipsorum  me¬ 
lius  intelligi  possit ;  postea  de  motu  ipso  (quod  nunc  praecipue 
agitur)  quae  cogitata  et  visa  nobis  sunt  proferemus.  Videtur 
itaque  natura  rerum  in  dispertitione  materiae,  disclusisse  te- 
nuia  a  crassis ;  atque  globum  terrae  crassis,  omnia  vero  ab  ipsa 
superficie  terrae  et  aquarum  ad  ultima  coeli  usque  tenuibus 
sive  pneumaticis  assignasse ;  tanquam  geminis  rerum  classibus 
primariis,  non  asquis  scilicet  sed  convenientibus  portionibus. 
Neque  vero  vel  aqua  in  nubibus  haerens  vel  ventus  in  terra 
conclusus  naturalem  et  propriam  rerum  collocationem  con- 
fundit.  Ha;c  vero  differentia  tenuis  vel  pneumatici  et  crassi 
vel  tangibilis  omnino  primordialis  est,  et  ea  qua  maxime  uti- 
tur  sy sterna  universi.  Sumpta  autem  est  ex  rerum  conditione 
omnium  simplicissima,  hoc  est  copia  et  paucitate  materiae  pro 
exporrectione  sua.  Pneumetica  vero  quae  hie  apud  nos  inveni- 
untur  (de  iis  loquimur  quae  simplicia  et  perfecta  existunt,  non 
composita  et  imperfecte  mista)  sunt  plane  ilia  duo  corpora  Aer 
et  Flamma.  Ea  vero  ut  corpora  plane  heterogenea  ponenda 
sunt,  non  ut  vulgo  putatur,  quod  flamma  nil  aliud  sit  quam  aer 
incensus.  His  vero  respondent  in  superioribus  natura  vEtherea 
et  Siderea,  sicut  ct  inferioribus  Aqua  et  Oleum,  et  magis  in 
profundo  Mercurius  et  Sulphur,  et  generaliter  corpora  cruda  et 
pinguia,  vel  aliter  corpora  flammam  exhorrentia  et  concipientia 
(sales  vero  composite  natura;  sunt  ex  partibus  crudis  simul  et 
inflammabilibus).1  Istee  vero  duse  magna;  rerum  familia;,  Aerea 

1  Salt  is  mentioned  here,  because  Mercury,  Sulphur,  and  Salt  are  according  to 
Paracelsus  the  three  constituent  principles  of  all  substances.  Bacon  however,  as  we 


770 


THEMA  CCELI. 


et  Flammea,  videndum  quo  foedere  universi  partem  longe  maxi- 
mam  occupaverint,  et  quas  partes  habeant  in  systemate.  In 
aere  terras  proximo  flamma  vivit  tantum  vitam  momentaneam, 
et  affatim  perit.  Postquam  autem  aer  coeperit  esse  ab  effluviis 
terras  defascatior  et  bene  attenuatus,  natura  flammas  per  varios 
casus  tentat  et  experitur  in  aere  consistere,  et  quandoque  ac- 
quirit  durationem  nonnullam,  non  ex  successione  ut  apud  nos, 
sed  in  identitate ;  quod  in  aliquibus  cometis  humilioribus  ad 
tempus  obtinet,  quae  sunt  mediae  fere  naturae  inter  flammam 
successivam  et  consistentem  ;  non  tamen  figitur  aut  constat 
flammea  natura,  antequam  perventum  fuerit  ad  corpus  lunae. 
Eo  loco  flamma  extinguibile  illud  deponit,  et  se  tuetur  utcun- 
que ;  sed  tamen  infirma  et  sine  vigore  est  ejusmodi  flamma,  et 
parum  habens  radiationis,  nec  propria  natura  vivida,  nec  a  con- 
traria  natura  admodum  excitata.  Etiam  integra  non  est,  sed  ex 
compositione  cum  substantia  setherea  (qualis  ibi  invenitur) 
maculosa  et  interpolata.  Neque  in  regione  Mercurii  admodum 
feliciter  collocata  est  flamma,  cum  ex  coadunatione  sua  parvum 
tantummodo  planetam  conficere  potis  sit,  eumque  cum  magna 
et  perturbata  varietate  et  fluctu  motuum,  tanquam  ignem 
fatuum,  laborantem  et  conflictantem,  nec  se  a  solis  praesidiis 
nisi  per  parva  spatia  disjungi  sustinentem.  Atque  postquam  ad 
regionem  Veneris  est  ventum,  incipit  roborari  flammea  natura 
et  clarescere,  et  in  globum  bene  amplum  congregari ;  qui  tamen 
et  ipse  famulatur  soli,  et  longius  ab  eo  recedere  exhorret.  In 
Solis  autem  regione  tanquam  in  solio  collocatur  flamma ;  media 
inter  flammas  planetarum,  fortior  etiam  et  vibrantior  quam 
flamma;  fixarum,  propter  majorem  antiperistasin  et  intensis- 
simam  unionem.  At  flamma  in  regione  Martis  etiam  robusta 
cernitur,  solis  vicinitatem  rutilatione  referens,  sed  jam  sui  juris, 
et  qua  per  integrum  cceli  diametrum  se  a  sole  disjungi  patiatur. 
In  regione  autem  Jovis  flamma  contentionem  paulatim  depo- 
nens,  magis  placida  videtur  et  Candida,  non  tarn  ex  natura  pro¬ 
pria  (ut  stella  V eneris,  quippe  ardentior),  sed  ex  natura  circum- 
fusa  minus  irritata  et  exasperata  ;  in  qua  regione  verisimile  est, 
illud  quod  reperit  Galilasus,  coelum  incipere  stellescere,  licet 


see  in  the  Historia  Sulphuris,  Mercurii  et  Salis,  of  which  only  the  aditus  or  preface  has 
been  preserved,  refuses  to  recognise  salt  as  a  co-ordinate  principle  with  the  other  two, 
“  du0  ex  i11'8)  Suiphurem  scilicet  et  Mercurium  (sensu  nostro  accepta)  censemus  esse 
naturas  admodum  primordiales  et  penitissimos  materia:  schematismos.  .  .  .  Quod  vero 
ad  Salem  attinet,  alia  res  est.’’ 


THEMA  CCELI. 


771 


per  stellas  parvitate  sua  invisibiles.1  In  Saturn!  autem  regione 
rursus  natura  flamm®2  videtur  nonnihil  languescere  et  hebe- 
scere;  utpote  et  a  solis  auxiliis  longius  remota,  et  a  coelo  stellato 
in  proximo  exhausta.  Postremo  flammea  et  siderea  natura, 
athere®  naturae  victrix,  coelum  dat  stellatum,  ex  natura  aethe- 
rea  et  siderea  (quemadmodum  globus  terra;  ex  continenti  et 
aquis)  varie  sparsis  conflatum,  versa  tamen  et  subaeta  atque 
adeo  assimulata 3  substantia  aetherea,  ut  sidere®  sit  prorsus 
patiens  et  subserviens.  Itaque  tres  reperiuntur  a  terra  ad 
fastigia  coeli  regiones  generales,  et  tria  tanquam  tabulate, 
quoad  naturam  flammeam.  Regio  extmctionis  flamm® ;  regio 
coadunationis  flammae ;  et  regio  dispersionis  flammae.  Atque 
de  contiguo  et  continue  argutari  in  corporibus  molUbus  et 
fluoribus,  plebeium  omnino  foret.  Illud  tamen  intelligendum, 
consuesse  naturam  ad  spatia  quaedam  per  gradus,  deinde  subito 
per  saltus  procedere,  atque  hujusmodi  processum  alternare ; 
aliter  nulla  posset  fieri  fabrica,  si  per  gradus  insensibiles  per- 
petuo  procederetur.  Quantus  enim  saltus  (quoad  explieatio- 
nem  materi®)  a  terra  et  aqua  ad  aerem  vel  maxime  crassum 
et  nebulosum  ?  Atque  h®c  tamen  natura  tarn  distantia  cor¬ 
pora  loco  et  superficie  conjunguntur,  sine  medio  aut  mtervallo. 
Nec  minor  saltus  (quoad  naturam  substantialem)  a  regione 
aeris  ad  regionem  lun® :  ingens  similiter  a  coelo  lun®  ad  coelum 
stellatum.  Itaque  si  quis  continuum  et  contiguum  accepent 
non  ex  modo  nexus,  sed  ex  diversitete  corporum  connexorum, 
tres  ill®  4  quas  diximus  regiones  in  limitibus  suis  pro  contigms 
tentum  haberi  queant.  Jam  vero  videndum  liquido  et  per- 
spicue,  h®c  nostra  de  substantiis  systematis  tbeona,  qu®  et 
qualia  neget,  et  qu®  et  qualia  affirmet,  ut  facilius  tenen  ve 
destrui  possit.  Negat  illud  vulgatum,  flammam  esse  aerem  in- 
censum ;  affirmando  corpora  ilia  duo  Aerem  et  Flammam  plane 
esse  heterogenea,  inster  Aqu®  et  Olei,  Sulphuns  et  Mercurn. 
Negat  vacuum  illud  coacervatum  Gilberti  inter  globos  sparsos, 
sed  spatia  vel  aerea  vel  flammea  natura  replen.  Negat  lunam 
esse  corpus  aqueum  vel  densum  vel  solidum,  sed  ex  natura 
flammea  Ucet  lente  et  enervi,  primum  sciUcet  rudimentum  et 

'  ^t^eltev^in^Telesto— 8h°"9  th*ttta 
TW  ftKi ^  “after WeJ  publication  of  the  SyUereus  Nuncius. 

‘To  in  the  original :  the  true  reading  is  PMy  fiarnrnea.  -  J.  S. 

a  So  i„  the  original :  a  mistake  I  suppose  for  assvnilata.  —  J ■  *• 

*  iUat  in  the  original.—  J-  S. 


50  Bacon  III 


772 


THEMA  CCELT. 


sedimentum  ultimum  flammse  coelestis ;  cum  flamma  (secundum 
densitatem),  non  minus  quam  aer  et  liquores,  innumeros  reci- 
piat  gradus.  Affirmat,  flammam  vere  et  libenter  locatam  Jigi 
et  constare,  non  minus  quam  aerem  vel  aquam,  nec  esse  rem 
momentaneam  et  successivam  tantum  in  mole  sua,  per  renova- 
tionem  et  alimentum,  ut  hie  fit  apud  nos.  Affirmat ,  flammam 
habere  naturam  coitivam  vel  conyregativam  in  globos,  quemad- 
modum  natura  terrea,  minime  similem  aeri  et  aquae,  quae  con- 
gregantur  in  orbibus  et  interstitiis  globorum,  sed  nusquam 
in  globos  integros.  Affirmat,  eandem  naturam  flammeam  in 
loco  proprio  (id  est  coelo  stellato)  spargi  glomerationibus  infinitis, 
ita  tamen  ut  non  exuatur  dualitas  ilia,  aetheris  et  sideris,  nec 
continuetur  flamma  in  empyreum  integrum.  Affirmat,  sidera 
veras  flammas  esse,  sed  actiones  Hamms  in  ccelestibus  neuti- 
quam  trahendas  ad  actiones  flammae  nostrae,  quarum  pleraeque 
per  accidens  tantum  perfunguntur.  Affirmat,  cetherem  inter- 
stellarem  et  sidera  habere  rationes  ad  invicem  a'eris  et  Jlammce, 
sed  sublimatas  et  rectiflcatas.  Atque  de  substantia  Thematis 
sive  Systematis  Universi,  hujusmodi  quaedam  occurrunt.  Nunc 
de  motibus  coelestium  dicendum,  cujus  gratia  haec  adduximus. 
Consentaneum  videtur  ut  quies  non  tollatur  e  natura,  secundum 
aliquod  totum  (nam  de  particulis  nunc  non  est  sermo).  Hoc 
(missis  argutiis  dialecticis  et  matbematicis)  ex  eo  maxime  liquet, 
quod  incitationes  et  celeritates  motuum  coelestium  remittant  se 
per  gradus,  ut  desiturae  in  aliquod  immobile ;  et  quod  etiam 
coelestia  participant  ex  quiete  secundum  polos  ;  et  quod  si  tolla¬ 
tur  immobile,  dissolvitur  et  spargitur  systema.  Quod  si  sit 
coacervatio  quaedam  et  massa  naturae  immobilis,  non  videtur 
ulterius  quaerendum,  quin  ea  sit  globus  terrae.  Compactio  enim 
densa  et  arctata  materiae  inducit  dispositionem  erga  motum 
torpescentem  et  aversam ;  quemadmodum  contra,  explicatio  laxa 
promptam  vel  habilem.  Neque  male  introducta  est  a  Telesio 
(qui  instauravit  philosophiam  Parmenidis  et  disputationes  in 
libro  de  primo  frigido)  in  naturam,  non  certe  coessentialitas  et 
conjugatio  (quod  ille  vult),  sed  tamen  affinitas  et  conspiratio ; 
videlicet  ex  altera  parte,  Calidi,  Lucidi,  Tenuis  et  Mobilis,  et  ex 
parte  opposita,  Frigidi,  Opaci,  Densi,  et  Immobilis;  ponendo 
sedem  primae  conspirationis  in  coelo,  secundae  in  terra.  Quod 
si  ponatur  quies  et  immobile,  videtur  etiam  poni  debere  motus 
absque  termino  et  summe  mobile,  maxime  in  naturis  oppositis. 
Is  motus  est  fere  rotationis,  qualis  invenitur  in  genere  in  coele- 


THEMA  CCELI. 


773 


stibus.  Agitatio  enim  in  circulo  terminum  non  habet,  et  videtur 
manare  ex  appetitu  corporis,  quod  movet  solummodo  ut  moveat 
et  se  sequatur,  et  proprios  petat  amplexus,  et  naturam  suam 
excitet,  eaque  fruatur,  et  propriam  operationem  exerceat ;  cum 
contra,  latio  in  recta,  itineraria  videatur,  et  movere  ad  terminum 
cessationis  sive  quietis,  et  ut  aliquid  assequatur  et  dein  motum 
suum  deponat.  Itaque  de  motu  isto  rotationis,  qui  est  motus 
verus  et  perennis  et  coelestibus  vulgo  putatur  proprius,  viden- 
dum  quomodo  se  expediat,  et  quo  moderamine  se  incitet  et 
fraenet,  et  qualia  omnino  patiatur.  Quae  dum  explicamus,  for- 
mositatem  illam  mathematicam  (ut  motus  reducantur  ad  circulos 
perfectos,  sive  eccentricos  sive  concentricos),  et  magniloquium 
illud  (quod  terra  sit  respectu  coeli  instar  puncti,  non  instar 
quanti),  et  complura  alia  astronomorum  inventa  commentitia, 
ad  calculos  et  tabulas  relegabimus.  At  primo  motus  ccclestium 
dividemus.  Alii  cosmici  sunt,  alii  ad  invicem.  Eos  dicimus  co- 
smicos,  quos  ccelestia  ex  consensu  non  coelestium  tantum,  sed 
universitatis  rerum  nanciscuntur.  Eos  ad  invicem,  in  quibus 
alia  corpora  coelestia  ex  aliis  pendent.  Atque  vera  et  neces- 
saria  est  ista  divisio.  Terra  itaque  stante  (id  enim  nunc  nobis 
videtur  verius)  * ,  manifestum  est  ccelum  motu  diurno  circum- 
ferri,  cujus  motus  mensura  est  spatium  viginti  quatuor  horarum 
vel  circiter :  consequentia  autem  ab  oriente  in  occidentem ; 
conversio  super  puncta  certa  (quos  polos  vocant)  australe 
et  boreale.  Etenim  non  jactantur  coeli  super  polos  mobiles, 
nec  rursus  alia  sunt  puncta  quam  qua;  diximus.  Atque  hie 
motus  vere  videtur  cosmicus,  atque  ideo  unicus,  nisi  quatenus 
recipit  et  decrementa  et  declinationes ;  secundum  quae  decre- 
menta  et  declinationes  transverberat  motus  iste  universum 
rerum  mobilium,  et  permeat  a  coelo  stellato  usque  ad  viscera  et 
interiora  terrae ;  non  raptu  aliquo  prehensivo  aut  vexativo,  sed 
consensu  perpetuo.  Atque  iste  motus  in  coelo  stellato  per- 
fectus  est  et  integer,  tarn  mensura  justa  temporis  quam  restitu¬ 
tions  plena  loci.  Quanto  autem  deceditur  e  sublimi,  tanto  iste 
motus  imperfectior  est,  respectu  tarditatis,  et  respectu  etiam 


-  Bacon,  in  his  later  writings,  rejected  more  decidedly  than  in  this  passage  the  doc¬ 
trine  of  the  earth’s  motion.  Thus  in  the  Nov.  Org.  h.  46.,  it  is  said  that  Galileo  a 
theory  of  the  tides  is  founded  on  a  “concessum  non  concessibile,  namely, 
earth^moves  ;  and,  in  the  third  book  of  the  De  Augments,  Bacon,  in  speaking  of  the 
cumbrous  machinery  of  the  Ptolemaic  system,  remarks,  ‘  barum  suppositionum 
absurditas  in  motum  terr®  diurnum  (quod  nobis  constat  falsissimum  esse)  omine 
impegit.” 


774 


THEMA  CCELT. 


aberrationis  a  motu  circulari.  Ac  primo  de  tarditate  dicendum 
separatim.  Affirmamus  Saturnum  motu  diurno  tardius  moveri, 
quam  ut  circumferatur  aut  restituatur  ad  idem  punctual  intra 
yiginti  quatuor  horas,  sed  coelum  stellatum  incitatius  ferri,  et 
praevertere  Saturnum  eo  excessu,  qui  intra  tot  dies  quot  annos 
conficiunt  triginta,  universo  coeli  ambitui  respondeat.  Similiter 
de  reliquis  planetis  dicendum,  pro  diversitate  periodorum  cujus- 
que  planetae ;  adeo  ut  motus  diurnus  cceli  stellati  (in  ipsa  periodo, 
absque  respectu  ad  magnitudinem  circuli)  sit  fere  per  horam 
unam  velocior  quam  motus  diurnus  lunae.  Si  enim  luna  cursum 
suum  24  diebus  posset  expedire,  turn  excessus  ille  horae  integrae 
foret.  Itaque  motus  decantatus  adversitatis  et  renitentice  ab 
occidente  in  orientem,  qui  attribuitur  planetis  tanquam  pro- 
prius,  verus  non  est,  sed  tantum  per  apparentiam,  ex  praecur- 
sione  coeli  stellati  occidentem  versus,  et  relictione  a  tergo  plane- 
tarum  versus  orientem.  Quo  posito,  manifestum  est  velocitatem 
istius  motus  cosmici,  ordine  non  perturbato,  descendendo  de- 
crescere,  ut  quo  propius  quique  planeta  appropinquet  ad  terram, 
eo  tardius  moveat;  cum  recepta  opinio  ordinem  perturbet  et  in- 
vertat ;  et  motum  proprium  tribuendo  planetis,  in  illud  absurdum 
incidat,  ut  planetae,  quo  propinquiores  sint  ad  terram  (quae  est 
sedes  naturae  immobilis)  eo  velocius  moveri  ponantur,  id  quod  per 
remissionem  violentiae  primi  mobilis,  astronomi  excusare  nuga- 
torie  et  infeliciter  conantur.  Quod  si  cui  mirum  videatur,  tan- 
tis  spatiis  quanta  sunt  a  coelo  stellato  ad  'lunam,  motum  istum 
tam  parvis  partibus,  minus  scilicet  hora  una,  quae  est  motus  di- 
urni  pars  24a,  decrescere  :  succurrit  illud,  quod  singuli  planetae 
minores  circulos,  quo  terrae  propiores  sint,  confidant,  et  brevi- 
ore  ambitu  rotent ;  ut  addito  decremento  magnitudinis  circuli 
ad  decrementum  temporis  sive  periodi,  motus  iste  insignitev 
decrescere  cernatur.  Atque  hactenus  de  velocitate  seorsim 
locuti  sumus,  perinde  ac  si  planetae  (positi,  exempli  gratia,  sub 
aequinoctio,  aut  aliquo  ex  parallelis)  anteverterentur  tantum  a 
coelo  stellato,  et  ab  invicem,  sed  tamen  sub  eodem  illo  circulo. 
Haec  enim  simplex  foret  relictio  absque  obliquitate.  At  ma¬ 
nifestum  est,  planetas  non  solum  impari  gradu  contendere,  sed 
nec  ad  idem  punctum  circuli  reverti,  verum  deflectere  versus 
austrum  et  boream,  cujus  deflexionis  limites  sunt  tropici ;  quae 
deflexio  nobis  Circulum  Obliquum,  et  Diversam  Politatem  ejus 
progenuit;  quemadmodum  ilia  celeritatis  inaequalitas  motum 
ilium  Renitentise.  Neque  vero  hoc  etiam  commento  naturae 


THEMA  COELI. 


775 


rerum  opus  est,  cum  recipiendo  lineas  spirales  (id  quod  proxime 
accedit  ad  sensum  et  factum)  res  transigatur,  et  ista  salven- 
tur.  Atque  (quod  caput  rei  est)  spiras  istae  nil  aliud  sunt 
quam  defectiones  a  motu  circulari  perfecto,  cujus  planetae  sunt 
impatientes.  Prout  enim  substantiae  degenerant  puritate,  et 
explicatione,  ita  degenerant  et  motus.  Evenit  autem,  quem- 
admodum  in  celeritate  sublimiores  planetae  feruntur  velocius, 
humiliores  tardius,  ita  etiam  ut  sublimiores  planetae  propiores 
conneiant  spiras,  quaeque  circulos  propius  referant ;  humiliores 
vero,  spiras  magis  disjunctas  et  hiantes.  Deceditur  enim 
perpetuo  descendendo  magis  ac  magis  et  a  flore  illo  veloci- 
tatis  et  a  perfectione  motus  circularis,  ordine  nusquam  per- 
turbato.  In  eo  tamen  planetae  conspirant  (utpote  corpora 
multum  retinentia  naturae  communis,  licet  aliter  differen¬ 
tia)  ut  habeant  eosdem  limites  deflexionis.'  Neque  enim 
Saturnus  intra  tropicos  remeat,  neque  Luna  extra  Tropicos 
exspatiatur  (et  tamen  de  exspatiatione  stellae  Veneris  non 
negligendum  quod  ad  aliquibus  traditum  et  notatum  est),  sed 
universi  planetae,  sive  sublimiores  sive  humiliores,  postquam  ad 
tropicos  perventum  est  se  vertunt  et  retexunt,  pertaesi  minoris 
spirae,  qualis  subeunda  foret  si  polis  magis  appropinquarent ; 
eamque  jacturam  motus,  veluti  destructionem  naturae  suae,  ex- 
horrentes.  Utcunque  enim  in  coelo  stellato  et  stellae  prope 
polos  et  stellae  circa  aequinoctium  ordines  et  stationes  suas 
servant,  alias  ab  aliis  in  ordinem  redactae,  summa  et  aequabili 
constantia ;  planetae  nihilominus  videntur  esse  hujusmodi  mix¬ 
ta  natura,  ut  nec  breviorem  gyrum  omnino,  nec  ampliorem 
libenter  ferant.  Atque  ista  videntur  nobis  paulo  meliora  circa 
motus  ccelestes,  quam  raptus  et  motuum  repugnantia,  et  di- 
versa  politas  zodiaci,  et  inversus  ordo  celeritatis,  et  hujusmodi, 
qua  nullo  modo  cum  natura  rerum  conveniunt,  licet  pacem 
qualem  qualem  colant  cum  calculis.  Neque  ista  non  viderunt 
astronomi  prastantiores ;  sed  arti  sua  intenti,  et  circa  perfectos 
circulos  inepti,  et  subtilitates  captantes,  et  philosophia  malum 2 
morigeri,  naturam  sequi  contempserunt.  Verum  istud  sapien- 
tiuin  arbitrimn  imperiosum  in  naturam,  est  ipsa  vulgi  simpli- 


1  It  appears  from  this  that  Bacon  was  not  aware  of  the  obliquity  to  the  ecliptic  of 

11 ' ^  M . ^oullfeif corrects  this  Into  male,  remarking  “  vulgo  legitur  malum  auod  con- 
strui  nequit.”  He  was  apparently  not  aware  that  malum  is  used  adverbially.  If  y 
change  were  made,  I  should  prefer  to  read  mala. 


776 


THEMA  CCELI. 


citate  et  credulitate  deterius;  si  quis  manifesta,  quia  sunt 
manifesta,  fastidit.1  Et  tamen  ingens  est  illud  malum,  et  latis- 
sime  patet ;  ut  ingenium  humanum,  cum  par  rebus  esse  non 
possit,  supra  res  esse  malit.  Jam  vero  inquirendum  utrum 
motus  iste  unicus  et  simplex,  in  circulo  et  spira,  ab  oriente  in 
occidentem,  super  polos  certos  australem  et  borealem,  desinat 
et  terminetur  cum  coelo,  an  etiam  deducatur  ad  inferiora. 
Neque  enim  liberum  erit  hujusmodi  placita  confingere  hie  in 
proximo,  qualia  supponunt  in  ccelestibus.  Itaque  si  in  his 
regionibus  quoque  reperiatur  ille  motus,  apparebit  etiam  in 
coelo  eum  talem  esse  secundum  naturam  communem  sive  co- 
smicam,  qualem  nos  illam  experimur.  Primo  itaque  plane 
constat,  ilium  cceli  terminis  non  contineri.  Yerum  hujusce 
rei  demonstrationes  et  evidentias  in  Anticipatione  nostra  de 
Fluxu  et  Refluxu  Maris  plene  tractavimus ;  itaque  ad  illam 
homines  rejicimus;  et  hoc  velut  posito  et  concesso,  ad  reliquos 
motus  ccelestium  pergemus.  Eos  autem  non  Cosmicos,  sed  ad 
invicem  esse  diximus.  Quatuor  sunt  genera  motuum  in  cce¬ 
lestibus  visibilium,  prater  eum  quern  diximus  Cosmicum,  qui 
est  motus  diurnus  per  spiras  intra  tropicos.  Aut  enim  attol- 
luntur  stellas  altius,  et  rursus  demittuntur  humilius,  ut  sint 
longius  et  propius  a  terra  :  aut  flectunt  se  et  sinuant  per  lati- 
tudinem  zodiaci,  excurrendo  magis  ad  austrum  aut  magis  ad 
boream,  atque  efficiendo  eos  c’juos  vocant  Dracones  :  aut  inci- 
tatione  atque  etiam  consecutione  motus  (haec  enim  duo  conjun- 
gimus)  variant,  gradiendo  aliquando  celerius,  aliquando  tardius, 
aliquando  in  progressu,  aliquando  in  regressu,  aliquando  etiam 
stando  et  morando ;  aut  ad  distantiam  aliquam  a  sole  magis 
aut  minus  alligantur  et  circumscribuntur.  Horum  causas  et 
naturas  reddemus  tantum  in  genere  et  per  capita ;  id  enim  hoc 
loco  nostrum  postulat  institutum.  Yerum  ad  hoc  ut  viam 
pramuniamus  et  aperiamus,  dicendum  aperte  quid  sentiamus 
de  quibusdam  tam  placitis  philosophicis  quam  hypothesibus 
astronomicis,  et  de  observationibus  etiam  astronomorum  per 
varia  secula,  ex  quibus  artem  suam  instaurant;  quae  omnia 
videntur  nobis  esse  erroris  et.  confusionis  plena.  Sunt  itaque 
axiomata  sive  potius  placita  nonnulla,  quae  a  philosophis  ac- 
cepta,  et  in  astronomiam  translata,  et  male  credita,  artem  cor- 
ruperunt.  Simplex  autem  erit  rejectio  et  judicium  nostrum  ; 


’  fastidii  in  the  original :  first  corrected,  I  believe,  by  Birch _ J.  S. 


THEMA  CCELI. 


777 


neque  enim  tempus  refutationibus  terere  convenit.  Horum 
primum  est,  quod  omnia  supra  lunam  inclusive  sint  incorrupti- 
bilia,  neque  novas  generationes  aut  mutationes  ullo  modo 
patiantur.  De  quo  alibi  dictum  est,  quod  sit  superstitio  et 
vaniloquium.  Yerum  ex  hoc  fonte  illud  ingens  malum,  quod 
ex  omni  anomalia  novas  atque  (ut  putant)  emendatas  confingant 
astronomi  theorias,  et  rebus  saepius  tanquam  fortuitis  applicant 
causas  aeternas  et  invariabiles.  Secundum  est,  quod  coelo 
(cum  sit  scilicet  ex  essentia  quinta  et  minime  elementari)  non 
competant  actiones  illae  turbulentse,  compressionis,  relaxationis, 
repulsionis,  cessionis,  et  similium,  quae  videntur  progigni  a 
mollitia  quadam  corporum  et  duritia,  quae  habentur  pro  quali- 
tatibus  elementaribus.  Haec  vero  assertio  est  abnegatio  inso- 
lens  et  licentiosa  rerum  et  sensus.  Ubicunque  enim  corpus 
naturale  positum  sit,  ibi  est  antitypia  quoque,  idque  pro  modo 
corporis.  Ubicunque  vero  corpora  naturalia  et  motus  localis, 
ibi  vel  repulsio,  vel  cessio,  vel  sectio;  haec  enim  quae  dicta 
sunt,  compressio,  relaxatio,  repulsio,  cessio,  cum  multis  aliis, 
sunt  passiones  materiae  catbolicae  ubique  locorum.  Attamen 
ex  hoc  fonte  nobis  emanavit  ilia  multiplicatio  circulorum  per- 
plexorum  ad  libitum,  quos  tamen  volunt  ita  et  consignari  inter 
se,  et  alios  intra  alios  mover!  et  verti  tanto  laevore  et  lubri- 
citate,  ut  nulla  nihilominus  sit  impeditio,  nulla  fluctuatio ;  quae 
omnia  phantastica  plane  sunt  et  rebus  insultant.  Tertium  est, 
quod  singulis  corporibus  naturalibus  singuli  competant  motus 
proprii ;  et  siplures  inveniantur  motus,  omnes,  excepto  uno,  sint 
aliunde,  et  ex  movente  aliquo  separate.  Quo  falsius  quicquid 
nec  excogitari  potest,  cum  universa  corpora  ex  multiplici  rerum 
consensu  motibus  etiam  pluribus  praedita  sint,  aliis  dominan- 
tibus,  aliis  succumbentibus,  aliis  etiam  latentibus  nisi  provocen- 
tur;  proprii  autem  rerum  motus  nulli  sint  nisimensurae  exactae, 
et  modi  motuum  communium.  Atque  hinc  rursus  nobis  prodiit 
primum  mobile  separatum,  et  cceli  super  coelos,  et  inaedificati- 
ones  novae  continenter,  ut  motuum  tam  diversorum  praestationi- 
bus  sufficere  possint.  Quartum  est,  quod  omnes  motus  coelestium 
dispensentur  per  circulos  perfectos  ;  quod  onerosum  valde  est, 
et  portenta  ilia  eccentricorum  et  epicyclorum  nobis  peperit ; 
cum  tamen,  si  naturam  consuluissent,  motus  ordinatus  et  uni- 
formis  sit  circuli  perf'ecti ;  motus  vero  ordinatus,  sed  multi¬ 
formis,  qualis  invenitur  in  ccelestibus  compluribus,  sit  aliarum 
linearum ;  meritoque  Gilbertus  haec  deridet,  quod-  non  verisi- 


778 


THEMA  CCELL 


mile  sit  naturam  confinxisse  rotas,  quae,  exempli  gratia,  in 
circuitu  contineant  milliare  unum  aut  alterum,  ad  hoc  ut 
feratur  pila  palmaris.1  Tantulae  enim  magnitudinis  videtur 
esse  corpus  planetae  ad  eos  quos  ad  deferendum  illud  fingunt 
circulos.  Quintum  est,  quod  stellae  sint  partes  orbis  sui  tan- 
quam  clavo  fixae.  Hoc  vero  evidentissime  est  commentum 
eorum  qui  mathemata,  non  naturam  tractant,  atque  motum 
corporum  tantum  stupide  intuentes,  substantiarum  omnino  ob- 
liviscuntur.  Ista  enim  fixatio,  particularis  est  affectus  rerum 
compactarum  et  consistentium,  quae  firmas  habent  prehensiones 
ob  pressuras  partium.  Inopinabile  autem  prorsus  est  si  trans- 
feratur  ad  mollia  vel  liquida.  Sextum  est,  quod  Stella  sit  den- 
sior  pars  orbis  sui ;  illae  vero  neque  partes  sunt,  neque  den- 
siores.2  Non  enim  homogenea  sunt  cum  aethere,  et  gradu 
tantum,  sed  plane  beterogenea,  et  substantia  differunt ;  atque 
ea  quoque  substantia  quoad  densitatem  rarior  est  et  magis 
explicata  quam  aetherea.  Sunt  et  alia  complura  placita  ejusdem 
vanitatis ;  sed  haec  ad  id  quod  agitur  sufficient.  Atque  haec 
de  placitis  philosophiae  circa  coelestia  dicta  sint.  Quod  vero  ad 
hypotheses  astronomorum  attinet,  inutilis  fere  est  earum  redar- 
gutio,  quae  nec  ipsae  pro  veris  asseruntur,  et  possint  esse  variae, 
et  inter  se  contrariae,  ut  tamen  phaenomena  aeque  salvent  et 
concinnent.  Itaque  sit  cautum,  si  placet,  inter  astronomiam 
et  philosophiam,  tanquam  fcedere  convenient  et  legitimo,  ut 
scilicet  astronomia  praehabeat  hypotheses  quae  maxime  expeditae 
sunt  ad  compendia  computandi,  philosopbia  eas  quae  proxime 
accedunt  ad  veritatem  naturae ;  atque  ut  astronomia;  hypotheses 
rei  veritati  non  praejudicent,  et  philosophiae  decreta  talia  sint, 
quae  sint  super  phaenomena  astronomiae  explicabilia.  Atque 
de  hypothesibus  ita  esto.  At  de  observationibus  astronomicis 
quae  accumulantur  assidue,  quaeque  jugiter  a  coelo  tanquam 
aquae  scaturiunt,  illud  omnino  homines  monitos  volumus ;  ne 
forte  de  illis  verum  sit  quod  eleganter  fingitur  de  musca  ACsopi, 
quae  sedens  super  temonem  currus  Olympici,  Quantum,  inquit, 
pulverem  ego  excito?  Ita  observatio  aliqua  pusilla,  eaque 
quandoque  instrument,  quandoque  oculo,  quandoque  calculo 
titubans,  quaeque  possit  esse  propter  veram  aliquam  in  coelo 
mutationem,  novos  coelos  et  novas  sphaeras  et  circulos  excitat. 
Neque  haec  eo  dicimus,  quod  remitti  debeat  aliqua  industria 


Piiysiologia  Nova,  ii.  1 1. 


s  See  Ariat.  De  Coelo,  ii.  7. 


THEMA  C(ELI. 


779 


observationum  et  bistorias,  quam  omnibus  modis  acuendam  et 
intendendam  esse  dicimus,  sed  tantummodo  ut  adhibeatur  pru- 
dentia  et  summa  et  sedata  judicii  maturitas,  in  abjiciendis  aut 
mutandis  hypothesibus.  Itaque  patefacta  jam  via,  de  motibus 
ipsis  dicemus  pauca  et  in  genere.  Quatuor  autem  genera  esse 
diximus  motuum  majorum  in  coelestibus.  Motum  per  pro- 
fundum  coeli  attollentem  et  demittentem;  motum  per  latitu- 
dinem  zodiaci  exspatiantem  ad  austrum  et  boream ;  motum  per 
consequentiam  zodiaci ,  citum,  tardum,  progressivum,  retrogra- 
dum,  statarium;  et  motum  elongationis  a  sole.  Neque  objiciat 
quispiam,  motum  ilium  secundum  latitudinis,  sive  draconum, 
potuisse  referri  ad  motum  ilium  magnum  cosmicum,  cum  sit 
inclinatio  altemans  versus  austrum  et  boream,  quod  et  spirae 
illse  de  tropico  in  tropicum  similiter  sunt,  nisi  quod  ille  motus 
sit  tantum  spiralis,  iste  vero  etiam  sinuosus  et  minoribus  multo 
intervallis.  Neque  enun  hoc  nos  fugit.  Sed  plane  non  sinit 
constans  et  perpetuus  motus  solis  in  ecliptica  absque  latitudine 
et  draconibus,  qui  tamen  sol  communicat  cum  caeteris  planetis 
quoad  spiras  inter  tropicos,  nos  in  hac  opinione  versari.  Itaque 
alii  fontes  et  hujus  et  reliquorum  trium  motuum  quaerendi  sunt. 
Atque  haec  sunt  ilia,  quas  circa  motus  ccelestium  nobis  viden- 
tur  minus  habere  incommodi.  Yidendum  vero  quid  negent, 
et  quid  affirment.  Negant  terram  rotare.  Negant  esse  in 
coelestibus  duos  motus  ab  oriente  in  occidentem  alterum  1 ;  atque 
affirmant  anteversionem  et  relictionem.  Negant  obliquum  cir- 
culum  et  diversam  politatem  ejus  ;  et  affirmant  spiras.  Negant 
primum  mobile  separatum  et  raptum:  et  affirmant  consensum 
cosmicum  tanquam  commune  vinculum  systematis.  Affirmant 
motum  diurnum  inveniri  non  in  coelo,  sed  et  in  acre,  aquis, 
etiam  extimis  terra,  quoad  verticitatem.  Affirmant  consecutio- 
nem  et  volubilitatem  illam  cosmicam  in  Jluidis,  esse  verticitatem 
et  directionem  in  consistentibus,  usque  quo  pervematur  ad  im¬ 
mobile  sincerum.  Negant  stellas  Jigi  tanquam  nodos  in  tabula. 
Negant  eccentricos ,  epicyclos,  et  hujusmodi  fabricas  esse  rea¬ 
les.  Affirmant  motum  magneticum  sive  congregativum  vigere  in 
astris,  ex  quo  ignis  ignem  evocat  et  attollit.  Affirmant  in  ccelis 
planetarum  corpora  planetarum  velocius  moveri  et  rotare  quam 
reliquum  coeli  ubi  siti  sunt ,  quod  utique  rotat ,  sed  tardius. 
Affirmant  ex  ea  incequalitate  fiuctus  et  undos  et  reciprocationes 

'  So  in  the  original.  Supply,  according  to  M.  Bouillet’a  suggestion,  alterum  ab 
occidente  in  orientem,  —  J.  S. 


780 


THEMA  COELI. 


atheris  planetarum,  at.que  ex  its  varios  motus  educi.  Affirmant 
necessifatem  in  planetis  volvendi  celerius  et  tardius,  prout  locantur 
in  coelo  sublimius  aut  humilius,  idque  ex  consensu  universi.  Sed 
simul  affirmant  tcedium  praeternaturalis  incitationis  in  planetis  et 
majoris  et  minoris  circuli.  Affirmant  solisequium  ex  natura  in- 
opiosa  in  ignibus  infirmioribus  Veneris  et  Mercurii ;  cum  etiam 
invent®  sint  a  Galilseo  stellul®  errantes  Jovis  assecl®.  Ista 
autem  nos  tanquam  in  limine  histori®  naturalis  et  philosophi® 
stantes  prospicimus,  qu®  quanto  quis  magis  se  immerserit  in 
historiam  naturalem,  tanto  fortasse  probabit  magis.  Attamen 
testamur  iterum  nos  hie  teneri  nolle.  In  his  enim,  ut  in  aliis, 
certi  vi®  nostr®  sumus,  certi  sedis  nostr®  non  sumus.  H®c 
vero  interfati  sumus,  ne  quis  existimet  nos  vacillatione  judicii 
aut  inopia  affirmandi  negativas  qu®stiones  malle.  Itaque 
tenebimus,  quemadmodum  ccelestia  solent  (quando  de  iis  sermo 
sit),  mobilem  1  constantiam. 


1  [“  nobilem  ”  in  the  original.]  The  sense  requires  mobilem,  and  the  antithesis 
mobilis  constantia  is  I  think  quite  in  Bacon’s  manner. 


DE 

INTERPRETATIONS  NATURE 
SENTENTLE  XII. 


783 


PREFACE 


TO  THE 

DE  INTERPRETATIONS  NATURE 

SENTENTI2E  XII. 


The  next  piece  is  not  properly  a  fragment,  being  complete 
in  itself.  It  is  one  of  the  many  drafts  of  that  great  “speech  of 
preparation  ”  which  Bacon  turned  into  so  many  different  shapes 
before  it  issued  finally  in  the  first  book  of  the  Novum  Organum. 
Of  the  rejected  forms  this  is  perhaps  the  most  remarkable  for 
weight,  condensation,  and  comprehensiveness.  It  was  first 
published  by  Gruter  in  1653,  who  places  it  among  the  Impe¬ 
tus  Philo s ophici ;  and  though  the  typographical  arrangement 
makes  it  seem  to  be  connected  with  the  Tradendi  Modus  legi- 
timus  which  follows,  I  think  this  must  have  been  by  accident 
or  error.  It  exactly  answers  to  its  own  title,  which  contains 
nothing  that  should  lead  one  to  expect  a  sequel ;  while  on  the 
other  hand  there  is  nothing  in  the  Tradendi  Modus  legitimus 
which  seems  to  require  an  introduction. 

Considering  it  then  as  a  separate  piece,  there  seem  to  be  no 
data  for  determining  when  it  was  composed  ;  though,  judging 
by  the  form  and  style,  I  am  myself  inclined  to  refer  it  to  the 
period  when  Bacon  thought  of  throwing  the  exposition  of  his 
argument  into  a  dramatic  form ;  the  rather  because  the  allu¬ 
sions  to  the  ordinatce  cliartarum  sequelae,  the  coordinationes, 
reordinationes,  chartce  novella,  &c.  belong  to  the  days  of  the 
Filum  Labyrinthi,  when  he  was  more  occupied  in  perfecting 
and  explaining  his  method  than  in  taking  steps  for  collecting  a 
natural  history, —  not  having  then  perceived  so  fully  as  I  think 


784 


PREFACE  TO  THE  DE  INTERPR.  NATURJE. 


he  afterwards  did,  how  much  of  the  Labyrinth  must  be  ex¬ 
plored  before  the  clue  could  be  obtained  or  used. 

Both  this  piece  and  the  Apliorismi  et  Consilia  which  follow 
have  been  printed  by  M.  Bouillet  as  parts  of  the  Temporis 
Partus  Masculus;  which  he  assumes  to  be  the  same  work  which 
Bacon  says  he  composed  at  the  age  of  twenty-four,  under  the 
title  of  Temporis  Partus  Maximus.  My  reasons  for  disagreeing 
with  him  on  both  points  have  been  already  stated.1 


J.  S. 


1  See  above,  p.  521.,  and  Vol.  I.  p.  104. 


785 


DE  INTERPRETATIONS  NATURE 

SENTENTI2E  XII. 


De  conditione  hominis. 

1.  Homo,  naturae  minister  et  interpres,  tantum  facit  aut  in- 
telligit,  quantum  de  naturae  ordine  re  vel  mente  observabit, 
ipse  interim  naturae  legibus  obsessus. 

2.  Terminus  itaque  humanae  potentiae  ac  scientiae  in  dotibus 
quibus  ipse  praeditus  est  a  natura  ad  movendum  et  percipien- 
dum,  turn  etiam  in  statu  rerum  praesentium.  Ultra  enim  has 
bases  ilia  instrumenta  non  proficiunt. 

3.  Dotes  hae  per  se  tenues  et  ineptae,  rite  tamen  et  ordine 
administratae  tantum  possunt,  ut  res  a  sensu  et  actu  remotissi- 
mas  judicio  et  usui  coram  sistant,  majoremque  et  operum  diffi- 
cultatem  et  scientiae  obscuritatem  superent,  quam  quis  adhuc 
optare  didicerit. 

4.  Una  veritas,  una  interpretatio :  sensus  autem  obliquus, 
animus  alienus,  res  importuna,  ipsum  tamen  interpretationis 
opus  magis  declinans  quam  difficile.1 

De  impediment is  interpretationis. 

5.  Quisquis  dubitationis  impos  et  asserendi  avidus  principia 
demum  statuet  probata  (ut  credit)  concessa  et  manifesta,  ad 
quorum  immotam  veritatem  caetera  ut  pugnantia  vel  obsecun- 
dantia  recipiet  vel  rejiciet,  is  res  cum  verbis,  rationem  cum 
insania,  mundum  cum  fabula  commutabit,  interpretari  non 
poterit. 

6.  Qui  omnem  rerum  distinctionem,  quae  in  constitutis  vulgo 
speciebus  vel  etiam  inditis  nominibus  elucescit,  non  miscuerit, 
confuderit,  et  in  massam  redegerit,  non  unitatem  naturae,  non 
legitimas  rerum  lineas  videbit,  non  interpretari  poterit. 

7.  Qui  primum  et  ante  alia  omnia  animi  motus  humani 
penitus  non  explorarit,  ibique  scientiae  meatus  et  errorum  se- 

1  Compare  Cogitata  et  Visa  (supra,  p.  617.):  Nunc  autem  appar ere  viam  non  aliquu 
mole  aut  strue  imperviam,  seel  ab  humanis  vestigiis  deviam  esse.  —  J.  S. 


786 


DE  INTERPRETATIONE  NATURiE. 


des,  accuratissime  descriptas  non  habuerit,  is  omnia  larvata  et 
veluti  incantata  reperiet,  fascinum  ni  solverit  interpretari  non 
poterit. 

8.  Qui  in  reram  obviaram  et  compositarum  causis  exquiren- 
dis,  veluti  flammae,  somnii,  febris,  versabitur,  nec  se  ad  naturas 
simplices  conferet;  ad  istas  primo  quae  populari  ration  e  tales 
sunt,  deinde  etiam  ad  eas  quae  arte  ad  veriorem  simplicitatem 
reductae  sunt  et  veluti  sublimatae ;  is  fortasse,  si  caetera  non 
peccat,  addet  inventis  quaedam  non  spernenda,  et  inventis 
proxima.  Sed  nil  contra  majores  rerum  secularitates1  mo- 
vebit,  nec  Interpres  dicendus  erit. 


De  moribus  interpretis. 

9.  Qui  ad  interpretandum  accesserit,  ita  se  comparet  et  com- 
ponat.  Sit  nec  novitatis,  nec  consuetudinis  vel  antiquitatis  se- 
ctator,  nec  contradicendi  licentiam,  nec  authoritatis  servitutem 
amplectatur.  Non  affirmandi  sit  properus,  nec  in  dubitationem 
solutus,  sed  singula  gradu  quodam  probationis  insignita  prove- 
hat.  Spes  ei  laboris,  non  otii  author  sit.  Res  non  raritate, 
difficultate,  aut  laude,  sed  veris  momentis  aestimet.  Privata 
negotia  personatus  2  administret,  reram  tamen  provisus  subvene- 
rans.  Errorum  in  veritates  et  veritatum  in  errores  subingressus 
prudenter  advertat,  nihil  contemnens  aut  admirans.  Naturas 
suae  commoditates  norit.  Naturae  aliorum  morem  gerat,  cum 
nemo  lapidi  impingenti  succenseat.  Uno  veluti  oculo  rerum 
naturas,  altero  bumanos  usus  pererret.  Yerborum  mixtam  na- 
turam,  et  juvamenti  et  nocumenti  inprimis  participem,  distincte 
sciat.  Artem  inveniendi  cum  invento  adolescere  statuat.  Sit 
etiam  in  scientia  quam  adeptus  est  nec  occultanda  nec  pro- 
ferenda  vanus,  sed  ingenuus  et  prudens,  tradatque  inventa  non 
ambitiose  aut  maligne,  sed  modo  primum  maxime  vivaci  et 
vegeto,  id  est  ad  injurias  temporis  munitissmo,  et  ad  scientiam 


'  Popular  opinions,  or  such  as  flourish  in  the  soeculum  or  world,  or  through  ages, 
scecula.  See  Vossius. 

2  That  is,  I  apprehend,  affecting  more  interest  in  them  than  he  feels.  Compare 
Cicero’s  phrase,  “  Cur  ego  personatus  ambulem  ?  ” —  Ep.  ad  Att.  xv.  1.  [Rather,  I 
should  think,  “  speaking  to  people  in  their  own  language.”  I  cannot  say  that  I 
clearly  understand  the  sentence ;  but  I  think  it  must  refer  to  the  necessity  of  using 
popular  ideas  for  popular  purposes.  Compare  Redargutio  Philosophiarum  (supra, 
p.  562.):  Senate  Hague  iltam  alteram  (t.  e.  the  popular  philosophy),  et  prout  commodum 
vobis  erit  adhibele ;  atque  aliter  cum  natura  aliter  cum  populo  negotiamini.  Nemo  enim 
eat  qui  plus  multo  quam  alius  quis  intelligit,  quin  ad  minus  intelligentem  tanquam  per¬ 
sonatus  sit,  ut  se  exuat,  alteri  det.  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  there  should  be  a 
full  stop  after  administret,  and  a  comma  after  subvenerans.  —  J.  S.] 


DE  INTERPRETATIONS  NATURAE. 


787 


propagandam  fortissimo,  deinde  ad  errores  pariendos  innocen- 
tissimo,  et  ante  omnia,  qui  sibi  legitimum  lectorem  seponat. 

De  officio  interpretis. 

1 0.  Ita  moratus  et  comparatus  interpres  ad  hunc  modum  pro- 
cedat.  Conditionem  hominis  reputabit,  impedimenta  interpre- 
tationis  removebit,  turn  ad  opus  accinctus  historiam  parabit  et 
ordinatas  chartarum  sequelas,  unaque  usus,  co-ordinationes,  oc- 
currentias  et  schedulas  instituet.  Rerum  solitudinem  et  sui 
similitudinem  repraesentabit.  Quin  et  rerum  delectum  habebit, 
quaeque  maxime  primitivse  sunt  vel  instantes,  id  est  vel  rerum 
aliarum  inventioni,  vel  humanis  necessitatibus  praecipue  con- 
ducunt,  praeordinabit.  Instantiarum  etiam  praeeminentias  1 2  ob- 
servabit,  quae  ad  operis  compendium  plurimum  possunt.  At- 
que  ita  instructus  re-ordinationes  demum,  et  chartas  novellas, 
ac  ipsam  interpretationem  facilem  jam  et  sponte  sequentem,  imo 
mente  fere  praereptam,  mature  et  feliciter  aggredietur  et  per- 
ficiet.  Quod  ubi  fecerit,  continuo  veros,  aeternos,  et  simpli- 
cissimos  naturae  motus,  ex  quorum  ordinato  et  calculatissimo 
progressu  infinita  haec  turn  praesentis  turn  omnis  aevi  varietas 
emergit,  pura  et  nativa  luce  videbit  et  numerabit.  Interimque 
ab  initio  operis  humanis  rebus  multa  et  incognita,  veluti  fcenus, 
assidue  recipere  non  omittet.  Sed  hinc  denuo  totus  in  hu- 
manos  usus  rerumque  praesentium  statum  conversus  et  inten- 
tus,  omnia  diversa  via  et  ad  actionem  ordinabit  et  disponet. 
Naturis  secretissimis  alias  declaratorias,  et  absentissimis  alias 
superinductorias  assignabit.  Et  deinde  tandem  veluti  altera 
natura  plerumquitates  condet,  quarum  errores  pro  monstris 
sint,  salva  etiam  tamen  sibi  artis  praerogativa. 

De  provisu  rerum. 

11.  Tuautem  spe  et  studio  languidis  haec  hauris  (fill)  mira- 
risque  si  tanta  supersit  operum  fructuosissimorum  et  prorsus 
incognito  rum  ubertas,  ea  non  antehac,  aut  jam  subito  esse  m- 
venta ;  simul  etiam  cujusmodi  ea  sint,  nominatim  requiris,  visque 
tibi  aut  immortalitatem,  aut  indolentiam,  aut  voluptatem  trans- 
portantem  promitti.  Yerum  tu  tibi  largire  (fib)  spemque  ex 
scientia  aucupabere,  ut  ex  ignorantia  desperationem  cepisti. 

1  To  these  Bacon  afterwards  gave  the  name  of  Prerogativce. 

2  ccepisti  in  the  original.  — ./.  S. 


51  Bacon  III 


788 


DE  INTERPRET  ATIONE  NATURAE. 


An  etiam  arte  adoptandum  est  opus?  At  dubitationi  tuae 
quoad  licet  satisfaciam,  moremque  tibi  geram.  Quod  haec 
subito  nota  sint,  nil  mirum,  fili.  Scientia  celeris,  tempus  tardi 
partus  est.  Etiam  nobilia  quae  ante  haec  inventa  sunt,  non 
luce  prioris  cognitionis  sensim,  sed  casu  (ut  loquuntur)  affatim 
inventa  sunt.  In  mechanicis  autem  est  quaedam  rei  jam  inventa* 
extensio,  sed  novae  inventionis  nomen  non  meretur.  Non  lon- 
gum  (fili)  sed  ambiguum  est  iter.  Quod  autem  haec  non  ante 
hoc  tempus  in  conspectum  se  dedisse  ais  *,  an  tibi  compertum  est 
quantum  omni  antiquitati,  vel  omnibus  in  regionibus,  vel  etiam 
singulis  hominibus  innotuerit?  Sed  fere  assentior  tibi  (fili) 
teque  altius  manu  ducam.  Non  dubitas  quin  si  homines  non 
forent,  multa  eorum  quae  arte  (ut  loquuntur)  facta  sunt,  defu- 
tura  fuissent,  ut  statuam  marmoream,  stragulam  vestem.  Age 
vero,  et  homines  an  non  habent  et  ipsi  suos  motus  quibus  ob- 
temperant?  Sane  (fili)  magis  sub  tiles,  et  difficilius  a  scientia 
comprehensos,  sed  aeque  certos.  Profecto,  inquies,  homines 
voluntati  parent.  Audio,  sed  hoc  nihil  est.  Qualis  causa  est 
fortuna  in  universo,  tabs  est  voluntas  in  homine.2  Si  quid  er¬ 
go  nec  sine  homine  producitur,  et  jacet  etiam  extra  hominis  vias, 
an  non  nihilo  aequale  est?  Homo  etiam  in  quaedam  veluti  oc- 
currentia  impingit,  alia  fine  praeviso  et  mediis  cognitis  exequi- 
tur.  Mediorum  tamen  notitiam  ex  obviis  sumit.  Quo  igitur 
in  numero  reponentur  ea,  quae  nec  effectum  obvium,  nec  opera¬ 
tion^  modum  et  lucem  ex  obviis  sortiuntur.  Talia  opera  Epi- 
stemides  vocantur,  id  est  scientiae  filiae,  quaenon  alias  in  actum 
veniunt  quam  per  scientiam  et  interpretationem  meram,  cum 
nihil  obvii  contineant.  Inter  haec  autem  et  obvia  quot  gradus 
numerari  putas  ?  Tene  (fili)  et  obsigna. 

12.  Postremo  loco  tibi  consulo  (fili)  quod  facto  imprimis  opus 
est,  hoc  est,  ut  mente  illuminata  et  sobria  interpretationem  re¬ 
rum  divinarum  et  naturalium  distinguas,  neve  has  ullo  modo 
inter  se  committi  patiare.  Satis  erratum  est  in  hoc  genere- 
Nihil  hie  nisi  per  rerum  inter  se  similitudines  addiscitur.  Quae 
licet  dissimillimae  videantur,  premunt  tamen  similitudinem  ger- 
manam  interpreti  notam.  Deus  autem  sibi 3  tantum  similis  est 
absque  tropo.  Quare  nullam  ad  ejus  cognitionem  hinc  lucis 
sufficientiam  expecta.  Da  fidei,  quae  fidei  sunt. 


1  aio  in  the  original.  — J.  S. 

3  Fortune  is  spoken  of  in  the  Nov.  Org.  (i.  60.)_as  nomen  rei  qu£e  non  est 
*  tibi  in  the  original.  —  J.  S. 


APHORISM!  ET  CONSILIA. 


791 


PREFACE 


TO  THE 


APHORISMI  ET  CONSILIA. 


The  fragment  which  follows  stands  in  Gruter  s  volume  (in 
which  it  first  appeared)  immediately  before  the  Sentential  XII. ; 
but  there  is  evidently  no  connexion  between  the  two,  and  I 
conclude  that  this  was  the  later  written  from  its  nearer  resem¬ 
blance  to  the  Novum  Organum  in  those  passages  which  occur  in 
all  three,  and  can  be  compared. 

When  it  was  written  is  another  question,  and  one  on  which  I 
can  offer  no  opinion.  A  memorandum  in  the  Commentarius 
Solutus,  2fr.  July,  1608,  —  “  The  finishing  of  the  Aphorisms, 
Clavis  Interpretationis,  and  then  setting  forth  of  the  book,” 
_ refers  no  doubt  to  some  paper  of  the  kind ;  some  early  rudi¬ 
ment  of  the  Novum  Organum ;  but  it  is  impossible  to  say  whe¬ 
ther  the  Aphorisms  alluded  to  are  these  or  not.  The  note 
at  the  end,  reliqua  non  erant  perfecta,  implying  that  the  paper 
had  been  laid  by  in  its  unfinished  state,  makes  the  memoran¬ 
dum  particularly  applicable  to  them.  The  notes  to  this  are 
Mr.  Ellis’s. 

J.  S. 


. 


793 


FRANCISCI  BACONI 

APHORISMI  ET  CONSILIA,  DE  AUXILIIS  MENTIS, 

ET 

ACCENSIONE  LUMINIS  NATURALIS. 


Homo,  naturae  minister  et  interpres,  tantum  facit  et  intelligit, 
quantum  de  ordine  naturae  opere  vel  mente  observaverit  j  nec 
amplius  novit  aut  potest.1 

Manus  hominis  nuda,  quantumvis  robusta  et  constans,  ad 
opera  pauca  et  facile  sequentia  sufficit :  eadem  ope  instrumen- 
torum,  multa  et  reluctantia  vincit.  Similis  est  et  mentis  ratio. 

Instrumenta  manus,  motum  aut  cient  aut  regunt :  et  instru- 
menta  mentis,  intellectui  aut  suggerunt  aut  cavent.2 

Super  datam  materiae  basim  naturam  quamvis  imponere,  intra 
terminos  possibles3,  intentio  est  humanae  potentiae.  Similiter 
dati  effectus  in  quovis  subjecto  causas  nosse,  intentio  est  humanae 
scientiae :  quae  intentiones  in  idem  coincidunt.  Nam  quod  in 
contemplatione  instar  causae  est,  in  operatione  instar  medn  est.4 

Qui  causam  alicujus  naturae,  veluti  albedinis  aut  caloris,  in 
certis  tantum  subjectis  novit,  ejus  scientia  imperfecta  est.  Et 
qui  effectum  super  certam  tantum  materiam  ex  us  quae  sunt 
susceptibiles  inducere  potest,  ejus  potentia  panter  est  imper- 
fecta.5 

Qui  causas  naturae  alicujus  in  aliquibus  subjectis  tantum  novit, 
is  efficientem  aut  materiatam  causam  novit,  quae  causae  fluxae 
sunt,  et  nihil  aliud  quam  vehicula,  et  causae  formam  deferentes. 
Qui  autem  unitatem  naturae  in  materiis  dissimillimis  compre- 

hendit,  is  formas  rerum  novit.  ...  ., 

Qui  efficientes  et  materiatas  causas  novit,  is  jampridem  m- 
venta  componit  aut  dividit,  aut  transfert  aut  producit ;  etiam  ad 


•  lb.  i.  2. 

1  So  In  the  original.  Po.'ibili,  Is  the  reading  In  other  places  where  the  expression 
occurs,  and  probably  the  true  reading  here.  —  J.  S. 

4  lb.  1L  1.  and  i.  3.  ,  , 

4  lb.  11.  3.  to  which  correspond  also  the  next  four  aphorisms. 


794 


APHORISMI  ET  CONS1LIA. 


nova  inventa  in  materia  aliquatenus  simili  et  praeparata  per- 
tingit :  terminos  rerum  altius  fixos  non  movet. 

Qui  formas  novit,  is  quae  adhuc  facta  non  sunt,  qualia  nec 
naturae  vicissitudines  nec  experimentales  industriae  unquam  in 
actum  produxissent,  neque  cogitationem  humanam  subitura 
fuissent,  detegit  et  educit. 

Eadem  est  veritatis  et  potestatis  via  et  perfectio :  haec  ipsa,  ut 
formae  rerum  inveniantur :  ex  quarum  notitia  sequitur  contem- 
platio  vera  et  operatio  libera. 

Formarum  inventio  simplex  est  et  unica,  quae  procedit  per 
naturarum  exclusionem  sive  rejectionem.  Omnes  enim  naturae, 
quae  aut  data  natura  praesente  absunt,  aut  data  natura  absente 
adsunt,  ex  forma  non  sunt ;  atque  post  rejectionem  aut  nega- 
tionem  completam,  manet  forma  et  affirmatio.  Exempli  gratia, 
si  caloris  formam  inquiras,  et  aquam  calentem  invenias  nec 
lucidam,  rejice  lumen :  si  aerem  tenuem  invenias,  nec  calidum, 
rejice  tenuitatem.  Hoc  breve  dictu  est;  sed  longo  circuitu  ad 
hoc  pervenitur.1 

Prolatio  verborum  contemplativa  aut  operativa  re  non  dif- 
ferunt.  Cum  enim  hoc  dicis,  Lumen  non  est  ex  forma  caloris ; 
idem  est  ac  si  dicas,  In  calore  producendo  non  necesse  est  ut 
etiam  lumen  producas.2 


Reliqua  non  erant  perfecta. 


Neque  haec  numine  nostro  eunt.  Tu,  Pater,  conversus  ad 
opera  quae  fecerunt  manus  tuae,  vidisti  quod  omnia  essent  bona 
valde :  homo  autem  conversus  ad  opera  quae  fecerunt  manus 
suae,  vidit  quod  omnia  essent  vanitas  et  vexatio  spiritus.  Itaque 
si  in  operibus  tuis  sudabimus,  facies  nos  gratulationis  tuae  et 
sabbati  tui  participes.  Supplices  rogamus  ut  haec  mens  nobis 
constet;  atque  ut  per  manus  nostras  familia  humana  novis 
eleemosynis  tuis  dotetur.  Haec  aeterno  amori  tuo  commendamus, 
per  J esum  nostrum,  Christum  tuum,  nobiscum  Deum.3 


Nov.  Org.  ii.  16.  2  lb.  «.  17. 

Compare  the  prayer  with  which  the  Distributio  Operis  concludes. 


PHYSIOLOGICAL  AND  MEDICAL. 
REMAINS. 


797 


PREFACE 

TO  THE 

PHYSIOLOGICAL  AND  MEDICAL  REMAINS. 


The  following  pieces  were  first  published  by  Tenison  in  1679, 
in  a  single  volume  entitled  “  Baconiana,  or  certain  genuine  Re¬ 
mains  of  Sir  Francis  Bacon  Baron  of  V erulam  and  Viscount  of 
St.  Alban’s ;  in  arguments  Civil,  Moral,  Natural,  Medical, 
Theological,  and  Bibliographical ;  now  for  the  first  time  faith¬ 
fully  published;”  with  an  introduction  professing  to  give  “an 
account  of  all  the  Lord  Bacon  s  works. 

Tenison  was  intimate  at  college  with  William  Rawley  the 
Doctor’s  son,  and  afterwards  with  John  Rawley  his  executor. 
Through  them  he  had  access  to  the  Bacon  manuscripts  which 
had  been  left  in  the  Doctor’s  hands,  and  may  therefore  be  con¬ 
sidered  as  an  original  authority  in  the  matter.  He  was  not  a 
man  of  much  sagacity  or  intellectual  vigour ;  and  there  is  reason 
to  believe  that  he  sometimes  took  leave  to  alter  the  text  a  little, 
when  it  contained  expressions  which  he  thought  undignified. 
But  he  was  a  great  venerator  of  Bacon,  and  upon  the  whole 
a  careful,  conscientious,  and  scholar-like  editor.  He  assures  us 
that  he  has  printed  nothing  as  Bacon’s  which  he  did  not  find 
either  written  in  his  own  hand  or  transcribed  by  Dr.  Rawley ; 
and  though  some  of  the  manuscripts  appear  to  have  been  in 
a  condition  which  required  more  judgment  in  the  decipherer 
than  he  could  perhaps  be  trusted  for  (for  he  compares  his  la¬ 
bour  in  extracting  the  sense  to  that  of  reducing  mercury  to  its 
proper  form  after  its  divers  shapes  and  transmutations),  yet, 
with  some  little  allowance  on  that  account,  they  may  be  all 
accepted  as  authentic. 

Those  which  he  has  collected  under  the  respective  titles  ot 
Physiological  and  Medical  Remains  (the  Abecedarium  Nature 
excepted,  which  has  been  printed  already)  may  be  considered 


798  PREFACE  TO  THE  PHYSIOL.  AND  MED.  REMAINS. 


as  loose  notes  or  memoranda  connected  with  the  collection  of 
Natural  History  ;  and  as  there  are  no  means  of  guessing  when 
they  were  written,  this  seems  the  fittest  place  for  them.  Being 
merely  the  remains  of  the  collection  from  which  Rawley  had 
already  selected  all  that  he  thought  worth  publishing,  they  are 
of  little  value,  and  little  need  be  said  about  them. 

They  are  all  in  Bacon’s  own  English ;  except  the  latter  por¬ 
tion  of  the  catalogue  of  bodies  attractive  and  non- attractive, 
which  appears  to  have  been  written  by  him  in  Latin.  Of  the 
second — articles  of  questions  touching  minerals — a  Latin  trans¬ 
lation  by  Rawley  had  been  published  in  the  Opuscula  Philo- 
sophica,  which  I  have  not  thought  it  necessary  to  reprint.  The 
English  original  from  which  Tenison  took  it  was  one  of  three 
(he  tells  us) ;  and  the  words  “  This  is  the  clean  copy  ”  were 
written  on  the  back  of  it  in  Bacon’s  own  hand.  These  ques¬ 
tions  are  not,  I  think,  to  be  classed  among  the  Topicce  inquisi- 
tionis  which  Bacon  speaks  of  at  the  end  of  the  Parasceve  ;  they 
are  not  directions  for  the  collection  of  a  natural  history  of  mi¬ 
nerals  qua  sit  in  ordine  ad  condendam  philosophiam,  but  merely 
questions  with  a  view  to  obtain  better  and  cheaper  manufac¬ 
tures.  They  were  referred  to  one  Dr.  Meverel,  a  chemist  of 
that  day,  whose  answers  Tenison  has  printed  along  with  them. 
These  answers,  as  they  may  perhaps  throw  some  light  upon 
the  state  of  chemical  science  in  Bacon’s  time,  I  have  appended 
as  notes. 

The  experiments  about  weight  in  air  and  water  have  some  in¬ 
terest  in  connexion  with  Bacon’s  method  of  determining  specific 
gravities,  as  explained  in  the  Historia  Densi  et  Pari ;  concern¬ 
ing  which  Mr.  Ellis  has  contributed  a  valuable  note. 

Among  the  Physiological  Remains,  Tenison  has  inserted  a 
speech  touching  the  recovering  of  drowned  mineral  works,  fathered 
upon  Bacon  by  Edward  Bushel,  a  great  projector  of  such  things, 
who  in  his  early  youth  had  been  in  Bacon’s  service.  His  story 
is  that  this  speech  was  prepared  by  Bacon  for  the  Parliament 
of  1621.  But  Tenison  evidently  did  not  believe  it  to  be  ge¬ 
nuine  ;  and  it  is  in  fact  so  manifest  a  fabrication  that  I  have 
not  admitted  it  at  all  into  this  edition.  It  is  obviously  a  mere 
puff  of  some  project  of  Bushel’s  own. 

The  other  pieces  sufficiently  explain  themselves. 


J.  S, 


799 


INQUISITIONS 

TOUCHING 

THE  COMPOUNDING  OF  METALS, 

BY 

SIR  FRANCIS  BACON,  BARON  OF  VERULAM.1 


To  make  proof  of  the  incorporation  of  iron  with  flint,  or  other 
stone .  For  if  it  can  be  incorporated  without  over-great  charge, 
or  other  incommodity,-  the  cheapness  of  the  flint  or  stone  doth 
make  the  compound  stuff  profitable  for  divers  uses.  The 
doubts  may  be  three  in  number. 

First ;  Whether  they  will  incorporate  at  all,  otherwise  than 
to  a  body  that  will  not  hold  well  together,  but  become  brittle 
and  uneven  ? 

Secondly;  Although  it  should  incorporate  well,  yet  whe¬ 
ther  the  stuff  will  not  be  so  stubborn  as  it  will  not  work  well 
with  a  hammer,  whereby  the  charge  in  working  will  overthrow 
the  cheapness  of  the  material? 

Thirdly ;  Whether  they  will  incorporate,  except  the  iron 
and  stone  be  first  calcined  into  powder  ?  And  if  not,  Whether 
the  charge  of  the  calcination  will  not  eat  out  the  cheapness  of 
the  material  ? 

The  uses  are  most  probable  to  be  ;  First  for  the  implements 
of  the  kitchen ;  as  spits,  ranges,  cobirons,  pots,  &c.  then  for 
the  wars,  as  ordnance,  portcullises,  grates,  chains,  &c. 

Note;  the  finer  works  of  iron  are  not  so  probable  to  be 
served  with  such  a  stuff ;  as  locks,  clocks,  small  chains,  &c., 
because  the  stuff  is  not  like  to  be  tough  enough. 

For  the  better  use  in  comparison  of  iron,  it  is  like  the  stuff 
will  be  far  lighter :  for  the  weight  of  iron  to  flint  is  double  and 


1  Baconiana,  p.  92. 


800 


PHYSIOLOGICAL  REMAINS. 


a  third  part ;  and,  secondly,  it  is  like  to  rust  not  so  easily,  but 
to  be  more  clean. 

The  ways  of  trial  are  two.  First,  by  the  iron  and  stone 
of  themselves,  wherein  it  must  be  inquired,  what  are  the 
stones  that  do  easiliest  melt.  Secondly,  with  an  additament, 
wherein  brimstone  is  approved  to  help  to  the  melting  of  iron 
or  steel.  But  then  it  must  be  considered,  whether  the  charge 
of  the  additament  will  not  destroy  the  profit. 

It  must  be  known  also  what  proportion  of  the  stone  the 
iron  will  receive  to  incorporate  well  with  it,  and  that  with  once 
melting;  for  if  either  the  proportion  be  too  small,  or  that  it 
cannot  be  received,  but  piece-meal  by  several  meltings,  the 
work  cannot  be  of  value. 

To  make  proof  of  the  incorporating  of  iron  and  brass.  For 
the  cheapness  of  the  iron  in  comparison  of  the  brass,  if  the 
uses  may  be  served,  doth  promise  profit.  The  doubt  will  be 
touching  their  incorporating ;  for  that  it  is  approved  that  iron 
will  not  incorporate  neither  with  brass  nor  other  metals  of 
itself  by  simple  fire :  so  as  the  inquiry  must  be  upon  the  cal¬ 
cination,  and  the  additament,  and  the  charge  of  them. 

The  uses  will  be  for  such  things  as  are  now  made  of  brass, 
and  might  be  as  well  served  by  the  compound  stuff ;  wherein 
the  doubts  will  be  chiefly  of  the  toughness  and  of  the  beauty. 

First ;  therefore,  if  brass  ordnance  could  be  made  of  the 
compound  stuff,  in  respect  of  the  cheapness  of  the  iron,  it 
would  be  of  great  use. 

The  vantage  which  brass  ordnance  hath  over  iron,  is  chiefly, 
as  I  suppose,  because  it  will  hold  the  blow,  though  it  be 
driven  far  thinner  than  the  iron  can  be ;  whereby  it  saveth 
both  in  the  quantity  of  the  material,  and  in  the  charge  and 
commodity  of  mounting  and  carriage,  in  regard  by  reason 
of  the  thinness  it  beareth  much  less  weight :  there  may  be  also 
somewhat  in  being  not  so  easily  overheated. 

Secondly  ;  For  the  beauty  ;  those  things  wherein  the  beauty 
or  lustre  are  esteemed,  are  andirons,  and  all  manner  of  images, 
and  statues,  and  columns,  and  tombs,  and  the  like.  So  as  the 
doubt  will  be  double  for  the  beauty ;  the  one,  whether  the 
colour  will  please  so  well,  because  it  will  not  be  so  like  gold  as 
brass  ?  the  other,  whether  it  will  polish  so  well  ?  Wherein 
for  the  latter  it  is  probable  it  will ;  for  steel  glosses  are  more 


COMPOUNDING  OF  METALS. 


801 


resplendent  than  the  like  plates  of  brass  would  be ;  and  so 
is  the  glittering  of  a  blade.  And  besides,  I  take  it,  andiron 
brass,  which  they  call  white  brass,  hath  some  mixture  of  tin  to 
help  the  lustre.  And  for  the  golden  colour,  it  may  be  by  some 
small  mixture  of  orpiment,  such  as  they  use  to  brass  in  the 
yellow  alchemy,  it  will  easily  recover  that  which  the  iron  loseth. 
Of  this  the  eye  must  be  the  judge  upon  proof  made. 

But  now  for  pans,  pots,  curfews,  counters,  and  the  like ; 
the  beauty  will  not  be  so  much  respected,  so  as  the  compound 
stuff  is  like  to  pass. 

For  the  better  use  of  the  compound  stuff,  it  will  be  sweeter 
and  cleaner  than  brass  alone,  which  yieldeth  a  smell  or  soili- 
ness,  and  therefore  may  be  better  for  the  vessels  of  the 
kitchen  and  brewing.  It  will  also  be  harder  than  brass,  where 
hardness  may  be  required. 

For  the  trial,  the  doubts  will  be  two  :  First,  the  over-weight 
of  brass  towards  iron,  which  will  make  iron  float  on  the 
top  in  the  melting.  This  perhaps  will  be  holpen  with  the 
calaminar  stone,  which  consenteth  so  well  with  brass,  and,  as  I 
take  it,  is  lighter  than  iron.  The  other  doubt  will  be  the  stiff¬ 
ness  and  dryness  of  iron  to  melt ;  which  must  be  holpen  either 
by  moistening  the  iron,  or  opening  it.  For  the  first,  perhaps 
some  mixture  of  lead  will  help ;  which  is  as  much  more 
liquid  than  brass,  as  iron  is  less  liquid.  The  opening  may  be 
holpen  by  some  mixture  of  sulphur :  so  as  the  trials  would  be 
with  brass,  iron,  calaminar  stone,  and  sulphur ;  and  then  again 
with  the  same  composition,  and  an  addition  of  some  lead ;  and 
in  all  this  the  charge  must  be  considered,  whether  it  eat  not 
out  the  profit  of  the  cheapness  of  iron. 

There  be  two  proofs  to  be  made  of  incorporation  of  metals 
for  magnificence  and  delicacy.  The  one  for  the  eye,  and  the 
other  for  the  ear.  Statua  metal,  and  bell  metal,  and  trumpet 
metal,  and  string  metal;  in  all  these,  though  the  mixture  of 
brass  or  copper  should  be  dearer  than  the  brass  itself,  yet  the 
pleasure  will  advance  the  price  to  profit. 

First  therefore,  for  statua-metal,  see  Pliny's  mixtures,  which 
are  almost  forgotten,  and  consider  the  charge. 

Try  likewise  the  mixture  of  tin  in  large  proportion  with 
copper,  and  observe  the  coluur  and  beauty,  it  being  polished. 


802 


PHYSIOLOGICAL  REMAINS, 


But  chiefly  let  proof  be  made  of  the  incorporating  of  copper  or 
brass  with  glass-metal,  for  that  is  cheap,  and  is  like  to  add 
a  great  glory  and  shining. 

For  bell-metal.  First,  it  is  to  be  known  what  is  the  com¬ 
position  which  is  now  in  use.  Secondly,  it  is  probable  that  it 
is  the  dryness  of  the  metal  that  doth  help  the  clearness  of  the 
sound,  and  the  moistness  that  dulleth  it ;  and  therefore  the 
mixtures  that  are  probable,  are  steel,  tin,  glass-metal. 

For  striny- metal,  or  trumpet-metal,  it  is  the  same  reason ; 
save  that  glass-metal  may  not  be  used,  because  it  will  make  it 
too  brittle ;  and  trial  may  be  made  with  mixture  of  silver,  it 
being  but  a  delicacy,  with  iron  or  brass. 

To  make  proof  of  the  incorporation  of  silver  and  tin  in  equal 
quantity,  or  with  two  parts  silver  and  one  part  tin,  and  to  ob¬ 
serve  whether  it  be  of  equal  beauty  and  lustre  with  pure  silver ; 
and  also  whether  it  yield  no  soiliness  more  than  silver  ?  And 
again,  whether  it  will  endure  the  ordinary  fire,  which  be- 
longeth  to  chafing-dishes,  posnets,  and  such  other  silver  vessels  ? 
And  if  it  do  not  endure  the  fire,  yet  whether  by  some  mixture 
of  iron  it  may  not  be  made  more  fixt  ?  For  if  it  be  in  beauty 
and  all  the  uses  aforesaid  equal  to  silver,  it  were  a  thing  of 
singular  profit  to  the  state,  and  to  all  particular  persons,  to 
change  silver  plate  or  vessel  into  the  compound  stuff,  being  a 
kind  of  silver  electre,  and  to  turn  the  rest  into  coin.  It  may  be 
also  questioned,  whether  the  compound  stuff  will  receive  gild¬ 
ing  as  well  as  silver,  and  with  equal  lustre  ?  It  is  to  be  noted, 
that  the  common  allay  of  silver  coin  is  brass,  which  doth  dis¬ 
colour  more,  and  is  not  so  neat  as  tin. 

The  drownings  of  metals  within  other  metals,  in  such  sort 
as  they  can  never  rise  again,  is  a  thing  of  great  profit.  For  if 
a  quantity  of  silver  can  be  so  buried  in  gold,  as  it  will  never 
be  reduced  again,  neither  by  fire,  nor  parting  waters,  nor  other- 
ways  :  and  also  that  it  serve  all  uses  as  well  as  pure  gold,  it  is 
in  effect  all  one  as  if  so  much  silver  were  turned  into  gold ; 
only  the  weight  will  discover  it ;  yet  that  taketh  off  but  half 
of  the  profit ;  for  gold  is  not  fully  double  weight  to  silver,  but 
gold  is  twelve  times  price  to  silver. 

The  burial  must  be  by  one  of  these  two  ways,  either  by  the 


COMPOUNDING  OF  METALS- 


803 


smallness  of  the  proportion,  as  perhaps  fifty  to  one,  which  will 
be  but  six-pence  gains  in  fifty  shillings  ;  or  it  must  be  holpen 
by  somewhat  which  may  fix  the  silver,  never  to  be  restored  or 
vapoured  away,  when  it  is  incorporated  into  such  a  mass  of 
gold ;  for  the  less  quantity  is  ever  the  harder  to  sever :  and 
for  this  purpose  iron  is  the  likest,  or  coppel  stuff,  upon  which 
the  fire  hath  no  power  of  consumption. 

The  malting  of  gold  seemeth  a  thing  scarcely  possible ;  be¬ 
cause  gold  is  the  heaviest  of  metals,  and  to  add  matter  is 
impossible :  and  again,  to  drive  metals  into  a  narrower  room 
than  their  natural  extent  beareth,  is  a  condensation  hardly  to 
be  expected.  But  to  make  silver  seemeth  more  easy,  because 
both  quicksilver  and  lead  are  weightier  than  silver ;  so  as  there 
needeth  only  fixing,  and  not  condensing.  The  degree  unto 
t.hia  that  is  already  known,  is  infusing  of  quicksilver  in  a 
parchment,  or  otherwise,  in  the  midst  of  molten  lead  when  it 
cooleth;  for  this  stupifieth  the  quicksilver  that  it  runneth  no 
more.  This  trial  is  to  be  advanced  three  ways.  First,  by 
iterating  the  melting  of  the  lead,  to  see  whether  it  will  not 
make  the  quicksilver  harder  and  harder.  Secondly,  to  put 
realgar  hot  into  the  midst  of  the  quicksilver,  whereby  it  may 
be  condensed  as  well  from  within  as  without.  Thirdly,  to  try 
it  in  the  midst  of  molten  iron,  or  molten  steel,  which  is  a  body 
more  likely  to  fix  the  quicksilver  than  lead.  It  may  be  ako 
tried,  by  incorporating  powder  of  steel,  or  coppel  dust,  by 
pouncing  into  the  quicksilver,  and  so  to  proceed  to  the  stupi- 
fying- 

Upon  glass  four  things  would  he  put  in  proof.  The  first, 
means  to  make  the  glass  more  crystalline.  The  second,  to  make 
it  more  strong  for  falls,  and  for  fire,  though  it  come  not  to  the 
degree  to  be  malleable.  The  third,  to  make  it  coloured  by 
tinctures,  comparable  [to]  or  exceeding  precious  stones.  The 
fourth,  to  make  a  compound  body  of  glass  and  galletyle ;  that 
is,  to  have  the  colour  milky  like  a  chalcedon,  being  a  stuff  be¬ 
tween  a  porcelane  and  a  glass. 

For  ihe  first;  it  is  good  first  to  know  exactly  the  several 
materials  whereof  the  glass  in  use  is  made ;  window  glass, 
Normandy  and  Burgundy,  ale-house  glass,  English  drinking 


52  Bacon  HI 


804 


PHYSIOLOGICAL  REMAINS. 


glass :  and  then  thereupon  to  consider  what  the  reason  is  of 
the  coarseness  or  clearness ;  and  from  thence  to  rise  to  a  con¬ 
sideration  how  to  make  some  additaments  to  the  coarser  ma¬ 
terials,  to  raise  them  to  the  whiteness  and  crystalline  splendour 
of  the  finest. 

For  the  second ;  we  see  pebbles,  and  some  other  stones,  will 
cut  as  fine  as  crystal,  which  if  they  will  melt,  may  be  a  mixture 
for  glass,  and  may  make  it  more  tough  and  more  crystalline. 
Besides,  we  see  metals  will  vitrify ;  and  perhaps  some  portion 
of  the  glass  of  metal  vitrified,  mixed  in  the  pot  of  ordinary 
glass-metal,  will  make  the  whole  mass  more  tough. 

For  the  third ;  it  were  good  to  have  of  coloured  window 

glass,  such  as  is  coloured  in  the  pot,  and  not  by  colours - 1 

##<**# 

It  is  to  be  known  of  what  stuff  galletyle  is  made,  and  how 
the  colours  in  it  are  varied ;  and  thereupon  to  consider  how  to 
make  the  mixture  of  glass-metal  and  them,  whereof  I  have 
seen  the  example. 

Enquire  what  be  the  stones  that  do  easiliest  melt.  Of  them 
take  half  a  pound,  and  of  iron  a  pound  and  a  half,  and  an  ounce 
of  brimstone,  and  see  whether  they  will  incorporate,  being 
whole,  with  a  strong  fire.  If  not,  try  the  same  quantities  cal¬ 
cined  :  and  if  they  will  incorporate,  make  a  plate  of  them,  and 
burnish  it  as  they  do  iron. 

Take  a  pound  and  a  half  of  brass,  and  half  a  pound  of  iron ; 
two  ounces  of  the  calaminar  stone,  an  ounce  and  a  half  of 
brimstone,  an  ounce  of  lead ;  calcine  them,  and  see  what  body 
they  make ;  and  if  they  incorporate,  make  a  plate  of  it  bur¬ 
nished. 

Take  of  copper  an  ounce  and  a  half,  of  tin  an  ounce,  and 
melt  them  together,  and  make  a  plate  of  them  burnished. 

Take  of  copper  an  ounce  and  a  half,  of  tin  an  ounce,  of 
glass-metal  half  an  ounce  ;  stir  them  well  in  the  boiling,  and  if 
they  incorporate,  make  a  plate  of  them  burnished. 

Take  of  copper  a  pound  and  a  half,  tin  four  ounces,  brass 
two  ounces  ;  make  a  plate  of  them  burnished. 

Take  of  silver  two  ounces,  tin  half  an  ounce  ;  make  a  little 
say-cup  of  it,  and  burnish  it. 


J  Here  something  is  wanting  in  the  copy.  —  Note  by  Teniaon. 


COMPOUNDING  OF  METALS. 


805 


To  enquire  of  the  materials  of  every  of  the  kind  of  glasses 
coarser  and  finer,  and  of  the  proportions. 

Take  an  equal  quantity  of  glass-metal,  of  stone  calcined,  and 
bring  a  pattern. 

Take  an  ounce  of  vitrified  metal,  and  a  pound  of  ordinary 
glass-metal,  and  see  whether  they  will  incorporate ;  and  bring 
a  pattern. 

Bring  examples  of  all  coloured  glasses,  and  learn  the  ingre¬ 
dients  whereby  they  are  coloured. 

Enquire  of  the  substance  of  galletyle. 


52 


* 


806 


PHYSIOLOGICAL  REMAINS. 


ARTICLES 


OF 

QUESTIONS  TOUCHING  MINERALS; 

WRITTEN  ORIGINALLY  IN  ENGLISH  BY  THE  LORD  BACON,  YET 
HITHERTO  NOT  PUBLISHED  IN  THAT  LANGUAGE. 


The  Lord  Bacon's  Questions  and  Solutions  concerning  the  com¬ 
pounding,  incorporating ,  or  union  of  metals  or  minerals ; 
tohich  subject  is  the  first  letter  of  his  Lordship’s  Alphabet. 


Q.  With  what  metals  gold  will  incorporate  by  simple  colli- 
quefaction,  and  with  what  not  ?  And  in  what  quantity  it  will 
incorporate  ;  and  what  kind  of  body  the  compound  makes  ? 

A.  Gold  with  silver,  which  was  the  ancient  electrum. 

Gold  with  quicksilver.  |  Gold  with  copper.  Gold  with  iron. 

Gold  with  lead.  |  Gold  with  brass.  Gold  with  tin. 


So  likewise  of  silver. 


Silver  with  quicksilver. 
Silver  with  lead. 

Silver  with  copper. 
Silver  with  brass. 


Silver  with  iron.  ( Plinius  Secund. 
lib.  33.  ix.  :  Miscuit  denario 
triumvir  Antonius  ferrum.) 
Silver  with  tin. 


So  likewise  of  quicksilver. 


Quicksilver  with  lead. 
Quicksilver  with  copper. 


Quicksilver  with  brass. 
Quicksilver  with  iron. 


Quicksilver  with  tin. 

So  of  lead. 

Lead  with  copper.  |  Lead  with  iron.  |  Lead  with  brass. 
Lead  with  tin.  ( Plin .  34.  ix.) 


QUESTIONS  TOUCHING  MINERALS. 


807 


So  of  copper. 

Copper  with  brass.  |  Copper  with  iron.  |  Copper  with  tin. 


So  of  brass. 

Brass  with  iron.  |  Brass  with  tin. 


So  of  iron. 
Iron  with  tin. 


What  be  the  compound  metals  that  are  common  and  known  ? 
And  what  are  the  proportions  of  their  mixtures  ?  As, 

Latten  of  brass,  and  the  calaminar  stone. 

Pewter  of  tin  and  lead. 

Bell-metal  of  &c.  and  the  counterfeit  plate,  which  they  call 


alchemy. 

The  decomposites  of  three  metals  or  more,  are  too  long  to 
enquire  of,  except  there  be  some  compositions  of  them  already 
observed. 

It  is  also  to  be  observed,  whether  any  two  metals,  which  will 
not  mingle  of  themselves,  will  mingle  with  the  help  of  another ; 
and  what. 

What  compounds  will  be  made  of  metal  with  stone  and 
other  fossils ;  as  latten  is  made  with  brass  and  the  calaminar 
stone;  as  all  the  metals  incorporate  with  vitriol;  all  with  iron 
powdered ;  all  with  flint,  &c. 

Some  few  of  these  would  be  enquired  of,  to  disclose  the 


nature  of  the  rest. 

Whether  metals  or  other  fossils  will  incorporate  with  molten 

glass,  and  what  body  it  makes  ? 

The  quantity  in  the  mixture  would  be  well  considered ;  for 
some  small  quantity  perhaps  will  incorporate,  as  in  the  allays 
of  gold  and  silver  coin. 

Upon  the  compound  body,  three  things  are  chiefly  to  be  ob¬ 
served;  the  colour;  the  fragility  or  pliantness;  the  volatility  or 
fixation,  compared  with  the  simple  bodies. 

For  present  use  or  profit,  this  is  the  rule :  consider  the  price 
of  the  two  simple  bodies;  consider  again  the  dignity  of  the  one 
above  the  other  iu  use ;  then  see  if  you  can  make  a  compound 
that  will  save  more  in  price  than  it  will  lose  in  dignity  of  the 


use. 


808 


PHYSIOLOGICAL  REMAINS. 


As  for  example;  consider  the  price  of  brass- ordnance ;  con¬ 
sider  again  the  price  of  iron-ordnance,  and  then  consider 
wherein  the  brass-ordnance  doth  excel  the  iron-ordnance  in 
use  ;  then  if  you  can  make  a  compound  of  brass  and  iron  that 
will  be  near  as  good  in  use,  and  much  cheaper  in  price,  then 
there  is  profit  both  to  the  private  and  the  commonwealth.  So 
of  gold  and  silver,  the  price  is  double  of  twelve  :  the  dignity 
of  gold  above  silver  is  not  much,  the  splendour  is  alike,  and 
more  pleasing  to  some  eyes,  as  in  cloth  of  silver,  silvered 
rapiers,  &c.  The  main  dignity  is,  that  gold  bears  the  fire, 
which  silver  doth  not :  but  that  is  an  excellency  in  nature,  but 
it  is  nothing  at  all  in  use  ;  for  any  dignity  in  use  I  know  none, 
but  that  silvering  will  sully  and  canker  more  than  gilding ; 
which  if  it  might  be  corrected  with  a  little  mixture  of  gold, 
there  is  profit :  and  I  do  somewhat  marvel  that  the  latter  ages 
have  lost  the  ancient  electrum,  which  was  a  mixture  of  silver 
with  gold :  whereof  I  conceive  there  may  be  much  use,  both  in 
coin,  plate,  and  gilding. 

It  is  to  be  noted,  that  there  is  in  the  version  of  metals  im¬ 
possibility,  or  at  least  great  difficulty,  as  in  making  of  gold, 
silver,  copper.  On  the  other  side,  in  the  adulterating  or  coun¬ 
terfeiting  of  metals,  there  is  deceit  and  villainy.  But  it  should 
seem  there  is  a  middle  way,  and  that  is  by  new  compounds,  if 
the  ways  of  incorporating  were  well  known. 

What  incorporation  or  imbibition  metals  will  receive  from 
vegetables,  without  being  dissolved  in  their  substance :  as  when 
the  armourers  make  their  steel  more  tough  and  pliant,  by 
aspersion  of  water  or  juice  of  herbs  ;  when  gold  being  grown 
somewhat  churlish  by  recovering,  is  made  more  pliant  by 
throwing  in  shreds  of  tanned  leather,  or  any  leather  oiled. 

Note ;  that  in  these  and  the  like  shews  of  imbibition,  it  were 
good  to  try  by  the  weights  whether  the  weight  be  increased 
or  no ;  for  if  it  be  not,  it  is  to  be  doubted  that  there  is  no  imbi¬ 
bition  of  substance,  but  only  that  the  application  of  that  other 
body  doth  dispose  and  invite  the  metal  to  another  posture  of 
parts  than  of  itself  it  would  have  taken. 

After  the  incorporation  of  metals  by  simple  colliquefaction, 
for  the  better  discovery  of  the  nature  and  consents  and  dissents 
of  metals,  it  would  be  likewise  tried  by  incorporating  of  their 
dissolutions,  [What  metals  being  dissolved  in  strong  waters 


QUESTIONS  TOUCHING  MINERALS. 


809 


will  incorporate  well  together,  and  what  not  ?  Which  is  to  be 
enquired  particularly,  as  it  was  in  colliquefactions].1 

There  is  to  be  observed  in  those  dissolutions  which  will  not 
easily  incorporate,  what  the  effects  are :  as  the  bullition ;  the 
precipitation  to  the  bottom  ;  the  ejaculation  towards  the  top  ; 
the  suspension  in  the  midst ;  and  the  like. 

Note;  that  the  dissents  of  the  menstrual  or  strong  waters 
may  hinder  the  incorporation,  as  well  as  the  dissents  of  the 
metals  themselves ;  therefore  where  the  menstrua  are  the  same, 
and  yet  the  incorporation  followeth  not,  you  may  conclude  the 
dissent  is  in  the  metals ;  but  where  the  menstrua  are  several, 
not  so  certain. 


Dr.  Meverel's  answers  to  the  Lord  Bacon's  questions,  concerning  the 

compounding,  incorporating,  or  union  of  metals  and  minerals. 

Gold  will  incorporate  with  silver  in  any  proportion.  Plin.  lib. 
xxxiii.  cap.  4.  “  Omni  auro  inest  argentum  vario  pondere  ;  alibi 

dena,  alibi  nona,  alibi  octava  parte  —  Ubicunque  quinta  argenti 
portio  invenitur,  electrum  vocatur.”  The  body  remains  fixed,  solid, 
and  coloured,  according  to  the  proportion  of  the  two  metals. 

Gold  with  quicksilver  easily  mixeth,  but  the  product  is  imper¬ 
fectly  fixed  ;  and  so  are  all  other  metals  incorporate  with  mercury. 

Gold  incorporates  with  lead  in  any  proportion. 

Gold  incorporates  with  copper  in  any  proportion,  the  common 
allay. 

Gold  incorporates  with  brass  in  any  proportion.  And  what  is 
said  of  copper  is  true  of  brass,  in  the  union  of  other  metals. 

Gold  will  not  incorporate  with  iron. 

Gold  incorporates  with  tin,  the  ancient  allay,  Isa.  I.  25. 

What  was  said  of  gold  and  quicksilver,  may  be  said  of  quicksilver 
and  the  rest  of  metals. 

Silver  with  lead  in  any  proportion. 

Silver  incorporates  with  copper.  Pliny  mentions  such  a  mixture 
for  triumphales  statu®,  lib.  xxxiii.  9.  “  Miscentur  argento,  tertia 

pars  ®ris  Cyprii  tenuissimi,  quod  coronarium  vocant,  et  sulphuris 
vivi  quantum  argenti.”  The  same  is  true  of  brass. 

Silver  incorporates  not  with  iron.  Wherefore  I  wonder  at  that 

1  The  words  within  brackets  are  not  in  the  original  as  printed  by  Tenison.  But  a 
passage  to  the  same  effect  occurs  in  Rawley’s  Latin  translation  of  this  piece,  and  I 
suppose  that  some  one  had  inserted  a  translation  of  the  passage  (as  necessary  to  com¬ 
plete  the  sense)  in  the  margin  of  the  copy  which  Blackboume  used  :  for  Blackbourne 
inserts  them  as  a  separate  paragraph. 


810 


PHYSIOLOGICAL  REMAINS. 


which  Pliny  hath,  lib.  xxxiii.  9.  “  Miscuit  denario  triumvir  Anto- 

nius  ferrum.”  And  what  is  said  of  this  is  true  in  the  rest ;  for  iron 
incorporated  with  none  of  them. 

Silver  mixes  with  tin. 

Lead  incorporates  with  copper.  Such  a  mixture  was  the  pot-metal 
whereof  Pliny  speaks,  lib.  xxxiv.  9.  “  Ternis  aut  quaternis  libris 

plumbi  argentarii  in  centenas  seris  additis.” 

Lead  incorporates  with  tin.  The  mixture  of  these  two  in  equal 
proportions,  is  that  which  was  anciently  called  “  plumbum  argenta- 
rium,”  Plin.  lib.  xxxiv.  17. 

Copper  incorporates  with  tin.  Of  such  a  mixture  were  the  mirrors 
of  the  Romans.  Plin.  “  Atque  ut  omnia  de  speculis  peragantur  hoc 
loco,  optima  apud  majores  erant  Brundusina,  stanno  et  tere  mistis.” 
Lib.  lxxxiii.  9. 


Compounded  metals  now  in  use. 

1.  Fine  tin.  The  mixture  is  thus:  pure  tin  a  thousand  pounds, 
temper  fifty  pounds,  glass  of  tin  three  pounds. 

2.  Coarse  pewter  is  made  of  fine  tin  and  lead.  Temper  is  thus 
made  :  the  dross  of  pure  tin,  four  pounds  and  a  half ;  copper,  half  a 
pound. 

3.  Brass  is  made  of  copper  and  calaminaris. 

4.  Bell-metal.  Copper,  a  thousand  pounds ;  tin,  from  three 
hundred  to  two  hundred  pounds  ;  brass,  a  hundred  and  fifty  pounds. 

5.  Pot  metal,  copper  and  lead. 

6.  White  alchemy  is  made  of  pan-brass  one  pound,  and  arsenicum 
three  ounces. 

7.  Red  alchemy  is  made  of  copper  and  auripigmen. 

There  be  divers  imperfect  minerals,  which  will  incorporate  with 
the  metals :  being  indeed  metals  inwardly,  but  clothed  with  earths 
and  stones :  as  pyritis,  calaminaris,  mysi,  chalcyti,  sory,  vitri- 
olum. 

Metals  incorporate  not  with  glass,  except  they  be  brought  into 
the  form  of  glass. 

Metals  dissolved.  The  dissolution  of  gold  and  silver  disagree,  so 
that  in  their  mixture  there  is  great  ebullition,  darkness,  and  in  the 
end  a  precipitation  of  a  black  powder. 

The  mixture  of  gold  and  mercUry  agree. 

Gold  agrees  with  iron.  In  a  word,  the  dissolution  of  mercury 
and  iron  agree  with  all  the  rest. 

Silver  and  copper  disagree,  and  so  do  silver  and  lead.  Silver  and 
tin  agree. 


QUESTIONS  TOUCHING  MINERALS. 


811 


The  second  letter  of  the  cross-row,  touching  the  separation  of 
metals  and  minerals. 

Separation  is  of  three  sorts ;  the  first,  is  the  separating  of  the 
pure  metal  from  the  ore  or  dross,  which  we  call  refining.  The 
second,  is  the  drawing  one  metal  or  mineral  out  of  another, 
which  we  call  extracting.  The  third,  is  the  separating  of  any 
metal  into  his  original,  or  materia  prima,  or  element,  or  call 
them  what  you  will ;  which  work  we  will  call  principiation. 

For  refining,  we  are  to  enquire  of  it  according  to  the  several 
metals ;  as  gold,  silver,  &c.  Incidently  we  are  to  enquire  of 
the  first  stone  or  ore,  or  marcasite  of  metals  severally,  and 
what  kind  of  bodies  they  are,  and  of  the  degrees  of  richness. 
Also  we  are  to  enquire  of  the  means  of  separating,  whether  by 
fire,  parting  waters,  or  otherwise.  Also  for  the  manner  of 
refining,  you  are  to  see  how  you  can  multiply  the  heat,  or 
hasten  the  opening,  and  so  save  the  charge  in  the  fining. 

The  means  of  this  in  three  manners ;  that  is  to  say,  in  the 
blast  of  the  fire;  in  the  manner  of  the  furnace,  to  multiply 
heat  by  union  and  reflexion  ;  and  by  some  additament,  or  me¬ 
dicines  which  will  help  the  bodies  to  open  them  the  sooner. 

Note ;  the  quickening  of  the  blast,  and  the  multiplying  of 
the  heat  in  the  furnace,  may  be  the  same  for  all  metals ;  but 
the  additaments  must  be  several,  according  to  the  nature  of  the 
metals.  Note  again,  that  if  you  think  that  [by]  the  multiply¬ 
ing  of  the  additaments  in  the  same  proportion  that  you  multiply 
the  ore,  the  work  will  follow,  you  may  be  deceived :  for  quan¬ 
tity  in  the  passive  will  add  more  resistance  than  the  same 
quantity  in  the  active  will  add  force. 

For  extracting,  you  are  to  enquire  what  metals  contain 
others,  and  likewise  what  not ;  as  lead,  silver ;  copper,  silver, 
&c. 

Note;  although  the  charge  of  extraction  should  exceed  the 
worth,  yet  that  is  not  the  matter.  For  at  least  it  will  discover 
nature  and  possibility,  the  other  may  be  thought  on  afterwards. 

We  are  likewise  to  enquire,  what  the  differences  are  of  those 
metals  which  contain  more  or  less  other  metals,  and  how  that 
agrees  with  the  poorness  or  richness  of  the  metals  or  ore  in 
themselves.  As  the  lead  that  contains  most  silver  is  accounted 
to  be  more  brittle,  and  yet  otherwise  poorer  in  itself. 


812 


PHYSIOLOGICAL  REMAINS. 


For  principialion,  I  cannot  affirm  whether  there  be  any  such 
thing  or  not;  and  I  think  the  chemists  make  too  much  ado 
about  it ;  hut  howsoever  it  be,  be  it  solution,  or  extraction,  or 
a  kind  of  conversion  by  the  fire ;  it  is  diligently  to  be  enquired 
what  salts,  sulphur,  vitriol,  mercury,  or  the  like  simple  bodies 
are  to  be  found  in  the  several  metals,  and  in  what  quantity. 

Dr.  MevereVs  answers  to  the  foregoing  questions,  touching  the  sepa¬ 
rations  of  metals  and  minerals. 

1.  For  the  means  of  separating.  After  that  the  ore  is  washed,  or 
cleansed  from  the  earth,  there  is  nothing  simply  necessary,  save 
only  a  wind  furnace  well  framed,  narrow  above  and  at  the  hearth, 
in  shape  oval,  sufficiently  fed  with  charcoal  and  ore,  in  convenient 
proportions. 

For  additions  in  this  first  separation,  I  have  observed  none  ;  the 
dross  the  mineral  brings  being  sufficient.  The  refiners  of  iron 
observe,  that  that  ironstone  is  hardest  to  melt  which  is  fullest  of 
metal,  and  that  easiest  which  hath  most  dross.  But  in  lead  and  tin 
the  contrary  is  noted  Yet  in  melting  of  metals,  when  they  have 
been  calcined  formerly  by  fire,  or  strong  waters,  there  is  good  use  of 
additaments,  as  of  borax,  tartar,  armoniac,  and  salt-petre. 

2.  In  extracting  of  metals.  Note,  that  lead  and  tin  contain  silver. 
Lead  and  silver  contain  gold.  Iron  contains  brass.  Silver  is  best 
separated  from  lead  by  the  test.  So  gold  from  silver.  Yet  the  best 
way  for  that  is  aqua  regia. 

3.  For  principiation.  I  can  truly  and  boldly  affirm,  that  there 
are  no  such  principles  as  sal,  sulphur,  and  mercury,  which  can  be 
separated  from  any  perfect  metals.  For  every  part  so  separated, 
may  easily  be  reduced  into  perfect  metal  without  substitution  of 
that,  or  those  principles  which  chemists  imagine  to  be  wanting.  As 
suppose  you  take  the  salt  of  lead ;  this  salt,  or  as  some  name  it, 
sulphur,  may  be  turned  into  perfect  lead,  by  melting  it  with  the  like 
quantity  of  lead  which  contains  principles  only  for  itself. 

I  acknowledge  that  there  is  quicksilver  and  brimstone  found  in 
the  imperfect  minerals ;  but  those  are  nature’s  remote  materials,  and 
not  the  chemist’s  principles.  As  if  you  dissolve  antimony  by  aqua 
regia,  there  will  be  real  brimstone  swimming  upon  the  water :  as 
appears  by  the  colour  of  the  fire  when  it  is  burnt,  and  by  the 
smell. 


QUESTIONS  TOUCHING  MINERALS. 


813 


The  third  letter  of  the  cross-roto,  touching  the  variation  of  metals 
into  several  shapes,  bodies,  or  natures,  the  particulars  whereof 
follow. 


Tincture. 

Turning  to  rust. 

Calcination. 

Sublimation. 

Precipitation. 

Amalgamatizing,  or  turning 
into  a  soft  body. 
Vitrification. 


Opening  or  dissolving  into 
liquor. 

Sproutings,  or  branchings, 
or  arborescents. 

Induration  and  mollification. 
Making  tough  or  brittle. 
Volatility  and  fixation. 
Transmutation,  or  version. 


For  tincture ;  it  is  to  be  enquired  how  metal  may  be  tinged 
through  and  through,  and  with  what,  and  into  what  colours ; 
as  tinging  silver  yellow,  tinging  copper  white,  and  tinging  red, 
green,  blue  ;  especially  with  keeping  the  lustre. 

Item,  tincture  of  glasses. 

Item,  tincture  of  marble,  flint,  or  other  stone. 

F or  turning  into  rust,  two  things  are  chiefly  to  be  enquired ; 
by  what  corrosives1  it  is  done,  and  into  what  colours  it  turns  ; 
as  lead  into  white,  which  they  call  cerus ;  iron  into  yellow, 
which  they  call  crocus  martis ;  quicksilver  into  vermilion ; 
brass  into  green,  which  they  call  verdigrease. 

For  calcination-,  how  every  metal  is  calcined,  and  into  what 
kind  of  body,  and  what  is  the  exquisitest  way  of  calcination. 

For  sublimation ;  to  enquire  the  manner  of  subliming,  and 
what  metals  endure  subliming,  and  what  body  the  sublimate 
makes. 

For  precipitation  likewise;  by  what  strong  water  every 
metal  will  precipitate,  and  with  what  additaments,  and  in  what 
time,  and  into  what  body. 

So  for  amalgama ;  what  metals  will  endure  it,  what  are  the 
means  to  do  it,  and  what  is  the  manner  of  the  body. 

For  vitrification  likewise ;  what  metals  will  endure  it,  what, 
are  the  means  to  do  it,  into  what  colour  it  turns,  and  further 
where  the  whole  metal  is  turned  into  glass,  and  where  the 
metal  doth  but  hang  in  the  glassy  parts  ;  also  what  weight  the 
vitrified  body  bears,  compared  with  the  crude  body;  also 
because  vitrification  is  accounted  a  kind  of  death  of  metals, 
what  vitrification  will  admit  of  turning  back  again,  and  what 
not. 


e wash  es  in  orig. 


814 


PHYSIOLOGICAL  REMAINS. 


For  dissolution  into  liquor,  we  are  to  enquire  what  is  the 
proper  menstruum  to  dissolve  any  metal,  and  in  the  negative, 
what  will  touch  upon  the  one  and  not  upon  the  other,  and  what 
several  menstrua  will  dissolve  any  metal,  and  which  most  ex¬ 
actly.  Item  the  process  or  motion  of  the  dissolution,  the 
manner  of  rising,  boiling,  vapouring,  more  violent  or  more 
gentle,  causing  much  heat  or  less.  Item  the  quantity  or  charge 
that  the  strong  water  will  bear,  and  then  give  over.  Item  the 
colour  into  which  the  liquor  will  turn.  Above  all  it  is  to  be 
enquired,  whether  there  be  any  menstruum  to  dissolve  any 
metal,  that  is  not  fretting  or  corroding,  and  openeth  the  body 
by  sympathy,  and  not  by  mordacity  or  violent  penetration. 

For  sprouting  or  branching ,  though  it  be  a  thing  but  transitory, 
and  a  kind  of  toy  or  pleasure,  yet  there  is  a  more  serious  use 
of  it ;  for  that  it  discovereth  the  delicate  motions  of  spirits, 
when  they  put  forth  and  cannot  get  forth,  like  unto  that  which 
is  in  vegetables. 

For  induration,  or  mollification  ;  it  is  to  be  enquired  what 
will  make  metals  harder  and  harder,  and  what  will  make  them 
softer  and  softer.  And  this  inquiry  tendeth  to  two  ends  :  first, 
for  use ;  as  to  make  iron  soft  by  the  fire  makes  it  malleable. 
Secondly,  because  induration  is  a  degree  towards  fixation,  and 
mollification  towards  volatility ;  and  therefore  the  inquiry  of 
them  will  give  light  towards  the  other. 

For  tough  and  brittle,  they  are  much  of  the  same  kind,  but 
yet  worthy  of  an  inquiry  apart,  especially  to  join  hardness  with 
toughness,  as  making  glass  malleable,  &c.  and  making  blades 
strong  to  resist  and  pierce,  and  yet  not  easy  to  break. 

For  volatility  and  fixation.  It  is  a  principal  branch  to  be 
enquired :  the  utmost  degree  of  fixation  is  that  whereon  no 
fire  will  work,  nor  strong  water  joined  with  fire,  if  there  be 
any  such  fixation  possible.  The  next  is,  when  fire  simply  will 
not  work  without  strong  waters.  The  next  is  by  the  test. 
The  next  is  when  it  will  endure  fire  not  blown,  or  such  a 
strength  of  fire.  The  next  is  when  it  will  not  endure,  but  yet 
is  malleable.  The  next  is  when  it  is  not  malleable,  but  yet  is 
not  fluent,  but  stupified.  So  of  volatility,  the  utmost  degree 
is  when  it  will  fly  away  without  returning.  The  next  is  when 
it  will  fly  up,  but  with  ease  return.  The  next  is  when  it  will 
fly  upwards  over  the  helm 1  by  a  kind  of  exsufflation  without 

1 '  So  orig.  Rawley  translates  it  supra  caput ;  and  it  is  probably  a  mistake  for  head. 


QUESTIONS  TOUCHING  MINERALS 


815 


vapouring.  The  next  is  when  it  will  melt  though  not  rise. 
The  next  is  when  it  will  soften  though  not  melt  Of  all  these 
diligent  inquiry  is  to  be  made  in  several  metals,  especially  of 
the  more  extreme  degrees. 

For  transmutation  or  version.  If  it  be  real  and  true,  it  is 
the  farthest  part  of  art,  and  would  be  well  distinguished  from 
extraction,  from  restitution,  and  from  adulteration.  I  hear 
much  of  turning  iron  into  copper  ;  I  hear  also  of  the  growth 
of  lead  in  weight,  which  cannot  be  without  a  conversion  of 
some  body  into  lead :  but  whatsoever  is  of  this  kind,  and  well 
expressed,  is  diligently  to  be  enquired  and  set  down. 

Dr.  Meverel’s  answers  to  the  foregoing  questions,  concerning  the 
variation  of  metals  and  minerals. 

1.  For  tinctures,  there  are  none  that  I  know,  but  that  rich  variety 
which  springs  from  mixture  of  metals  with  metals,  or  imperfect 
minerals. 

2.  The  imperfect  metals  are  subject  to  rust,  all  of  them  except 
mercury,  which  is  made  into  vermilion  by  solution,  or  calcination. 
The  rest  are  rusted  by  any  salt,  sour,  or  acid  water.  Lead  into  a 
white  body  called  cerussa.  Iron  into  a  pale  red  called  ferrugo. 
Copper  is  turned  into  green,  named  eerugo,  ces  viride.  Tin  into 
white  :  but  this  is  not  in  use,  neither  hath  it  obtained  a  name. 

The  Scriptures  mention  the  rust  of  gold,  but  that  is  in  regard  of 
the  allay. 

3.  Calcination.  All  metals  may  be  calcined  by  strong  waters,  or 
by  admixtion  of  salt,  sulphur,  and  mercury.  The  imperfect  metals 
may  be  calcined  by  continuance  of  simple  fire  ;  iron  thus  calcined  is 
called  crocus  martis. 

And  this  is  their  best  way.  Gold  and  silver  are  best  calcined  by 
mercury.  Their  colour  is  grey.  Lead  calcined  is  very  red.  Copper 
dusky  red. 

4.  Metals  are  sublimed  by  joining  them  with  mercury  or  salts. 
As  silver  with  mercury,  gold  with  sal  armoniac,  mercury  with 
vitriol. 

5.  Precipitation  is,  when  any  metal  being  dissolved  inio  a  strong 
water,  is  beaten  down  into  a  powder  by  salt  water.  The  chiefest  in 
this  kind  is  oil  of  tartar. 

6.  Amalgamation  is  the  joining  or  mixing  of  mercury  with  any 
other  of  the  metals.  The  manner  is  this  in  gold,  the  rest  are 
answerable  :  take  six  parts  of  mercury,  make  them  hot  in  a  crucible, 
and  pour  them  to  one  part  of  gold  made  red-hot  in  another  crucible, 
stir  these  well  together  that  they  may  incorporate  ;  which  done,  cast 


816 


PHYSIOLOGICAL  REMAINS. 


the  mass  into  cold  water  and  wash  it.  This  is  called  the  amalgama 
of  gold. 

7.  For  vitrification.  All  the  imperfect  metals  may  be  turned  by 
strong  fire  into  glass,  except  mercury  ;  iron  into  green  ;  lead  into 
yellow  ;  brass  into  blue  ;  tin  into  pale  yellow.  For  gold  and  silver, 
I  have  not  known  them  vitrified,  except  joined  with  antimony. 
These  glassy  bodies  may  be  reduced  into  the  form  of  mineral  bodies. 

8.  Dissolution.  All  metals  without  exception  may  be  dissolved. 

(1.)  Iron  may  be  dissolved  by  any  tart,  salt,  or  vitriolated  water  ; 

yea,  by  common  water,  if  it  be  first  calcined  with  sulphur.  It  dis¬ 
solves  in  aqua  forti,  with  great  ebullition  and  heat,  into  a  red  liquor, 
so  red  as  blood, 

(2.)  Lead  is  fittest  dissolved  in  vinegar,  into  a  pale  yellow,  making 
the  vinegar  very  sweet. 

(3.)  Tin  is  best  dissolved  with  distilled  salt  water.  It  retains  the 
colour  of  the  menstruum. 

(4.)  Copper  dissolves  as  iron  doth,  in  the  same  liquor,  into  a  blue. 

(5.)  Silver  hath  its  proper  menstruum ,  which  is  aqua  fortis.  The 
colour  is  green,  with  great  heat  and  ebullition. 

(6.)  Gold  is  dissolved  with  aqua  regia,  into  a  yellow  liquor,  with 
little  heat  or  ebullition. 

(7.)  Mercury  is  dissolved  with  much  heat  and  boiling,  into  the 
same  liquors  which  gold  and  silver  are.  It  alters  not  the  colour  of 
the  menstruum. 

Note.  Strong  waters  may  be  charged  with  half  their  weight  of 
fixed  metals,  and  equal  of  mercury  ;  if  the  workman  be  skilful. 

9.  Sprouting.  This  is  an  accident  of  dissolution.  For  if  the 
menstruum  be  overcharged,  then  within  short  time  the  metals  will 
shoot  into  certain  crystals. 

10.  For  induration,  or  mollification,  they  depend  upon  the  quan¬ 
tity  of  fixed  mercury  and  sulphur.  I  have  observed  little  of  them, 
neither  of  toughness  nor  brittleness. 

11.  The  degrees  of  fixation  and  volatility  I  acknowledge,  except 
the  two  utmost,  which  never  were  observed. 

12.  The  question  of  transmutation  is  very  doubtful.  Wherefore  I 
refer  your  honour  to  the  fourth  tome  of  Theatrum  Chymicum : 
and  there,  to  that  tract  which  is  intitled  Disquisitio  Heliana ;  where 
you  shall  find  full  satisfaction. 


The  fourth  letter  of  the  cross-row,  touching  restitution. 

First,  therefore  it  is  to  be  enquired  in  the  negative,  what 
bodies  will  never  return,  either  by  their  extreme  fixings,  as  in 
some  vitrifications,  or  by  extreme  volatility. 


QUESTIONS  TOUCHING  MINERALS. 


817 


It  is  also  to  be  enquired  of  the  two  means  of  reduction ; 
and  first  by  the  fire,  which  is  but  by  congregation  of  homo- 
geneal  parts. 

The  second  is,  by  drawing  them  down  by  some  body  that 
hath  consent  with  them.  As  iron  draweth  down  copper  in 
water  ;  gold  draweth  quicksilver  in  vapour ;  whatsoever  is  of 
this  kind,  is  very  diligently  to  be  enquired. 

Also  it  is  to  be  enquired  what  time  or  age  will  reduce  with¬ 
out  help  of  fire  or  body. 

Also  it  is  to  be  enquired  what  gives  impediment  to  union  or 
restitution,  which  is  sometimes  called  mortification ;  as  when 
quicksilver  is  mortified  with  turpentine,  spittle,  or  butter. 

Lastly,  it  is  to  be  enquired  how  the  metal  restored  differeth 
in  any  thing  from  the  metal  rare 1 :  as  whether  it  become  not 
more  churlish,  altered  in  colour,  or  the  like. 

Dr.  MevereVs  answers  touching  the  restitutions  of  metals  and 

minerals. 

Reduction  is  chiefly  effected  by  fire,  wherein  if  they  stand  and 
nele,  the  imperfect  metals  vapour  away,  and  so  do  all  manner  of 
salts  which  separated  them  in  minimas  partes  before. 

Reduction  is  singularly  holpen  by  joining  store  of  metal  of  the 
same  nature  with  it  in  the  melting. 

Metals  reduced  are  somewhat  churlish,  but  not  altered  in  colour. 


J  So  orig.  The  translation  has  crudo. 


818 


PHYSIOLOGICAL  REMAINS. 


THE  LORD  VERULAM’S  INQUISITION  CONCERNING  THE 
VERSIONS,  TRANSMUTATIONS,  MULTIPLICATIONS, 

AND  EFFECTIONS  OF  BODIES, 

Written  by  him  originally  in  English,  though  not  hitherto  published 
in  that  language .' 

Earth  by  fire  is  turned  into  brick,  which  is  of  the  nature  of 
a  stone,  and  serveth  for  building,  as  stone  doth :  and  the  like 
of  tile.  Qu.  the  manner. 

Naphtha,  which  was  the  bituminous  mortar  used  in  the 
walls  of  Babylon,  grows  to  an  entire  and  very  hard  matter  like 
a  stone. 

In  clay  countries,  where  there  is  pebble  and  gravel,  you 
shall  find  great  stones,  where  you  may  see  the  pebbles  or  gravel, 
and  between  them  a  substance  of  stone  as  hard  or  harder  than 
the  pebble  itself. 

There  are  some  springs  of  water,  wherein  if  you  put  wood, 
it  will  turn  into  the  nature  of  stone :  so  as  that  within  the 
water  shall  be  stone,  and  that  above  the  water  continue  wood. 

The  slime  about  the  reins  and  bladder  in  man’s  body,  turns 
into  stone :  and  stone  is  likewise  found  often  in  the  gall ;  and 
sometimes,  though  rarely,  in  vend  porta. 

Quaere,  what  time  the  substance  of  earth  in  quarries  asketh 
to  be  turned  into  stone  ? 

Water,  as  it  seems,  turneth  into  crystal,  as  is  seen  in  divers 
caves,  where  the  crystal  hangs  in  stillicidiis. 

Try  wood,  or  the  stalk  of  herbs,  buried  in  quicksilver, 
whether  it  will  not  grow  hard  and  stony. 

They  speak  of  a  stone  engendered  in  a  toad’s  head. 

There  was  a  gentleman,  digging  in  his  moat,  found  an  egg 
turned  into  stone,  the  white  and  the  yolk  keeping  their  colour, 
and  the  shell  glistering  like  a  stone  cut  with  corners. 

Try  some  things  put  into  the  bottom  of  a  well ;  as  wood,  or 
some  soft  substance :  but  let  it  not  touch  the  water,  because  it 
may  not  putrify. 

They  speak,  that  the  white  of  an  egg  with  lying  long  in 
the  sun,  will  turn  stone. 

Mud  in  water  turns  into  shells  of  fishes,  as  in  horse-mussels, 
in  fresh  ponds,  old  and  overgrown.  And  the  substance  is  a 
wondrous  fine  substance,  light  and  shining. 

1  Baconiana,  p.  129. 


WEIGHT  IN  AIR  AND  WATER. 


819 


CERTAIN  EXPERIMENTS  MADE  BY  THE  LORD  BACON  ABOUT 
WEIGHT  IN  AIR  AND  WATER.1 

A  new  sovereign  of  equal  weight  in  the  air  to  the  piece  in 
brass,  overweigheth  in  the  water  nine  grains :  in  three  sove¬ 
reigns  the  difference  in  the  water  is  but  twenty-four  grains. 

The  same  sovereign  overweigheth  an  equal  weight  of  lead, 
four  grains  in  the  water,  in  brass  grains  for  gold:  in  three 
sovereigns  about  eleven  grains. 

The  same  sovereign  overweigheth  an  equal  weight  of  stones 
in  the  air,  at  least  sixty-five  grains  in  the  water :  the  grains 
being  for  the  weight  of  gold  in  brass  metal. 

A  glass  filled  with  water  weighing,  in  Troy  weights,  thirteen 
ounces  and  five  drams,  the  glass  and  the  water  together, 
weigheth  severally,  viz.  the  water  nine  ounces  and  a  half,  and 
the  glass  four  ounces  and  a  dram. 

A  bladder  weighing  two  ounces  seven  drams  and  a  half,  a 


1  Baconiana,  p.  134. 

Bacon  derived  this  method  of  weighing  in  air  and  water  from  Porta,  who  in  his 
Natural  Magic  speaks  of  it  as  so  great  a  thing  as  to  entitle  him  to  say  xmepeip-pKa 
inrepcvpi)Ka ;  referring  of  course  to  the  story  of  Archimedes.  Of  course  it  is  possible 
to  calculate  specific  gravities  from  experiments  in  which  both  scales  of  the  balance  are 
immersed  in  water;  but  Porta’s  rule  for  determining  the  amount  of  alloy  contained  in 
a  piece  of  gold  is  altogether  wrong,  and  how  confused  his  notions  were  is  shown  by 
his  directing  the  experimenter  to  immerse  the  scales  circiter  semipedem,  as  if  the  depth 
made  any  difference.  So  too  Bacon  speaks  of  immersing  one  of  the  scales  five  inches. 
Porta,  a  little  further  on,  records  some  experiments  made  by  immersing  only  one  of 
the  scales;  and  so  we  may  observe  does  Bacon, — a  circumstance  which  makes  it  plain 
that  he  was  following  Porta’s  directions.  The  notion  of  weighing  in  air  and  water 
was  however  not  new.  It  is  treated  of  at  some  length  by  Nicholas  De  Cusa.  But 
Cusa’s  notions  are  at  least  as  confused  as  Porta’s.  Thus  he  wants  to  determine  not 
only  the  pondus  gravitatis,  but  other  kinds  of  pondera;  and  remarking  that  lead  comes 
next  to  gold  in  pondus  gravitatis — so  that  it  would  seem  as  if  the  comparative  value  of 
metals  could  not  be  determined  by  the  balance — goes  on  to  say  that  if  we  take  account 
of  the  pondus  ignis,  then  silver  would,  as  it  ought  to  do,  come  next.  See  Porta’s 
Natural  Magic,  18.  chap.  8.,  and  Cusa  de  Staticis  Experimentis,  appended  to  the  edition 
of  Vitruvius  published  at  Strasbourg,  1550.  (The  tract  is  not  paged.) 

One  of  the  first  determinations  of  specific  gravity  results  from  Vitruvius’s  statement 
with  respect  to  Mercury.  He  says  “  quum  sint  quatuor  sextariorum  mensurse  cum 
expenduntur  invenientur  esse  pondo  centum.”  Now  the  congius  held,  as  we  know,  ten 
Roman  pounds  of  water,  and  therefore  the  sextarius  held  five-thirds  of  a  pound  ;  four 
sextarii  consequently  of  water  would  weigh  six  pounds  and  two-thirds  ;  and  comparing 
this  with  Vitruvius’s  statement,  the  specific  gravity  of  quicksilver  is  fifteen, — a  result 
sufficiently  near  the  truth,  but  erring  in  excess. 

It  is  worth  remarking  that  Vitruvius  in  the  passage  I  refer  to  gives  the  name  of 
minium  to  cinnabar,  not  as  commonly  to  red-lead.  The  name  of  Vermillion  must 
originally  have  belonged,  as  the  etymology  indicates,  to  kermes  or  cochineal.  There 
is  however  a  great  deal  of  confusion  in  these  names ;  and  it  would  seem  from  Arrian 
that  the  name  cinnabar  was  originally  given  to  cochineal.  There  is  a  wonderful 
story  of  its  being  produced  by  a  mixture  of  the  blood  of  dragons  and  of  elephants. 
See  Vitruvius,  book  vii.  chap.  8.  —  R,  L.  E. 


820 


PHYSIOLOGICAL  REMAINS. 


pebble  laid  upon  the  top  of  the  bladder  makes  three  ounces 
six  drams  and  a  half,  the  stone  weigheth  seven  drams. 

The  bladder  (as  above)  blown,  and  the  same  fallen,  weigheth 
equal. 

A  sponge  dry  weigheth  one  ounce  twenty-six  grains:  the 
same  sponge  being  wet,  weigheth  fourteen  ounces  six  drams 
and  three  quarters :  the  water  weigheth  in  several  eleven  ounces 
one  dram  and  a  half,  and  the  sponge  three  otmces  and  a  half 
and  three  quarters  of  a  dram.  First  time. 

The  sponge  and  water  together  weigh  fifteen  ounces  and 
seven  drams :  in  several,  the  water  weigheth  eleven  ounces  and 
seven  drams,  and  the  sponge  three  ounces  seven  drams  and  a 
half.  Second  time. 

Three  sovereigns  made  equal  to  a  weight  in  silver  in  the  air 
differ  in  the  water. 

For  false  weights,  one  beam  long,  the  other  thick. 

The  stick  and  thread  weigh  half  a  dram  and  twenty  grains, 
being  laid  in  the  balance. 

The  stick  tied  to  reach  within  half  an  inch  of  the  end  of  the 
beam,  and  so  much  from  the  tongue,  weigheth  twenty-eight 
grains ;  the  difference  is  twenty-two  grains. 

The  same  stick  being  tied  to  hang  over  the  end  of  the  beam 
an  inch  and  a  half,  weigheth  half  a  dram  and  twenty-four 
grains ;  exceeding  the  weight  of  the  said  stick  in  the  balance 
by  four  grains. 

The  same  stick  being  hanged  down  beneath  the  thread,  as 
near  the  tongue  as  is  possible,  weigheth  only  eight  grains. 

Two  weights  of  gold  being  made  equal  in  the  air,  and  weigh¬ 
ing  severally  seven  drams ;  the  one  balance  being  put  into  the 
water,  and  the  other  hanging  in  the  air,  the  balance  in  the 
water  weigheth  only  five  drams  and  three  grains,  and  abateth 
of  the  weight  in  the  air,  one  dram  and  a  half,  and  twenty-seven 
grains. 

The  same  trial  being  made  the  second  time,  and  more  truly 
and  exactly  betwixt  gold  and  gold,  weighing  severally  (as 
above)  and  making  a  just  and  equal  weight  in  the  air,  the  one 
balance  being  put  into  the  water  the  depth  of  five  inches,  and 
the  other  hanging  in  the  air,  the  balance  in  the  water  weigheth 
only  four  drams  and  fifty-five  grains,  and  abateth  of  the  weight 
in  the  air  two  drams  and  five  grains. 

The  trial  being  made  betwixt  lead  and  lead,  weighing  seve- 


EXPERIMENTS  FOR  PROFIT. 


821 


rally  seven  drams  in  the  air,  the  balance  in  the  water  weigheth 
only  four  drams  and  forty-one  grains,  and  abateth  of  the  weight 
in  the  air  two  drams  and  nineteen  grains ;  the  balance  kept  the 
same  depth  in  the  water  as  abovesaid. 

The  trial  being  made  betwixt  silver  and  silver,  weighing 
severally  seven  drams  in  the  air,  the  balance  in  the  water 
weigheth  only  four  drams  and  twenty-five  grains.  So  it  abateth 
two  drams  and  thirty- five  grains ;  the  same  depth  in  the  water 
observed. 

In  iron  and  iron,  weighing  severally  each  balance  in  the  air 
seven  drams,  the  balance  in  the  water  weigheth  only  four 
drams  and  eighteen  grains;  and  abateth  of  the  weight  in  the 
air  two  drams  and  forty -two  grains ;  the  depth  observe  as  above. 

In  stone  and  stone,  the  same  weight  of  seven  drams  equally 
in  the  air,  the  balance  in  the  water  weigheth  only  two  drams 
and  twenty-two  grains ;  and  abateth  of  the  weight  in  the  air 
four  drams  and  thirty-eight  grains ;  the  depth  as  above. 

In  brass  and  brass,  the  same  weight  of  seven  drams  in  each 
balance,  equal  in  the  air,  the  balance  in  the  water  weigheth 
only  four  drams  and  twenty-two  grains;  and  abateth  in  the 
water  two  drams  and  thirty-eight  grains ;  the  depth  observed. 

The  two  balances  being  weighed  in  air  and  water,  the  ba¬ 
lance  in  the  air  over-weigheth  the  other  in  the  water  one  dram 
and  twenty-eight  grains ;  the  depth  in  the  water  as  aforesaid. 

It  is  a  profitable  experiment  which  sheweth  the  weights  of 
several  bodies  in  comparison  with  water.  It  is  of  use  in  lading 
of  ships  and  other  bottoms,  and  may  help  to  shew  what  burden 
in  the  several  kinds  they  will  bear. 


CERTAIN  SUDDEN  THOUGHTS  OF  THE  LORD  BACON’S, 
SET  DOWN  BY  HIM  UNDER  THE  TITLE  OF 
EXPERIMENTS  FOR  PROFIT.1 


Muck  of  leaves. 

Muck  of  river,  earth,  and 
chalk. 

Muck  of  earth  closed,  both 
for  salt-petre  and  muck. 


Setting  of  wheat  and  peas. 
Mending  of  crops  by  steep¬ 
ing  of  seeds. 

Making  peas,  cherries,  and 
strawberries  come  early. 


1  Baconiana,  p.  138 


822 


PHYSIOLOGICAL  REMAINS. 


Strengthening  of  earth  for 
often  returns  of  radishes,  par¬ 
snips,  turnips,  &c. 

Making  greatrootsof  onions, 
radishes,  and  other  esculent 
roots. 

Sowing  of  seeds  of  trefoil. 

Setting  of  woad. 

Setting  of  tobacco,  and 
taking  away  the  rawns. 

Grafting  upon  boughs  of 
old  trees. 

Making  of  a  hasty  coppice. 

Planting  of  osiers  in  wet 
grounds. 

Making  of  candles  to  last 
long. . 

Building  of  chimnies,  fur¬ 


naces,  and  ovens,  to  give  heat 
with  less  wood. 

Fixing  of  logwood. 

Other  means  to  make  yel¬ 
low  and  green  fixed. 

Conserving  of  oranges,  le¬ 
mons,  citrons,  pomegranates, 
&c.  all  summer. 

Recovering  of  pearl,  coral, 
turchoise  colour,  by  a  conser¬ 
vatory  of  snow. 

Sowing  of  fennel. 

Brewing  with  hay,  haws, 
trefoil,  broom,  heps,  bramble- 
berries,  woodbines,  wild  thyme, 
instead  of  hops,  thistles. 

Multiplying  and  dressing 
artichokes. 


CERTAIN  EXPERIMENTS  OF  THE  LORD  BACON’S, 

ABOUT  THE  COMMIXTURE  OF  LIQUORS  ONLY,  NOT  SOLIDS, 
WITHOUT  HEAT  OR  AGITATION, 

BUT  ONLY  BY  SIMPLE  COMPOSITION  AND  SETTLING.' 

Spirit  of  wine  mingled  with  common  water,  although  it  be 
much  lighter  than  oil,  yet  so  as  if  the  first  fall  be  broken  by 
means  of  a  sop  or  otherwise,  it  stayeth  above;  and  if  it  be 
once  mingled,  it  severeth  not  again,  as  oil  doth.  Tried  with 
water  coloured  with  saffron. 

Spirit  of  wine  mingled  with  common  water  hath  a  kind  of 
clouding,  and  motion  shewing  no  ready  commixture.  Tried 
with  saffron. 

A  dram  of  gold  dissolved  in  aqua  re/jis,  with  a  dram  of  cop¬ 
per  in  aqua  forti,  commixed,  gave  a  green  colour,  but  no 
visible  motion  in  the  parts.  Note,  that  the  dissolution  of  the 
gold  was  twelve  parts  water  to  one  part  body:  and  of  the 
copper  was  six  parts  water  to  one  part  body. 

Oil  of  almonds  commixed  with  spirit  of  wine  severeth,  and 
the  spirit  of  wine  remaineth  on  the  top,  and  the  oil  in  the 
bottom. 


1  Baconiana,  p.  140. 


COMMIXTURE  OF  LIQUORS. 


823 


Gold  dissolved,  commixed  with  spirit  of  wine,  a  dram  of 
each,  doth  commix,  and  no  other  apparent  alteration. 

Quicksilver  dissolved  with  gold  dissolved,  a  dram  of  each, 
doth  turn  to  a  mouldy  liquor,  black,  and  like  smiths’  water. 

Note,  the  dissolution  of  the  gold  was  twelve  parts  water,  ut 
supra,  and  one  part  metal :  that  of  water  was  two  parts,  and 
one  part  metal. 

Spirit  of  wine  and  quicksilver  commixed,  a  dram  of  each,  at 
the  first  shewed  a  white  milky  substance  at  the  top,  but  soon 
after  mingled. 

Oil  of  vitriol  commixed  with  oil  of  cloves,  a  dram  of  each, 
turneth  info  a  red  dark  colour ;  and  a  substance  thick,  almost 
like  pitch ;  and  upon  the  first  motion  gathereth  an  extreme  heat, 
not  to  be  endured  by  touch. 

Dissolution  of  gold,  and  oil  of  vitriol  commixed,  a  dram  of 
each,  gathereth  a  great  heat  at  the  first,  and  darkeneth  the  gold, 
and  maketh  a  thick  yellow. 

Spirit  of  wine  and  oil  of  vitriol,  a  dram  of  each,  hardly 
mingle  ;  the  oil  of  vitriol  going  to  the  bottom,  and  the  spirit  of 
wine  lying  above  in  a  milky  substance.  It  gathereth  also  a 
great  heat,  and  a  sweetness  in  the  taste. 

Oil  of  vitriol  and  dissolution  of  quicksilver,  a  dram  of  each, 
maketh  an  extreme  strife,  and  casteth  up  a  very  gross  fume,  and 
after  casteth  down  a  white  kind  of  curds,  or  sands ;  and  on  the 
top  a  slimish  substance,  and  gathereth  a  great  heat. 

Oil  of  sulphur  and  oil  of  cloves  commixed,  a  dram  of  each, 
turn  into  a  thick  and  red-coloured  substance ;  but  no  such  heat 
as  appeared  in  the  commixture  with  the  oil  of  vitriol. 

Oil  of  petroleum  and  spirit  of  wine,  a  dram  of  each,  inter¬ 
mingle  otherwise  than  by  agitation,  as  wine  and  water  do ;  and 
the  petroleum  remaineth  on  the  top. 

Oil  of  vitriol  and  petroleum,  a  dram  of  each,  turn  into  a 
mouldy  substance,  and  gathereth  some  warmth ;  there  residing  a 
black  cloud  in  the  bottom,  and  a  monstrous  thick  oil  on  the  top. 

Spirit  of  wine  and  red-wine  vinegar,  one  ounce  of  each,  at 
the  first  fall  one  of  them  remaineth  above,  but  by  agitation 
they  mingle. 

Oil  of  vitriol  and  oil  of  almonds,  one  ounce  of  each,  mingle 
not ;  but  the  oil  of  almonds  remaineth  above. 

Spirit  of  wine  and  vinegar,  an  ounce  of  each,  commixed,  do 
mingle,  without  any  apparent  separation,  which  might  be  in 
respect  of  the  colour. 


824 


PHYSIOLOGICAL  REMAINS. 


Dissolution  of  iron,  and  oil  of  vitriol,  a  dram  of  each,  do  first 
put  a  milky  substance  into  the  bottom,  and  after  incorporate 
into  a  mouldy  substance. 

Spirit  of  wine  commixed  with  milk,  a  third  part  spirit  of 
wine,  and  two  parts  milk,  coagulateth  little,  but  mingleth ;  and 
the  spirit  swims  not  above. 

Milk  and  oil  of  almonds  mingled,  in  equal  portions,  do  hardly 
incorporate,  but  the  oil  cometh  above,  the  milk  being  poured  in 
last ;  and  the  milk  appeareth  in  some  drops  or  bubbles. 

Milk  one  ounce,  oil  of  vitriol  a  scruple,  doth  coagulate  ;  the 
milk  atthe  bottom  where  the  vitriol  goeth. 

Dissolution  of  gum  tragacanth,  and  oil  of  sweet  almonds,  do 
not  commingle,  the  oil  remaining  on  the  top  till  they  be  stirred, 
and  make  the  mucilage  1  somewhat  more  liquid. 

Dissolution  of  gum  tragacanth  one  ounce  and  a  half,  with 
half  an  ounce  of  spirit  of  wine,  being  commixed  by  agitation, 
make  the  mucilage  1  more  thick. 

The  white  of  an  egg  with  spirit  of  wine,  doth  bake  the  egg 
into  clots,  as  if  it  began  to  poch. 

One  ounce  of  blood,  one  ounce  of  milk,  do  easily  incorporate. 

Spirit  of  wine  doth  curdle  the  blood. 

One  ounce  of  whey  unclarified,  one  ounce  of  oil  of  vitriol, 
make  no  apparent  alteration. 

One  ounce  of  blood,  one  ounce  of  oil  of  almonds,  incorporate 
not,  but  the  oil  swims  above. 

Three  quarters  of  an  ounce  of  wax  being  dissolved  upon  the 
fire,  and  one  ounce  of  oil  of  almonds  put  together  and  stirred, 
do  not  so  incorporate,  but  that  when  it  is  cold  the  wax  gathereth 
and  swims  upon  the  top  of  the  oil. 

One  ounce  of  oil  of  almonds  cast  into  an  ounce  of  sugar 
seething,  sever  presently,  the  sugar  shooting  towards  the  bottom. 


A  CATALOGUE  OF  BODIES  ATTRACTIVE  AND  NOT  ATTRACTIVE 
MADE  BT  THE  LORD  BACON, 

TOGETHER  WITH  EXPERIMENTAL  OBSERVATIONS 
ABOUT  ATTRACTION.2 

These  following  bodies  draw: 

Amber,  jet,  diamond,  sapphire,  carbuncle,  iris,  the  gem.  opale, 
amethyst,  bristollina,  crystal,  clear  glass,  glass  of  antimony, 

1  mutelatei  in  the  original.  s  Baconiana,  p.  146. 


ATTRACTION. 


825 


divers  flowers  from  mines,  sulphur,  mastic,  hard  sealing-wax, 
the  harder  rosin,  arsenic. 


These  following  bodies  do  not  draw : 

Smaragd,  achates,  comeolus,  pearl,  jaspis,  chalcedonius,  ala¬ 
baster,  porphyry,  coral,  marble,  touchstone,  haematites  or 
bloodstone,  smyris,  ivory,  bones,  ebon-tree,  cedar,  cypress, 
pitch,  softer  rosin,  camphire,  galbanum,  ammoniac,  storax, 
benjoin,  loadstone  *,  asphaltum. 

These  bodies,  gold,  silver,  brass,  iron,  draw  not,  though 
never  so  finely  polished. 

In  winter,  if  the  air  be  sharp  and  clear,  sal  gemmeum,  rock 
alum,  and  lapis  specularis,  will  draw. 

These  following  bodies  are  apt  to  be  drawn,  if  the  mass  of 
them  be  small : 

Chaff,  woods,  leaves,  stones,  all  metals  leaved,  and  in  the 
mine  ;  earth,  water,  oil. 

Si  fiat  versorium  ex  metallo  aliquo  more  Indicis  Magnetici, 
et  fini  alteri  apponatur  succinum,  leniter  fricatum,  versorium 
convertit  se. 

Succinum  calefactum  ab  igne,  sive  tepeat,  sive  ferveat,  sive 


inflammetur,  non  trahit. 

Bacillum  ferreum  candens.  flamma,  candela  ardens,  carbo 


ignitus,  admota  festucis  aut  versoriis,  non  trahunt. 

Succinum  in  majore  mole,  si  fuerit  politum,  allicit,  licet  non 
fricatum ;  si  in  minore,  aut  impurius,  sine  frictione  non  trahit. 

Crystallus,  lapis  specularis,  vitrum,  electrica  cetera,  si  uran- 
tur,  aut  torreantur,  non  trahunt. 

Pix. 

Resina  mollior. 


Benjoin. 

Asphaltum. 

Camphora. 

Galbanum. 

Ammoniacum. 


Haec  ccelo  calidiore  neutiquam 
l  prorsus  trahunt ;  at  tempore  frigi- 
diore  obscure  et  inferme  trahunt. 


Storax. 

Yapidus  aer  succino,  &c.  afilatus,  vel  ab  ore,  vel  ab  aere 
humidiore,  virtutem  trahendi  suffocat. 


1  A  note  in  tbe  margin  says  the  drawing  of  iron  excepted. 


826 


PHYSIOLOGICAL  REMAINS. 


Si  charta  aut  linteum  interponatur  inter  succinum  et  paleam, 
not  fit  motus  aut  attractio. 

Succinum  aut  electrica  calefacta  ex  radiis  solis,  non  experge- 
fiunt  ad  trahendum,  sicut  ex  frictione. 

Succinum  fricatum,  et  radiis  solis  expositum,  diutius  vires 
trahendi  retinet,  nec  tam  cito  eas  deponit  ac  si  in  umbra  posi- 
tum  esset. 

Fervor  ex  speculo  comburente  succino,  & c.  conciliates,  non 
juvat  ad  trahendum. 

Sulphur  accensum,  et  cera  dura  inflammata,  non  trahunt. 

Succinum,  cum  citissime  a  frictione  festucse  vel  versorio  ap- 
ponitur,  optime  trahit. 

Yirtus  electrica  viget  in  retentione  ad  tempus  non  minus 
quam  in  attractione  prima. 

Flamma  apposito  succino  intra  orbem  activitatis  non  trahitur. 

Gutta  aqua;  admoto  succino  trahitur  in  conum.  Electrica  si 
durius  affricentur,  impeditur  attractio. 

Quae  aegre  alliciunt  in  claro  coelo,  in  crasso  non  movent. 

Aqua  imposita  succino  virtutem  trahendi  suffocat,  licet  ipsam 
aquam  trahat. 

Sarca  ita  succino  circundatum,  ut  tangat,  attractionem  tollit ; 
sed  interpositum  ut  non  tangat,  non  omnino  tollit. 

Oleum  succino  appositum  motum  non  impedit ;  nec  succinum 
digito  oleo  madefacto  fricatum,  vires  trahendi  perdit. 

Firmius  provocant,  et  diutius  retinent  succinum,  gagates,  et 
hujusmodi,  etiam  minore  cum  frictione :  adamas,  crystallum, 
vitrum,  diutius  teri  debent,  ut  manifesto  incalescant  antequam 
trahant. 

Qure  flammae  approximant,  licet  propinqua  distantia,  a  succino 
non  trahuntur. 

Fumum  extincta  lucerna  succinum,  &c.  trahit.  Fumus  ubi 
exit  et  crassus  est,  fortius  trahit  succinum ;  cum  ascendent, 
et  rarior  fit,  debilius.  Corpus  ab  electricis  attractum  non  ma¬ 
nifesto  alteratur,  sed  tantum  incumbit. 


827 


MEDICAL  REMAINS. 


A  Medical  Paper  of  the  Lord  Bacon's,  to  which  he  gave  the  title 
of  Grains  of  Youth.1 

Take  of  nitre  four  grains,  of  ambergrease  three  grains,  of 
orris-powder  two  grains,  of  white  poppy-seed  the  fourth  part  of 
a  grain,  of  saffron  half  a  grain,  with  water  of  orange-flowers, 
and  a  little  tragacanth ;  make  them  into  small  grains,  four  in 
number.  To  be  taken  at  four  a-clock,  or  going  to  bed. 

Preserving  ointments. 

Take  of  deers-suet  one  ounce,  of  myrrh  six  grains,  of  saffron 
five  grains,  of  bay-salt  twelve  grains,  of  Canary  wine,  of  two 
years  old,  a  spoonful  and  a  half.  Spread  it  on  the  inside  of 
your  shirt,  and  let  it  dry,  and  then  put  in  on. 

A  purge  familiar  for  opening  the  liver. 

Take  rhubarb  two  drams,  agaric  trochiscat  one  dram  and  a 
half,  steep  them  in  claret  wine  burnt  with  mace ;  take  of  worm¬ 
wood  one  dram,  steep  it  with  the  rest,  and  make  a  mass  of  pills 
with  syrup,  acetos.  simplex.  But  drink  an  opening  broth  before 
it,  with  succory,  fennel,  and  smallage  roots,  and  a  little  of  an 
onion. 


Wine  for  the  spirits. 

Take  gold  perfectly  refined  three  ounces,  quench  it  six  or 
seven  times  in  good  claret  wine ;  add  of  nitre  six  grains  for  two 
draughts ;  add  of  saffron  prepared  three  grains,  of  ambergrease 
four  grains,  pass  it  through  an  hippocras  bag,  wherein  there  is 
a  dram  of  cinnamon  gross  beaten,  or,  to  avoid  the  dimming  of 
the  colour,  of  ginger.  Take  two  spoonsful  of  this  to  a  draught 
of  fresh  claret  wine. 


Baconiana,  p.  155. 


828 


MEDICAL  REMAINS. 


The  preparing  of  saffron. 

Take  six  grains  of  saffron,  steeped  in  half  parts  of  wine  and 
rose  water,  and  a  quarter  part  vinegar :  then  dry  it  in  the  sun. 

Wine  against  adverse  melancholy,  preserving  the  senses  and  the 

reason. 

Take  the  roots  of  bugloss  well  scraped,  and  cleansed  from 
their  inner  pith,  and  cut  them  into  small  slices  ;  steep  them  in 
wine  of  gold  extinguished  ut  supra,  and  add  of  nitre  three 
grains,  and  drink  it  ut  supra,  mixed  with  fresh  wine :  the  roots 
must  not  continue  steeped  above  a  quarter  of  an  hour ;  and 
they  must  be  changed  thrice. 

Breakfast-preservative  against  the  gout  and  rheums. 

To  take  once  in  the  month  at  least,  and  for  two  days  to¬ 
gether,  one  grain  of  castorei  in  my  ordinary  broth. 

The  preparation  of  garlick. 

Take  garlick  four  ounces,  boil  it  upon  a  soft  fire  in  claret 
wine,  for  half  an  hour.  Take  it  out  and  steep  it  in  vinegar ; 
whereto  add  two  drams  of  cloves,  then  take  it  forth,  and  keep 
it  in  a  glass  for  use. 

The  artificial  preparation  of  damask-roses,  for  smell. 

Take  roses,  pull  their  leaves,  then  dry  them  in  a  clear  day  in 
the  hot  sun :  then  their  smell  will  be  as  gone.  Then  cram  them 
into  an  earthen  bottle,  very  dry  and  sweet,  and  stop  it  very 
close  ;  they  will  remain  in  smell  and  colour  both,  fresher  than 
those  that  are  otherwise  dried.  Note,  the  first  drying,  and 
close  keeping  upon  it,  preventeth  all  putrefaction,  and  the 
second  spirit  cometh  forth,  made  of  the  remaining  moisture  not 
dissipated. 


A  restorative  drink. 

Take  of  Indian  maiz  half  a  pound,  grind  it  not  too  small, 
but  to  the  fineness  of  ordinary  meal,  and  then  bolt  and  serce 
it,  that  all  the  husky  part  may  be  taken  away.  Take  of 
eryngium  roots  three  ounces,  of  dates  as  much,  of  enula  two 


MEDICAL  REMAINS. 


829 


drams,  of  mace  three  drams,  and  brew  them  with  ten-shilling 
beer  to  the  quantity  of  four  gallons :  and  this  do,  either  by  de¬ 
cocting  them  in  a  pottle  of  wort,  to  be  after  mingled  with  the 
beer,  being  new  tapped,  or  otherwise  infuse  it  in  the  new  beer 
in  a  bag.  Use  this  familiarly  at  meals. 

Against  the  waste  of  the  body  by  heat. 

Take  sweet  pomegranates,  and  strain  them  lightly,  not  press¬ 
ing  the  kernel,  into  a  glass  ;  where  put  some  little  of  the  peel 
of  a  citron,  and  two  or  three  cloves,  and  three  grains  of  amber¬ 
grease,  and  a  pretty  deal  of  fine  sugar.  It  is  to  be  drunk 
every  morning  whilst  pomegranates  last. 

Methusalem  Water.  Against  all  asperity  and  torref  action  of  in¬ 
ward  parts,  and  all  adustion  of  the  blood,  and  generally  against 
the  dryness  of  age. 

Take  crevises  very  new,  q.  s.  boil  them  well  in  claret  wine, 
of  them  take  only  the  shells,  and  rub  them  very  clean,  espe¬ 
cially  on  the  inside,  that  they  be  may  thoroughly  cleansed  from 
the  meat.  Then  wash  them  three  or  four  times  in  fresh  claret 
wine,  heated  ;  still  changing  the  wine,  till  all  the  fish-taste  be 
quite  taken  away.  But  in  the  wine  wherein  they  are  washed, 
steep  some  tops  of  green  rosemary ;  then  dry  the  pure  shell 
thoroughly,  and  bring  them  to  an  exquisite  powder.  Of  this 
powder  take  three  drams.  Take  also  pearl,  and  steep  them  in 
vinegar  twelve  hours,  and  dry  off  the  vinegar ;  of  this  powder 
also  three  drams.  Then  put  the  shell  powder  and  pearl  powder 
together,  and  add  to  them  of  ginger  one  scruple,  and  of  white 
poppy-seed  half  a  scruple,  and  steep  them  in  spirit  of  wine 
(wherein  six  grains  of  saffron  have  been  dissolved)  seven  hours. 
Then  upon  a  gentle  heat  vapour  away  all  the  spirit  of  wine, 
and  dry  the  powder  against  the  sun  without  fire.  Add  to  it  of 
nitre  one  dram,  of  ambergrease  one  scruple  and  a  half ;  and 
so  keep  this  powder  for  use  in  a  clean  glass.  Then  take  a 
pottle  of  milk,  and  slice  in  it  of  fresh  cucumbers,  the  inner 
pith  only  (the  rind  being  pared  off),  four  ounces,  and  draw 
forth  a  water  by  distillation.  Take  of  claret  wine  a  pint,  and 
quench  gold  in  it  four  times. 

Of  the  wine,  and  of  the  water  of  milk,  take  of  each  three 
ounces,  of  the  powder  one  scruple,  and  drink  it  in  the  morning; 
6tir  up  the  powder  when  you  drink,  and  walk  upon  it. 


830 


MEDICAL  REMAINS. 


A  CATALOGUE  OP  ASTRINGENTS,  OPENERS,  AND  CORDIALS, 
INSTRUMENTAL  TO  HEALTH. 

Collected  by  Sir  Francis  Bacon,  Baron  of  Verulam.1 
ASTRINGENTS. 

Red  rose,  black-berry,  myrtle,  plantane,  flower  of  pome¬ 
granate,  mint,  aloes  well  washed,  myrobalanes,  sloes,  agresta, 
fraga,  mastich,  myrrh,  saffron,  leaves  of  rosemary,  rhubarb 
received  by  infusion,  cloves,  service-berries,  corna,  wormwood, 
bole  armeniac,  sealed  earth,  cinquefoil,  tincture  of  steel,  san¬ 
guis  draconis,  coral,  amber,  quinces,  spikenard,  galls,  alum, 
blood-stone,  mummy,  amomum,  galangal,  cypress,  ivy,  psyllum, 
houseleek,  sallow,  mullein,  vine,  oak-leaves,  lign-aloes,  red 
sanders,  mulberry,  medlars,  flowers  of  peach-trees,  pomegra¬ 
nates,  pears,  palmule,  pith  of  kernels,  purslain,  acacia,  lauda¬ 
num,  tragacanth,  thus  olibani,  comfrey,  shepherds-purse,  poly- 
gonium. 

Astringents  ( both  hot  and  cold)  which  corroborate  the  parts,  and 
which  confirm  and  refresh  such  of  them  as  are  loose  or  lan¬ 
guishing. 

Rosemary,  mint,  especially  with  vinegar,  cloves,  cinnamon, 
cardamom,  lign-aloes,  rose,  myrtle,  red  sanders,  cotonea,  red 
wine,  chalybeat-wine,  five-finger  grass,  plantane,  apples  of 
cypress,  berberries,  fraga,  service-berries,  cornels,  ribes,  sour 
pears,  rambesia. 

Astringents  styptic,  which  by  their  styptic  virtue  may  stay  fluxes. 

Sloes,  acacia,  rind  of  pomegranates  infused,  at  least  three 
hours,  the  styptic  virtue  not  coming  forth  in  lesser  time.  Alum, 
galls,  juice  of  sallow,  syrup  of  unripe  quinces,  balaustia,  the 
whites  of  eggs  boiled  hard  in  vinegar. 

Astringents  which  by  their  cold  and  earthy  nature  may  stay  the 
motion  of  the  humours  tending  to  a  flux. 

Sealed  earth,  sanguis  draconis,  coral,  pearls,  the  shell  of  the 
fish  dactylus. 


1  Baconiana,  p.  161. 


MEDICAL  REMAINS. 


831 


Astringents  which  by  the  thickness  of  their  substance  stuff  as  it 
were  the  thin  humours,  and  thereby  stay  fluxes. 

Rice,  beans,  millet,  cauls,  dry  cheese,  fresh  goats-milk. 

Astringents  which  by  virtue  of  their  glutinous  substance  restrain 
a  flux,  and  strengthen  the  looser  parts. 

Karabe',  mastich,  spodium,  hartshorn,  frankincense,  dried 
bull’s  pistle,  gum  tragacanth. 

Astringents  purgative,  which,  having  by  their  purgative  or  ex¬ 
pulsive  power  thrust  out  the  humours,  leave  behind  them  astric- 
tive  virtue. 

Rhubarb,  especially  that  which  is  toasted  against  the  fire : 
myrobalanes,  tartar,  tamarinds,  [an  Indian  fruit  like  green 
damasens.]  2 

Astringents  which  do  very  much  suck  and  dry  up  the  humours, 
and  thereby  stay  fluxes. 

Rust  of  iron,  crocus  martis,  ashes  of  spices. 

Astringents  which  by  their  nature  do  dull  the  spirits,  and  lay 
asleep  the  expulsive  virtue,  and  take  away  the  acrimony  of  all 
humours. 

Laudanum,  mithridate,  diascordium,  diacodium. 

Astringents  ichich,  by  cherishing  the  strength  of  the  parts,  do 
comfort  and  confirm  their  retentive  power. 

A  stomacher  of  scarlet  cloth.  Whelps,  or  young  healthy 
boys,  applied  to  the  stomach.  Hippocratic  wines,  so  they  be 
made  of  austere  materials. 


OPENERS. 

Succory,  endive,  betony,  liverwort,  petroselinum,  smallage, 
asparagus,  roots  of  grass,  dodder,  tamarisk,  juncus  odoratus, 
lacca,  cupparus,  wormwood,  chamsepitys,  fumaria,  scurvy-grass, 
eringo,  nettle,  ireos,  elder,  hyssop,  aristolochia,  gentian,  costus. 


1  Perhaps  he  meant  the  fruit  of  Karobe.  —  Note  by  Tenison. 
>  So  bracketed  in  the  original. 


832 


MEDICAL  REMAINS. 


fennel-root,  maiden-hair,  harts-tongue,  daffodilly,  asarum,  sar¬ 
saparilla,  sassafras,  acorns,  abretonum,  aloes,  agaric,  rhubarb 
infused,  onions,  garlic,  bother,  squilla,  sow-bread,  Indian  nard, 
Celtic  nard,  bark"  of  laurel-tree,  bitter  almonds,  holy  thistle, 
camomile,  gun-powder,  sows  (millipedes),  ammoniac,  man’s 
urine,  rue,  park  leaves  (vitex),  centaury,  lupines,  chamaedrys, 
costum,  ammeas,  bistort,  camphire,  daucus  seed,  Indian  balsam, 
scordium,  sweet  cane,  galingal,  agrimony. 

CORDIALS. 

Flowers  of  basil  royal,  flores  caryophillati,  flowers  of  bu- 
gloss  and  borage,  rind  of  citron,  orange  flowers,  rosemary  and 
its  flowers,  saffron,  musk,  amber,  folium  [i.  e.  nardi  folium], 
balm-gentle,  pimpernel,  gems,  gold,  generous  wines,  fragrant 
apples,  rose,  rosa  moschata,  cloves,  lign-aloes,  mace,  cinna¬ 
mon,  nutmeg,  cardamom,  galingal,  vinegar,  kermes-berry, 
herba  moschata,  betony,  white  sanders,  camphire,  flowers  of 
heliotrope,  penny-royal,  scordium,  opium  corrected,  white  pep¬ 
per,  nasturtium,  white  and  red  bean,  castum  dulce,  dactylus, 
pine,  fig,  egg-shell,  vinum  malvaticum,  ginger,  kidneys,  oysters, 
crevises  (or  river  crabs),  seed  of  nettle,  oil  of  sweet  almonds, 
sesamium  oleum,  asparagus,  bulbous  roots,  onions,  garlick, 
eruca,  daucus  seed,  eringo,  siler  montanus,  the  smell  of  musk, 
cynethi  odor,  caraway  seed,  flower  of  puls,  aniseed,  pellitory, 
anointing  of  the  testicles  with  oil  of  elder  in  which  pellitory 
hath  been  boiled,  cloves  with  goats  milk,  olibanum. 


An  extract  by  the  Lord  Bacon,  for  his  own  use,  out  of  the  booh 
of  the  ■prolongation  of  life,  together  with  some  new  advices  in 
order  to  health.1 

1.  Once  in  the  week,  or  at  least  in  the  fortnight,  to  take 
the  water  of  mithridate  distilled,  with  three  parts  to  one,  or 
strawberry-water  to  allay  it;  and  some  grains  of  nitre  and 
saffron,  in  the  morning  between  sleeps. 

2.  To  continue  my  broth  with  nitre  ;  but  to  interchange  it 
every  other  two  days,  with  the  juice  of  pomegranates  expressed, 
with  a  little  cloves,  and  rind  of  citron. 


1  Baconians,  p.  167. 


MEDICAL  REMAINS. 


833 


3.  To  order  the  taking  of  the  maceration 1  as  followeth. 

To  add  to  the  maceration  six  grains  of  cremor  tartari,  and 
as  much  enula. 

To  add  to  the  oxymel  some  infusion  of  fennel-roots  in  the 
vinegar,  and  four  grains  of  angelica-seed,  and  juice  of  lemons,  a 
third  part  to  the  vinegar. 

To  take  it  not  so  immediately  before  supper,  and  to  have 
the  broth  specially  made  with  barley,  rosemary,  thyme,  and 
cresses. 

[Sometimes  to  add  to  the  maceration  three  grains  of  tartar, 
and  two  of  enula,  to  cut  the  more  heavy  and  viscous  humours; 
lest  rhubarb  work  only  upon  the  lightest. 

To  take  sometimes  the  oxymel  before  it,  and  sometimes  the 
Spanish  honey  simple.] 2 

4.  To  take  once  in  the  month  at  least,  and  for  two  days 
together,  a  grain  and  a  half  of  castor  in  my  broth,  and 
breakfast. 

5.  A  cooling  clyster  to  be  used  once  a  month,  after  the 
working  of  the  maceration  is  settled. 

Take  of  barley-water,  in  which  the  roots  of  bugloss  are 
boiled,  three  ounces,  with  two  drams  of  red  sanders, 
and  two  ounces  of  raisins  of  the  sun,  and  one  ounce  of 
dactyles,  and  an  ounce  and  a  half  of  fat  caricks ;  let  it 
be  strained,  and  add  to  it  an  ounce  and  a  half  of  syrup 
of  violets:  let  a  clyster  be  made.  Let  this  be  taken 
(with  veal)  in  the  aforesaid  decoction. 

6.  To  take  every  morning  the  fume  of  lign-aloes,  rosemary 
and  bays  dried,  which  I  use ;  but  once  in  a  week  to  add  a  little 
tobacco,  without  otherwise  taking  it  in  a  pipe. 

7.  To  appoint  every  day  an  hour  ad'  affectus  intentionales  et 
sanos.  Qu.  de  particulari. 

8.  To  remember  masticatories  for  the  mouth. 

9.  And  orange-flower  water  to  be  smelt  to  or  snuffed  up. 

10.  In  the  third  hour  after  the  sun  is  risen,  to  take  in  air 
from  some  high  and  open  place,  with  a  ventilation  of  rosas  mo- 
schatse,  and  fresh  violets ;  and  to  stir  the  earth,  with  infusion 
of  wine  and  mint. 

1  Viz.  of  rhubarb  infused  into  a  draught  of  white  wine  and  beer,  mingled  together 
for  the  space  of  half  an  hour,  once  in  six  or  seven  days.  See  the  Lord  Bacon’s  Life, 
by  Dr.  Rawley,  towards  the  end. — Note  by  Tenison. 

2  These  two  paragraphs  are  inserted  in  Blackbourne’s  edition  as  part  of  the  paper; 
but  they  are  not  in  the  Baconiuna.  nor  do  I  know  where  he  got  them. 


834 


MEDICAL  REMAINS. 


11.  To  use  ale  with  a  little  enula  campana,  carduus,  ger¬ 
mander,  sage,  angelica-seed,  cresses  of  a  middle  age,  to  beget 
a  robust  heat. 

12.  Mithridate  thrice  a  year. 

13.  A  bit  of  bread  dipt  in  vino  odorato,  with  syrup  of  dry 
roses,  and  a  little  amber,  at  going  to  bed. 

14.  Never  to  keep  the  body  in  the  same  posture  above  half 
an  hour  at  a  time. 

15.  Four  precepts.  To  break  off  custom.  To  shake  off 
spirits  ill  disposed.  To  meditate  on  youth.  To  do  nothing 
against  a  man’s  genius. 

16.  Syrup  of  quinces  for  the  mouth  of  the  stomach.  En¬ 
quire  concerning  other  things  useful  in  that  kind. 

17.  To  use  once  during  supper  time  wine  in  which  gold  is 
quenched. 

18.  To  use  anointing  in  the  morning  lightly  with  oil  of 
almonds,  with  salt  and  saffron,  and  a  gentle  rubbing. 

19.  Ale  of  the  second  infusion  of  the  vine  of  oak. 

20.  Methusalem  water,  of  pearls  and  shells,  of  crabs,  and  a 
little  chalk. 

21.  Ale  of  raisins,  dactyles,  potatoes,  pistachios,  honey, 
tragacanth,  mastic. 

22.  Wine  with  swines-flesh  or  harts-flesh. 

23.  To  drink  the  first  cup  at  supper  hot,  and  half  an  hour 
before  supper  something  hot  and  aromatised. 

24.  Chalybeats  four  times  a  year. 

25.  Pilulae  ex  tribus,  once  in  two  months,  but  after  the  mass 
has  been  macerated  in  oil  of  almonds. 

26.  Heroic  desires. 

27.  Bathing  of  the  feet  once  in  a  month,  with  lie  ex  sale 
nigro,  camomile,  sweet  marjoram,  fennel,  sage,  and  a  little 
aqua  vitae. 

28.  To  provide  always  an  apt  breakfast. 

29.  To  beat  the  flesh  before  roasting  of  it. 

30.  Macerations  in  pickles. 

31.  Agitation  of  beer  by  ropes,  or  in  wheel-barrows. 

32.  That  diet  is  good  which  makes  lean,  and  then  renews. 
Consider  of  the  ways  to  effect  it. 


MEDICAL  REMAINS. 


835 


MEDICAL  RECEIPTS  OP  THE  LORD  BACON’S. 


The  first  receipt,  or  his  Lordship's  broth  and  fomentation  for 

the  stone. 

The  broth. 

Take  one  dram  of  eryngium  roots,  cleansed  and  sliced ;  and 
boil  them  together  with  a  chicken.  In  the  end,  add  of  elder 
flowers,  and  marigold  flowers  together,  one  pugil ;  of  angelica 
seed  half  a  dram,  of  raisins  of  the  sun  stoned,  fifteen ;  of  rose¬ 
mary,  thyme,  mace,  together,  a  little. 

In  six  ounces  of  this  broth  or  thereabouts,  let  there  be  dis¬ 
solved  of  white  cremor  tartari  three  grains. 

Every  third  or  fourth  day,  take  a  small  toast  of  manchet, 
dipped  in  oil  of  sweet  almonds  new  drawn,  and  sprinkled  with 
a  little  loaf-sugar. 

You  may  make  the  broth  for  two  days,  and  take  the  one  naif 
every  day. 

If  you  find  the  stone  to  stir,  forbear  the  toast  for  a  course  or 
two. 

The  intention  of  this  broth  is  not  to  void,  but  to  undermine 
the  quarry  of  the  stones  in  the  kidneys. 

The  fomentation. 

Take  of  leaves  of  violets,  mallows,  pellitory  of  the  wall, 
together,  one  handful ;  of  flowers  of  camomile  and  mellilot, 
together,  one  pugil ;  the  root  of  marshmallows,  one  ounce ;  of 
anise  and  fennel  seeds,  together,  one  ounce  and  a  half ;  of  flax¬ 
seed  two  drams.  Make  a  decoction  in  spring  water. 


The  second  receipt,  shelving  the  way  of  making  a  certain  oint¬ 
ment,  which  his  Lordship  called  Unguentum  fragrans,  sive 
Romanum,  the  fragrant  or  Roman  unguent. 

Take  of  the  fat  of  a  deer  half  a  pound ;  of  oil  of  sweet 
almonds  two  ounces :  let  them  be  set  upon  a  very  gentle  fire, 
and  stirred  with  a  stick  of  juniper  till  they  are  melted. 

Add  of  root  of  flower-de-luce  powdered,  damask  roses  pow¬ 
dered,  together,  one  dram;  of  myrrh  dissolved  in  rose-water 


836 


MEDICAL  REMAINS. 


half  a  dram ;  of  cloves  half  a  scruple ;  of  civet  four  grains ;  of 
musk  six  grains ;  of  oil  of  mace  expressed  one  drop ;  as  much 
of  rose-water  as  sufficeth  to  keep  the  unguent  from  being  too 
thick. 

Let  all  these  he  put  together  in  a  glass,  and  set  upon  the 
embers  for  the  space  of  an  hour,  and  stirred  with  a  stick  of 
juniper. 

Note,  that  in  the  confection  of  this  ointment,  there  was  not 
used  above  a  quarter  of  a  pound,  and  a  tenth  part  of  a  quarter 
of  deer’s  suet :  and  that  all  the  ingredients,  except  the  oil  of 
almonds,  were  doubled  when  the  ointment  was  half  made,  be¬ 
cause  the  fat  things  seemed  to  be  too  predominant. 


The  third  receipt.  A  Manus  Christi  for  the  stomach. 

Take  of  the  best  pearls  very  finely  pulverised,  one  dram ;  of 
sal  nitre  one  scruple ;  of  tartar  two  scruples ;  of  ginger  and 
galingal  together,  one  ounce  and  a  half;  of  calamus,  root  of 
enula  campana,  nutmeg,  together,  one  scruple  and  a  half ;  of 
amber  sixteen  grains ;  of  the  best  musk  ten  grains ;  with  rose¬ 
water  and  the  finest  sugar,  let  there  be  made  a  Manus  Christi. 

The  fourth  receipt.  A  secret  for  the  stomach. 

Tak§  lignum  aloes  in  gross  shavings,  steep  them  in  sack,  or 
alicant,  changed  twice,  half  an  hour  at  a  time,  till  the  bitter¬ 
ness  be  drawn  forth.  Then  take  the  shavings  forth,  and  dry 
them  in  the  shade,  and  beat  them  to  an  excellent  powder.  Of 
that  powder,  with  the  syrup  of  citrons,  make  a  small  pill,  to  be 
taken  before  supper. 


END  OP  THE  THIRD  VOLUME. 


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